Introducing Portsmouth

Today is my fifth full day in Portsmouth.  The video above talks about some more general aspects of the city, but it's probably worth giving a bit more detailed account of my activities over the time I have been here.

MONDAY

Dad had mentioned a historical trail the day before, and seeing as I was in, you know, the Old World, I thought it appropriate to spend the day checking out the history of the place I was staying.  It turned out to be quite an interesting walk, though I tended to forget all the information presented on the trail's boards as soon as I turned away from them.  I got the main points though - old stuff, docks, pubs and navy.

This squiggle succinctly sums up the
relationship between England and Australia.

There is a link between Portsmouth and Australia that stood out in my memory.  Turns out this is the place the first fleet departed from, and a small square by the seafront contains a number of monuments dedicated to the ties between England and Australia.

Having walked through the old town, with its cobbled streets, pubs, and bizarre tram tracks that lead nowhere, I continued along the seafront hoping to come across more "seaside" that I could poke fun at.  There was plenty of it.  After a short walk I came across 'Mozzarella Joe's Beach Bar and Grill', which sported an empty and rather sad-looking patio area for people to "enjoy" the "sunshine".

Actually, I have to be fair - the sun was out that day.  Though I still don't understand how you can call a pile of rocks a beach just by virtue of it bordering the ocean.



TUESDAY

Oh God, Tuesday.  Tuesday was the day that my body said, "Hey, buddy, remember all that bollocks you've been putting me through?  Well, take this!" before kicking me (and by extension itself) in the nuts.  I had a splitting headache and nausea all day and really, really regretted the fact that I had not taken Monday as a recovery day.  Fortunately I had a Tesco's curry for lunch AND fajitas (which dad managed to over-microwave) for dinner.  They were scrummy, which was actually a little surprising seeing as they were the equivalent of supermarket microwave dinners.  Actually, no, they weren't the equivalent of that - they WERE supermarket microwave dinners.

I also watched a bit of TV that day, discovering that the UK has a LOT of channels.  Most of them were utter garbage.  One of them had a Heston Blumenthal program, but I fell asleep.  Damn it!

WEDNESDAY

I got a few funny looks photographing this building.
Apparently it isn't as important as it looks.

Wednesday was my attempt to see the other bit of Portsmouth that I had missed on Monday.  Unfortunately I hadn't quite realised that the 'other bit' of Portsmouth was actually pretty much the entire city.  I started off checking out the naval base before wondering into a park, finding a large public square and exploring the university quarter, where there are a number of cheap student pubs and clubs.

The park contained yet another nod to my home country - an aviary containing a number of cold and miserable Australian birds, including lorikeets and budgies.  It also had ducks, a peacock, rabbits and some rather large guinea pigs.

Having wandered around aimlessly for about an hour, I suddenly found myself in Southsea, which is the area where the piers are that I had visited on Monday.  This kind of surprised me, as I thought I had been going in the opposite direction for the majority of the walk.  The layout of Portsmouth is a bit like one giant optical illusion, where you will be walking in one direction and suddenly pop through an interdimensional portal to the other side of town.

This made walking around a bit bizarre, as every now and again I would arrive somewhere I had been before from a slightly different direction without realising I had even turned back on myself.  It was especially weird when I attempted to return home, using the towering Spinnaker Tower as a guide.  I would see it on the horizon for a moment and head in that direction.  Then, after walking along a narrow, windy street a short way, I would come to a clearing and discover the tower had changed position.  When I eventually reached the tower, I was surprised to discover I had been approaching it from the opposite direction to which I thought.

That night we went out for dinner to a poky little place called the Thai Cafe (in a surreal twist they also do all day English breakfasts).  The decor wasn't anything to write home about (though that is exactly what I'm doing... hmm) though the food - especially Lin's Special Sauce with Pork Spare Ribs and Chicken Wings (messy) - was tasty.  We also had a Massaman Beef Curry and Phad Thai.

Our final stop for the evening was Garage Lounge, a somewhat hipsterish cafe that felt like it belonged in West End (for all you Brisbanites).  I overdosed on chocolate there (they did chocolate shots, which I didn't partake in, though I had a shot poured in a glass of hot milk - the pure shot can come later).  Dad and I managed to stagger home again, stomachs filled with chocolate.

THURSDAY

Didn't really do much.  There was some kind of Christmas market on downstairs from the apartment, and various pop songs wafted up (I spent the day enjoying such masterpieces as Call Me Maybe and Gangnam Style.  Of bloody course.)  I did go down when a brass band started playing Christmas music, but they were actually a lot more boring to watch than to vaguely overhear from the comfort of the warm apartment, so I went back inside.  They did wear santa hats though, but all that did was make them look like a bunch of grumpy Santas playing the tuba.

Mum and Katrina returned from their epic journey through the German Christmas markets on a ferry from Le Havre, so Dad and I went to pick them up that evening.

That gets us up to today, the specifics of which I might leave for a future time.  Until then, then.