Southampton, UK

Allison lives in the quaint city of Southampton.  It's a very old place with it's striking stone architecture, a western wall dating back to 1339 which encloses parts of the city, the beautiful green foliage, the abundance of parks and the waterfront.  An interesting fact is that the RMS Titanic sailed from the port of Southampton in 1912.  This is actually quite a successful port city both for commercial and leisure ships. The pilgrims aboard the Mayflower sailed from Southampton.  Southampton is also the home port for such well known transatlantic passenger cruise ships as the RMS Queen Mary and Queen Elisabeth.

Memorial built for the engineers of the RMS Titanic

So on my first day in Southampton, I walked the city streets with Kat and Steph while Allison spent the day teaching at Ryde Academy.  Pretty sure I had the better day!  I hope the pics to follow give you a sense of the place.  The weather was perfect for walking around; mild and sunny.  There is little evidence of fall here as the trees are green and few leaves have fallen.  Southampton's low lying and sheltered location means that it is among the warmer and sunnier locations in the UK.  Nice choice Al!

Main street: anchors away.

Sailor's Memorial Church

Anchor marks the spot

Courtyard of the Sailor's Church

Oiii, when in England, try the phone.

Love all the stone.

More quaint flats.

Here's the church, minus the steeple.

Love all the lane ways.

Different angle of a row of flats down this lane way.

Parts of the Western wall still stand.

What does it say Kat and Steph?

Cruise ship in port

Starbucks is in port.

Waterfront Casino.

Waterfront.

Hard to believe this is fall.

So many parks and green spaces.

Street view.

Buildings are so amazing

I'd like to keep my money in THAT bank.

Street view

So amid all the history and the age of many of the buildings you enter into the market area, which is very reminiscent of Sparks street back home.  The streets are cobbled and there are no cars permitted, just lots of pedestrians.  There is a huge mall (West Quay) with lots of stores, some familiar and others not. The more interesting shops are all along the Above Bar area. On weekends, vendors set up kiosks featuring food from around the world.   At the end of the pedestrian street there's a stone passage way marking the end of the Above Bar area.  I must say I left it with some reluctance, but I will definitely be going back.   Ethiopia has given me an appetite for shopping.

The exit to the Above Bar shopping area.

Well this was a nice way to spend my first day in Southampton.  Al came home from her day of teaching and it was time to get ready to go with the girls to their soccer game.  They have joined a league that meets Tuesday nights and it was good to see Al on the field.

Sneak peak of our next adventure.  Stonehenge, y'all!