Portsmouth

We spent the weekend at Portsmouth, about a 2-hour drive away south of London. Portsmouth is right by the sea and has a lot of touristy things to do at the seafront. This is also where you'd take a ferry ride across to the picturesque Isle of Wight.

We arrived just before eleven and drove straight into Gunwharf Quays car park, unsure where we were heading to really. But I was pleasantly surprised. Previously a Naval Base, Gunwharf Quays has been transformed into a blend of designer outlet shops and restaurants. I was quite excited at the prospect of finding bargains despite the strict embargo on my spending. You will soon find out that I am all talk and no action. *Hangs my head in shame*

We whizzed past Oasis Monsoon Gap LK Bennet [with great difficulty on my part] and went straight to the waterfront that was conveniently situated outside the shopping area, and made our way into the Spinnaker Tower ticket office. The tower looked kind of like the Burj El Arab but is nothing a large as the Burj. Apparently it is very popular and is expecting its millionth visitor on the 25 th of September 2007 [despite opening to public less than two years ago].

Spinnaker Tower

We went up to the viewing deck to get a bird's eye view of the harbour, the Solent and the town itself. As it was a cloudy day, visibility was limited and we could barely see the Isle of Wight across the sea. The view would have been more stunning had the weather been better.

Level 2 Viewing Deck

We were on the deck for about half and hour, looking out into the sea, the marinas, the naval ships docked around the port and IK was trying to figure out the schedule and timing of the ferry rides to the Isle of Wight from atop the tower, before finally going down to the outlet stores for a little 'look-see' but shopping was strictly not permitted I told myself. Yeah right. It was futile trying to resist temptation when these stores were screaming discount, 70% off, sale, etc at my face. My budget was blown to smithereens, so was IK's as soon as he stepped into Timberland. We spent a good 4 hours burning holes in our pockets before finally leaving for some more sight seeing [Simply because that was the main itinerary of our Portsmouth trip, wasn't it? I so need to focus].


We drove out to the historic waterfront area, and got to Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. Here we viewed the world famous historic ships - HMS Victory, HMS Warrior 1860 and Mary Rose. The HMS Victory was beautiful indeed. You should see the joy in IK's eyes gawking at the battle ships and carriers, not dissimilar to me in a shoe shop really. As we were late, we couldn't get tickets to see the museums [phew] but plans have already been made for a repeat visit with my dad in October to spend an entire day at the dockyard visiting the numerous museums. They share the same interest in these sorts of [dull] stuff, unlike I who could not even feign any enthusiasm for all things HMS-related. We've agreed that the next time, I will be at Gunwharf Quays shopping while they stare in glee at old ships and such.

HMS Victory

HMS Warrior 1860

After mooching around the dockyard, we headed to Southsea seafront just to chill by the beach. There is a little amusement park, lots of stalls selling ice cream, hot dogs, fish and chips, candy floss etc. Going sight seeing during the fasting month certainly had its little drawbacks! IK is now craving for those wretched ice cream cones; where in heavens name would I find them? Anyways, we strolled along the pebbly beach a bit, IK confirmed that the water was very cold, and left soon as the wind became too chilly for me. Oh, there was Southsea castle at Southsea seafront area where Henry VIII watched the Mary Rose sink into The Solent, which we gave a miss simply because after Leeds and Windsor castles in June, I've much about had enough of castles to last me a lifetime!

We enjoyed our little outing and I'd recommend ship enthusiasts, tall tower buffs, beach lovers and shopaholics, to give Portsmouth a visit.