Today we rented a car and drove to Southampton to see their Christmas market. From there, we went to Portsmouth and spent the afternoon in their historic dockyard district. As a fan of Patrick O’Brian and his naval novels, I loved it. There was just too much to see and do for one afternoon. I believe another trip is required.

Here’s Ellen in front of part of Southampton’s medieval city wall.

They call them “Dutch pancakes,” but in Dutch they are “poffertjes” and I have wonderful memories of buying them from street vendors in Amsterdam while visiting my dad’s side of the family in the ‘70s. So of course we had to buy some. Hopefully we will get to Amsterdam and buy the real thing sometime soon.

HMS Warrior, at one time the biggest warship in the world. Launched in 1861 (I believe), it was probably one of the Royal Navy’s last wooden warships.

The Mary Rose, Henry VIII’s favorite warship. Sunk around 1545, raised in 1982. Thousands of items were found with the wreck, making it the largest source of Tudor items in existence. Things like tools, weapons, personal items, etc. It was preserved in the mud off the coast of Portsmouth. It is cool to look at a leather boot and picture it on the owner as he carried out his duties, probably thinking about his wife or sweetheart back home.

When the museums closed, we headed to dinner: fish & chips.

Here’s the tiny Fiat hybrid we rented. Turns out that the gas, £35, cost more than the car, £32!