



We went down to Portsmouth at the weekend. My birthday treat!
I had not been to Portsmouth since the children were little and was very impressed with all the new changes. There is a fantastic shopping centre by the harbour now, with many designer shops and there are lots of restaurants:Italian,Spanish and Indian for example. And now of course there is the Spinnaker Tower, which at 170metres high overlooks the Harbour, Gunwharf Quay,and city centre. I had heard so much about this on BBC South news and had been dying to go up it and it did not disappoint. We took the lift to the first level, where you can have a go at walking on the glass floor, which I did even though I hate heights!
Then we climbed the steps to the next level where there is a cafe. ( There is a lift to this level but it's not far)
Then we went up to the Crow's nest level.( No lift to this level but again it's not far up)
At each level there are amazing views, as far away as 23 miles.
In the east we saw Chichester cathedral, in the south the Isle of Wight,in the west The New Forest.
Below we could see all the boats and ships in the dock, including HMS Victory.
The weather was good so we had a great view.
The tickets lasted all day so we went back up at night and that was quite something, seeing all the lights twinkling around us.
We would definitely go up it again and I recommend going there, if you haven't been.
Check out offers on the internet if you do go as I saw that if you spend over ten pound in the nearby Waterside cafe first you get one free ticket up the tower. It all helps!
After the tower we went on The Victory and had a guided tour. The tour guude was very entertaining and I learnt a lot about life at sea, which I didn't know before, like where the expression Toe Rag comes from! Yuk!
Maybe you know already?
We also went on The Warrior and in the Mary Rose Museum.
We had a boat ride around the dock, included in the ticket price. Hot drinks on board and an informative talk from the captain.
We saw the new war ship 'The Daring' going out of port. That is off to the Middle East soon, I heard on the BBC South news this morning.
Wherever we went we found all staff very friendly and chatty.
All in all we spent a great day in Portsmouth. It reminds me of Barcelona in some ways with the shops by the dock and all the eating places.
In fact I think it is is better. We had great weather which helps.
Everything is well set out.
It made a lovely birthday outing and how nice that my birthday week is not accompained by snow and freezing temperatures, as it usually is!
See how blue the sky was when I took the above photo of the Spinnaker Tower!