The grueling 9+ hour fight to London went ok.....

and I made it to Southampton on schedule. Initially the weather here was typically British—cold, rainy and overcast but Sunday the sun came out and it was very nice. Parts of central England have been having torrential rains and several towns such as Stratford have had serious flooding but not here.
Southampton is a very old city and has been a seaport for most of England’s history. Across from my hotel is one of the world’s largest deep-water ports and there are at least five very, very large cruise ships docked now. This is where the Queen Elizabeth docks in England and the port is so old it was also the disembarkation point for the Mayflower and the Titanic. There are memorials to both ships and today I visited the Maritime Museum which is very strong on exhibits of the old steam equipment for the early ocean-crossing vessels but I didn’t spend a lot of time there. I spent most of the day today walking along the docksides and came across a real British bowling green. In fact, this is listed as the oldest bowling club in the world—established in 1299. Despite the fact it was closed to the public, I stepped in long enough to shoot a couple of pictures and leave before being thrown out. Frankly it looked about as boring as cricket but the field was beautifully manicured and everything was very distinguished—uniforms, etc.
I also visited the Museum of Archaeology and God’s House Tower—the Medieval tower that guarded the old port of Southampton. I promised myself I wouldn’t get caught up in the “oldness” of everything over here but the reminders are everywhere—buildings here were constructed centuries before the Pilgrims landed (after all, they sailed from here.)
There is about a mile of the old Midieval wall still standing here and I walked along it today—I did a lot of walking (whicfh I needed after that flight over here).
Tomorrow I start earning my pay but I’m off to a good start so far……