Southwest Trip - Day Four

On the morning of Saturday, 27 October, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Osborne House, the home of Victoria and Albert, purchased in 1841 as "a place of their own, remote and private." Albert worked closely on the design and popularized the Italianate style for the Victorians. It is a fantastic place, filled with almost all of the original furnishings. It gives real insight into the way they lived. The gardens are immaculately-maintained and extremely beautiful.

We ferried back to Southampton and drove to Portsmouth where we visited the HMS Victory, the ship in which Lord Nelson was wounded and died in the Battle of Trafalgar. It is almost disturbing to see how life would have been for a sailor on such a ship: hundreds of men crammed into a claustrophobic space with cannons and rats. It was a fascinating visit.

From Portsmouth, Martin took us up the road less traveled (the A3) instead of the motorway, and it was a breath-taking ride. It looked like the mountains of Tennessee must look in the fall. The A3 is also a wonderful four-lane, controlled-access road with only one last village without a bypass (they are working on it currently). We were home by 7:00 P.M. and able to get laundry done before bed.

Osborne House on the Isle of Wight

The beautifully manicured gardens at Osborne House

Albert wanted their children to learn how to care for a garden, cook, and do craftsy stuff, so they built this Swiss Chalet at the far bottom of the garden where the children could do the kinds of things Albert thought important, but could not be done in the main house.

The Spinnaker Tower at Portsmouth, a Millennium project

D & K next to the HMS Victory

All hands on deck!

The whole trip was great with excellent weather and a driver who saved our hides over and over.

Bill and JLynn arrived home not too long after we did and by all accounts had a really good trip to York and the Lake District. They went to stake conference with us this morning and are currently off to the British Museum this afternoon. Tomorrow they will head to Oxford and then to the Cotswolds. I'm not sure what we will be doing this week, but if there are adventures, I will post them.

OXO

D.