Day Four - D-Day and Liss

Our last lovely breakfast at the B&B and a found farewell and thank you to the Stevens. We had a full day ahead of us.

We thought that Patrick would enjoy the D-Day museum since many of the online/pc games he plays take place during WWII. We were lucky enough that they had 3 veterans of the Normandy Invasion (D-Day) there and you could ask them questions. To me, talking to these gentleman was more than worth the price of admission. Reading plaques or listening to looped broadcasts isn't the same as actually hearing about first hand accounts. The one gentleman was a pilot that took the Americans to their death on Omaha Beach. The other two actually landed at Gold Beach (where the British forces landed).














The two that landed at Gold Beach explained how the Omaha Beach was different and why so many Americans lost their lives that day. I think that is why the pilot who drove the boats full of Americans said he died that day too. I can't imagine taking mere boys to that beach and watching them get slaughtered one after another. War has a profound effect on the soldiers and one that I don't think we fully understand even in this day and age. The two I spoke with showed us pictures and explained so much (as my history is pretty shabby at best). Unfortunately, we had to cut them short since we were on a bit of a time schedule. We quickly walked through the rest of the museum.















Jon went to get a cup of coffee from the cafe while Patrick and I went outside to explore the fort behind the D-Day museum. It was another beautiful day and we got some nice pictures of the seafront in Portsmouth.
























The round structure out in the water is actually a fort as well. There are several in the harbor. They were built during WWII to keep the Germans from invading England. Jon told me that one of the forts was built and turned into a night club. Guess you can't get too drunk out there because one wrong step and you'll be in the drink (literally!).

Next to Liss where Jon's Dad (Len) and Stepmum (Toko) now live. They had lived in Sidmouth (in the Devon region of England) until recently. Due to the nursing home where Toko was being closed they were forced to move. The one they are in in Liss, however is quite nice as nursing homes go. The staff were quite friendly and the grounds were lovely with beautiful flowers everywhere, tall deciduous and evergreen trees to give shade. We had hoped to take them out to lunch at the local pub but turns out Toko had a physiotherapist session. So we went to lunch and came back to spend some time in the garden with them. We even got to show them both the whirlpool swimming pool they use for therapy - I think Len was expecting a full length pool that you could do laps in but still seemed interested in giving it a go.















This was the first time Patrick had met Len and Toko. He did amazingly well considering that Len has senile dementia and Toko's memory isn't great either after her accident. It wasn't fun but he didn't complain about it and I was very proud of him. He was certainly exposed to a lot of things this trip and that all in all is a good thing. Perhaps he'll have some sympathy for his parents when they get old now that he has seen the downside of old age. He is very fortunate that both set of his grandparents are quite healthy (aside from back, knee problems). After our visit we went back to Becky and James place in Bishop's Waltham. I was feeling poorly again (cough and chest congestion) so I rested. James kindly made a pasta dinner for Patrick, myself and kids. They had a friend coming over and since I wasn't up to it and Patrick was able to have internet access again - we stayed home while they all went out for a bit. Becky came home to put the kids to bed and James, Jon and the friend went to the local pub for a bit of a boys night out. Thanks to my little nap early and the cough that wouldn't end...I wound up getting very little sleep that night.

Tomorrow we head northward!

Day Two - The Royal Marines

Still blowing my nose made for an uncomfortable night for Jon as well as myself. However, we started the day with a proper English breakfast. Cereal, juice, tea or coffee, sausage and bacon (very different from the American bacon we are used to - more almost like ham but sliced like bacon), mushrooms, tomatoes, eggs (fried, scrambled or poached) and toast with butter and jam. Needless to say you don't need to eat again until much later in the day after all of that.

Mrs. Stevens had given us several brochures all with exciting things to see and do. We let Patrick pick first and he decided on the Royal Marine Museum. So we drove down to Portsmouth.



















Patrick seemed to enjoy himself (took some pictures for his Dad while he was there) and even humored his Mother by putting on a pith helmet. I swore he was going to tell me that it was for "little kids" which I think it was but he actually added the ammunition around his chest and Jon handed him the gun. Not to look foolish by himself - he conned Jon into joining into the fun. Glad I was the one with the camera!
































We headed over to Gunwarf Quays much to Patrick's horror - shopping?!! on holiday??!!! Calm down it was only for an English SIM card for one of our cell phones so if separated, Jon and I would be in touch. I still wasn't feeling well thanks to the cold so we found a pub at the harbor for lunch. We had hoped to visit the Mary Rose and the HMS Victory in the Portsmouth dockyard but alas time and my cold did not allow. I had seen both but thought Patrick might enjoy them especially since his Dad had expressed a desire in seeing any pics if he went. By then it was late enough and jet lag was kicking in so we all decided heading back to the B&B was best.

The roads around our B&B were tiny to say the least. That is one thing that is very evident to me when I come over - the roads leave very little room for error. They have no shoulders (except for the major motorways). Although I clutched the handle on the side of the door, I have to admit that even though the speed limits are higher there the drivers as a whole are better than the US. People seem to know they have to be polite and take turns (especially when some roads are barely big enough for one car to come down let alone two). Several towns/villages have roads where your lane is blocked by cars parked. I'm utterly surprised that more car doors and wing mirrors are destroyed.

Jon and Patrick napped while took my book out into the lovely garden to hopefully dry out my sinuses (sitting in the sunshine) and soaking up the English country air. We couldn't get Patrick up so Jon and I ventured out to a local pub for dinner. Home again and after a cup of tea, some biscuits (what the English call cookies) and a nice hot bath I was ready to hit the sack. Hopefully tomorrow would go better.