Portland, England, United Kingdom

Tuesday, September 2, 2014 Portland and Weymouth, England, UK Happy Anniversary Brian & Kristy!

The ship docked at Portland at 7:00am.The remains of an old British Navy Station from WWII had been renovated into  housing for the 2012 Summer Olympics Sailing Events.

 

 Larry and I boarded a bus right off the ship to journey off the island to Weymouth, a 17^th century harbor, vacation resort town.  Weymouth is also linked to the America’s Cup since 1903. We enjoyed the 15 minute ride over a manmade causeway passing the beautiful harbor of sailboats to the right and a stone beach to the left. The town was built of the typical Brit stone and red brick structures. At 11:00 we walked into Hope Square, home of the Brewer Quay, a former brewery. 

 

 

We continued on passing all kinds of shops, pubs, restaurants, and B&B’s as well as yachts, fishing boats, chartered vessels parked along the Marina Harbor. Oh it was so scenic!

 

                                   This restaurant reminded us of a favorite one in Williamsburg!

 

We passed over the town bridge going down a series of small side pedestrian alleyways.   What fabulous shopping!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We came to King George III’s statue. The jolly king popularized the seaside with his bathing machine.

                                                              The King's bathing machine

Beginning in 1778 he used it to get into the water privately to help heal a  medical condition.

 

 

 We walked to St. John’s Church coming to Queen Victoria’s statue.  

Here we crossed the street to walk by the Pier Band Stand, an Amusement Center.  On we continued down the beach front passing numerous hotels with paddle boats and chalet rentals.  We passed WWII War Memorials.

                                         We met the nicest WWII Vet, "Child" . What a wonderful gentleman!

 

                                       We enjoyed Queen Victoria’s Jubilee’s Clock dating 1887.

 

 

Paddle boat rentals...looks like fun!

Hotels lined the beach avenue.

 

 

An amusement park with lots of rides was insight on the northern part of the beach.

 From the beach we also spotted the Nothe Fort, built between 1860 and 1872 as a part of a series of south coast fortifications against perceived French aggression. It was used in both World Wars.  The area has also become well known for England’s only natural World Heritage site, Jurassic Coast. We left Weymouth with big smiles on our faces…it was a charming little town, well worth a visit!

 

Lindsey and Debi enjoyed their excursion to Stonehenge for the day.

We enjoyed watching the ship pull anchor. A nice band played some fine music and four British soldiers fired a canon, a Portland shipyard tradition.  That evening after another fantastic dinner in the Windjammer, we enjoyed seeing the Brilliance of the Sea Singers and Dancers perform a tribute to many broadways shows. We especially enjoyed the music from Mama Mia that ABBA had written.  WOW! What a fabulous day of sightseeing and cruising!