The Monday was spent travelling down to Dorset to visit my parents. We stopped at a dreadful motorway services at Northampton and then yesterday went to Southampton, hence pun for this blog.
Despite having spent vast amounts of time in Dorset over the past four decades I have never been to Southampton before. I was aware that the Medieval and Regency city was largely obliterated by the Blitz so wasn't expecting much but was pleasantly surprised. The city still has parts of Edward I's city walls which were erected after a French raid.
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We also saw a bar which originally formed the gates to the city.
The central part of the city has a route named the QE2 Mile which is a geographical timeline. You start in the Dark Ages and as you proceed along the route you move forward in time. There are metal plaques in the pavement and it's great for kids to scamper between the signs reading them. These were a few of my favourites:
Along the route is the former church of All Saints which was bombed in World War 2 and the ruins now form a tribute to the lost men of the merchant navy. The building also commemorates a nineteenth century fire in which a number of men lost their lives. The language used on this citation is fabulous:
The final photo relates to the QE2, the luxury cruise liner that was so associated with Southampton. I clearly remember it being deployed to take soldiers to the Falkland Islands and this was mentioned on the memorial.
Afterwards, we visited the Solent Sky aviation museum. Sadly my Twitter addiction had made my batteries run out on my iPhone so I can't share with you the gorgeous Spitfire, Gypsy Hawk Moth and the flying boats. It was a wonderful place to take my son.
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