Part one: Portsmouth & London
I took an opportunity to visit my son who works as an ophthalmologist at a hospital at Portsmouth, UK. It is a joy since I had not seen him for more than past two years.
Portsmouth, situated at the south west of UK is the traditional home of the Royal Navy whose ships once glorified the British Empire to the far-flung corners of the world. Basically, the city consists of two parts; the Portsmouth Harbour and the Southsea where the beaches are. I had a 10km run with my son along the beach in one of the evenings. We also visited the Naval base, the Gunwharf Quay shopping center, and the Cathedral.
We also took an overnight trip to revisit London and purposely went to Bayswater to eat the famous roasted duck rice and the Hyde Park Inn Hotel where I backpacked to UK in the previous Interhash 2004 with Drug Buster, Garfield,.and the late Wong Sing Sung ,recollecting the pleasure we had the experience of backpacking with master Wong Sing Sung, and the sadness that we had lost him less than two years after our trip.
Photos randomly taken are as shown in the album:-
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Part Two: Visit of Winchester City-
Visited Winchester city; after our Dim Sum lunch at Fareham, a suburb of Portsmouth.( 5th May o7 ).
Winchester, 30km North West from Portsmouth is essentially market town today, lying on the downs along the Itchen River. A most historic city, Winchester is big on lengends, because it is associated with King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. I was told it was once the Capital of England. The people of Anglo-Saxon ancestry migrated from the North east of Europe and formed the city and English language in the early days.
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Part Three: Isle of Wight-
Visit of Isle of Wight on 6th May 2007.
It was a cool Sunday and the trip was a pleasant one.
The ferry journey took some 40 minutes between the ferry Terminal at Portsmouth on the mainland and the terminal at Fishbourne on the Island. The Island is about half of the size ( 380 km sq ) of Singapore. Newport is a town for the administration of the island which has a population of about 132k whilst the population of Portsmouth is about 200k. We drove our car along and had covered most of the attractions of the Island from the North to the South as follows:-
1. Osborne House: Queen Victoria Summer House.
It was the country retreat and family home of Queen Victoria.The Queen had nine children and had well planned the marriage of her children with the other European royal families. It was interesting to see their family trees covering all the European Kingdoms. She was known as the great Grandmama of Europe. It was interesting to know that the queen had a particular liking for the Indian natives, and got them as her servants. She had a peculiar liking for a chief servant by the name of Abdul Karim who was allowed to stay in the main house. That caused quite an uproar in those days.
2. Carisbrooke Castle
Rich in intrigue, power and tragedy; It was said that whoever controlled Carisbrooke Castle controlled the Isle of Wight. The castle flourished in medieval times, but was probably famous as the prison of Charles I just before his execution in January 1649, or as home to the Carisbrooke donkeys.
3. St Catherine Point; the Light House.
It is situated at the southernmost tip of the Island.
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