The Beginning and the End

This will be the last post about our 2019 World Cruise.  It is well after the fact because we were without computer access when we got back to Florida, when we were with our daughter, Brenda, and her family in Jacksonville, when were were traveling north, when we were with our other daughter, Tammy in Iowa, and when we got back to Minnesota (problems with the phone line.)  Then life got in the way.  So, here is the last port after 128 days and 5 continents.

Our schedule said London, but the Thames is only open to cruise ships like ours as far upstream as Greenwich. 



We were here last year, so did not go sightseeing this time.  I just wandered around a bit.  The Royal Observatory is at Greenwich where the measurement of longitude begins.  Last year we stood with one foot on each side if it.  This year I did not climb the hill to see it again, but I did go into in  the"First Shop in the World!"








Many of the buildings in the area are part of the Naval Museum with a substantial building style and lots of green lawns and paved walkways.  It was a nice place for a stroll, and the weather cooperated.

The rest of the area in Greenwich around the pier has small shops, narrow curving lanes with a food court which reflects the multinational character of London





















The area across the Thames has new construction which seems oddly out of place after  seeing the classic lines of this older part of the city.

I hope you have enjoyed traveling with us.  So long until the next time, whenever that will be.  We plan to travel as long as we are able.  Then we will just sit back and look at our pictures.

Home of the Royal Navy -- and Other Ships

Henry VIII and friend

When we cancelled Casablanca, they added a stop in Portsmouth, England.  This was fine with us, since we had wanted to go to Portsmouth last year, but there was not enough time.  Last year we met a retired British Navy Admiral who told us about a ship which was built in 1512 and sank in battle in the Portsmouth harbor in 1545 during the reign of Henry VIII.  It was rediscovered and raised in 1982.  Then the work began.  It took 12 years to treat the remains and apply preservative to stop further deterioration.

The slant shows the angle at which the
Mary Rose rested on the bottom of the bay.

The Mary Rose, or what is left of it, now rests in a museum in Portsmouth.  The museum shows what the ship looked like in its prime, with exhibits about all aspects of the ship and life aboard.  After 3 hours, we gave up.  There is just so much to learn about it.

The remains which were covered in mud and silt.

They have done an excellent job of presenting the information and keeping you involved in learning.  The building itself looks like a space ship.  It is more a time capsule, showing shipboard life over 400 years ago.  Any part of the ship which was not covered by mud is gone, so what you see is just part of the ship as it lay partly on its side in the bottom of the bay.  However, they have projected what the entire ship looked like.

 Several artifacts were also brought up and used to show everyday life.  The huge cooking cauldron was bent out of shape, but a replica was made and used to show how it was possible to cook for so many sailors with a single pot.  The pot was filled with water and some food in bags were cooked by lowering them into the water.  Meat sat in an area just outside the fire and roasted that way.  Kegs of beer provided the daily drinks, since water was not really healthy.

A projection of how the ship looked

One display speculated about the nature of the crew.  Only the names of the captain, one other officer and the cook are known.  The cook had his name engraved on some of the cooking utensils. There is a record of the number of men aboard, but no other information.  They kept better records of the supplies carried than of the names of the crew. Several skeletons were uncovered.  By using DNA analysis and other tests the scientists could tell whether the person came from the British Isles, Europe or Africa.  They knew if the sailor had a diet of meat, fish or vegetables when growing up.  They had ways that told them if the person was an archer, if they did heavy lifting and even what the person's coloring was likely to be.  Ain't science grand!

Welded rings cannon

There were two distinct types of cannons on board.  One was made by using a mold to cast the entire cannon in one piece.  The other was made by fusing rings of metal to make the barrel.  Both kinds of cannons were used on the Mary Rose, and both kinds were recovered.

Cast cannon

The HMS Victory, the ship where Admiral Horatio Nelson was fatally wounded, was right next door to the Mary Rose Museum.  You could tour the ship and actually see the quarters and the place he died.  They say his body was preserved in a barrel of rum to get it back to England for a proper burial.  We did not have time to go into the ship, however.

The HMS Warrior, the first iron clad British ship, is also docked there and open as a museum and restaurant.

HMS Victory

HMS Warrior at low tide

Figurehead of the HMS Warrior

Spinnaker Tower

Another landmark in the Portsmouth harbor is the Spinnaker Tower, built to resemble a spinnaker sail when viewed from the correct angle.  We did not see it from that angle.