British Isles Cruise: Day 13--Southampton, England

Wednesday, August 28

London (Southampton) England  It’s turn-around day and as some people will leave the ship and others board, we have the day to play as we are staying on for the next segment of the cruise.  Today we venture into the country to visit Highclere Castle.  Why Highclere Castle?  Well, if you are fans of the PBS show Downton Abbey, you will certainly recognize the castle.  A lot of the filming for the series is done here.  It is one of England’s most beautiful Victorian Castles set amidst 1,000 acres of spectacular parkland.  The Carnavon family has lived at Highclere since 1679, and the current castle stands on the site of an earlier house, which in turn was built on the foundations of the medieval palace owned by the Bishops of Winchester for some 800 years.

We are just a small group of 6 as we venture off with our guide/driver and head out of Southampton.  Since we have time before the castle opens for tours, the driver takes us to the town of Winchester and we stop by the cathedral.  There are several monuments honoring those who fought and died in WWI and WWII.  And now we all have the Beatles tune going through our heads that references Winchester Cathedral.

Winchester Cathedral

The town of Winchester is filled with Georgian style homes

We arrive at the castle and take our photos at the front door.  What?? No servant staff lined up waiting to greet us?  (they do at Downton Abbey!)

The tour through the castle was great.  There was a guide stationed in each room who would explain what the room was used for and answer any questions.  Occasionally there would be reference to “Downton Abbey” as this is the bedroom of Sybil, etc.

The new season will air in the US starting in January, I think.  It will be fun to watch and remember the castle rooms as we watch the episodes.

The castle was the seat, 100 years ago, of the 5^th Earl of Carnarvon, who famously discovered the Tomb of the Egyptian boy Pharaoh, Tutankhamun in 1922 with his archaeological colleague, Howard Carter.

Only photo I could take inside Highclere Castle

Today, the 8^th Earl and Countess have opened a new Egyptian Exhibition throughout the cellars of the castle to celebrate the 5^th Earl’s achievements.  The Egyptian Exhibition was excellent.  We were amazed at how many artifacts the family has been able to keep.  We saw the King Tut exhibit when it toured in Denver, and that was great.  This exhibit, although smaller, had—what they say—is the mummy of King Tut.  It sure looked real, but hard to believe it would be here in this small exhibit.  I’m going to check into this more.

No pictures were allowed on the inside so all I have for now are some photos I grabbed off the internet.  But to our niece, Julie Durr,--I bought the guidebook and will bring it with to MN in October for you to see, along with a surprise we have for you!

We got a chuckle out of the sign...

We spent almost 3 hours at the castle.  The grounds are beautiful and we could take photos outside.

Then it was time to head back to Southampton.  Since our driver knew that we were interested in Titanic sites, he stopped by the monument to the Engineers.

We also stopped by the pub that in real life 4 crew members of Titanic got drunk and missed the sailing of the ship out of Southampton…..lucky guys.  It was also the pub  where in the movie “Titanic”, Jack gambled and won a ticket on the ship.  Not so lucky for him.

Also, right nearby is the hotel where many of the first-class travelers stayed the night before boarding the ship.

Enjoying a pub ourselves with new friends,
Gary & Stephanie

Then it was time for us to reboard the Caribbean Princess and begin the next segment of our cruise.  This time we will be sailing 17 days as we cross the Atlantic and disembark in New York City.

To be continued..........