SOUTHAMPTON, England - Thursday, April 27, 2017.

One of England's renowned maritime cities, Southampton boasts an incredibly preserved medieval city wall that survived WW II bombing largely intact. Thankfully it was a sunny, but cool day.  As the day progressed, the temperature rose and we enjoyed some warmth. Apparently the weather has been unusually cold.

We did a 3 hour walking tour of Southampton, which actually turned out to be 5 hours because we left the tour after the SeaCity museum.  The tour was excellent and we learned about the old wall around Southampton which still remains intact. We walked to the art gallery and then the SeaCity museum.  It is interesting to hear about the Titanic because it was built and left on its original and only voyage from Southampton. We also learned more about it in Cherbourg, France as this was its last port of call before it headed off to North America.

 

 

Part of the old wall ...  Eric trying to find a geocache!

 

 

The only pub in Britain called "Titanic".  The bottom photo is an original wool warehouse for export. It is now a brew pub.

 

 

From the Maritime Museum, this is the Carmania ....  the ship my parents took my brother Bob and I on in 1965.  We sailed from Montreal to Rotterdam and on our return trip we sailed from Southampton to Montreal on the Franconia. Kind of makes me feel old when the ship is one of the Cunard ships featured here. It actually was converted to a troop transport ship during WW II.

Our geocaching travels took us through the many beautiful parks in the city. The flowers and trees were spectacular and they have palm trees!

 

 

Love the wisteria...it was a walkway tunnel of wisteria.  Absolutely gorgeous!

 

Our final memory ---- one of the many palms.

At sea today, crossing the North Sea to Haugesund, Norway.  First time this ship has visited this port and the only reason we can get into the port is because we are a small ship.  Looks like a beautiful spot.

All for now, love to all