Enjoying the sights

The rich amount of history here is astounding. One of the first things we did on our trip in February was to join British Heritage. The membership gets us into many different historic sites around the country. When in Cowes a few days ago, we went to see Osborne House which was the estate of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on the Isle of Wight. They enjoyed spending time at Osborne with their nine children out of the public eye of London society.

At Osborne, the children learned how to swim in the sea and were taught by their father. Queen Victoria had a “bathing machine” which was a box on wheels that was moved across the beach and into the water from which Victoria would emerge for a swim. Apparently, bathing machines were very popular in Victorian times because women had a bit of privacy even though they essentially swam fully clothed.

Prince Albert had fond childhood memories of a family cottage in Germany and recreated the experience for his children. Swiss Cottage was a separate house on the grounds where the children learned how to grow fruits and vegetables, were encouraged to explore nature and were taught how to cook. It was a veritable children’s play house on steroids.

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria married when they were both age 20 and proceeded to have nine children. Albert died of typhoid at age 41 and Victoria went on to live another 40 years without him.  She died at Osborne House on January 22, 1901.  The house is full of art and antiques, and the contents still belong to the Crown.

We are currently in Portsmouth and today we went to the Explosion Museum of Naval Firepower. The museum is located at Priddies Hard in a former munitions factory that has supplied all British warships with things that go boom through the Falklands War in the 1980s. One thing that really impresses me about all of the historical sites we have visited is that the staff is incredibly well informed about the exhibits and history, and take pleasure in talking with visitors.

Flight is currently docked in Portsmouth Harbor just across from the Spinnaker Tower. Here is my view from her deck as the moon was coming up.