Jul 2008

So yesterday we headed to the coastal city of Portsmouth (about an hour away) to check out the factory outlets and surrounding sights. It was a windy/sunny/cloudy day (as usual) so check it out:

• We went to Gunwharf Quay's which is a collection of 90+ outlet stores that included most of the usual name brands + European ones of course. Didn't do too much shopping here (Michelle did it all lol!) since I'm still working on finding that source of income to make the prices here much more bearable...

• The Spinnaker Tower was also located here, a big white wind-sail looking structure, that you could pay to go up and check out the harbour view and surrounding area but to be honest, after going up many of these type of structures (CN Tower, Seattle Space Needle, Tokyo Tower, Eiffel Tower, etc..), I just didnt feel like we had to do it..and we didn't.

• Walked over to the Historic Portsmouth Dockyard that contained the 3 famous warships of the British Navy, historically anyway: HMS Victory, HMS Mary Rose (which Lord Nelson commandered) and HMS Warrior 1860. We got to step on and explore the Victory and Warrior but the main attraction here was the restoration of the Mary Rose (King Henry VIII favourite) which was housed in it's own special building. It actually sank during a battle with the French off the coast of Portsmouth and in 1982, they raised it from the water and have begun restoring it (it's the only 16th century warship on display in the world). But the surprising thing to me is that they are spraying it in a coat of wax and it will take 15 years for the wax process to finish! wtf!?

• Also walked to the old city of Portsmouth and saw a nice old church with fields that reminded me of Gladiator. Of course, there was cobblestone paths all around and we walked along the coast but it was super windy and getting a bit cold so we headed back to Gunwharf Quay's for dinner (Tapas at Las Tasca.mmm).

• Oh yeah, and driving here at night is nuts. Seriously, tight narrow roads with NO lights, even on the major roadways. Very tough drive through country roads with about a foot on either side of the car as your 'space'...
  

So we decided to check out the Canada Day celebrations being held in Trafalgar Square in London and although we came quite late (around 8pm), there was still much happening and music playing.

• The place was pretty full with a ton of red-wearing people walking around having Canadian beer and munching on Bison Burgers (that is, after lining up in the huge queues..). The theme this year was in association with Alberta so naturally they had bison burgers...

• The music playing was someone i had not heard of at all (Kim Beggs?) and it was traditional folk music or something, i couldn't figure out what it was and it was nothing you would hear of on the radio except for maybe late afternoon Tuesdays on 88.1 or something..

• We ended up eating at a Turkish restaurant called Ozer, near Oxford Circus, and it was very good! Recommended by the Michelin guide and moderately-priced. I tried a Turkish liquer called Yeni Raki which resembles sambuca, and after mixing it with a bit of water, that first glass already me a bit loopy and hot..lol. All for 5GBP!

• All in all, it was good to celebrate Canada Day even if we were in England, we spent a short time there but enough to say we were proud to be Canadians! Ole!