On the weekends we have time to see the nearby sights. This Friday started out to be a fairly sunny day, so we went to see the famous ships at the Portsmouth dock.
Little did we know, that the Royal Navy’s helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious, was coming into the port with much fanfare. Helicopters led the way as the huge ship sailed into the port, and hundreds of the crew's family members gathered at the dock. The sailors left in August and were to be home for Christmas, but their ship was diverted to help out with the aftermath of the Typhoon in the Philippines. The band played, and it was a very joyous occasion. I'm glad we were there to see it.
There were just a few tourists, because the majority of people had come to see the Illustrious arrive. We walked through the HMS Warrior, which is a 1860 restored ship, with sails and steam. It is still floating in the water.
We then went on a guided tour of the HMS Victory, which is the ship that Lord Nelson died on in the Battle of Trafalgar against Napoleon.
Here is the Victory in the evening when we were leaving.
The best exhibit of all is the recovery and restoration in progress of King Henry VIII's "Mary Rose". It was built in 1511 and was sunk in a battle with the French in 1545. We saw some amazing artifacts that were recovered.
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