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I checked out of the Finsbury Apartments, happy to see them behind me, and made my way to King's Cross station to catch a train to Southampton. Here's the thing about being a tourist who's entire knowledge of London consists of stuff he's seen in fiction - you're assumptions are often wrong. I went to buy my ticket only to discover that all rail traffic in/out of London do not go out of King's Cross - How was I supposed to know that? Hell, I can get to Hogwarts via King's Cross station! Anyway, they kindly gave me proper directions to a different train station (they still sold me a ticket though) and I made my way there. What followed was a pleasant 90 minute train ride through the gorgeous English countryside.
After a few hops and skips, I was in Southampton. The train station was close enough to my hotel that I could have walked, but I opted for a bus instead. I checked into the Dolphin Hotel, which is noteworthy for two things, 1) Jane Austin had her 18th birthday party here, and 2) It was not turned into a smoking crater by the Nazis - a fate neighbouring buildings did not share.
This was one of the nicer rooms I stayed in while in the UK. It was huge, had a wonderful bed, and a nice view of the High Street. And staying there felt like having a week's worth of claustrophobia drained from your psyche.
The point of the side trip to Southampton was to get my Titanic geek on. I'd found a brochure online, and I had a copy on me. Everything was stowed in my room. It was time to explore.
A quick note: I'm presenting this in the order on the brochure, but what actually happened was: lunch, museum (before it closed), work my way the sites on the map from north to south.
I couldn't fine #1 (the Postal Workers' Memorial and Book of Remembrance) since they were in buildings that had closed for the day. I did find #2, Titanic Musicians' Memorial. It's seen better days, being limestone that's been exposed to 100 years of pollution.
The Titanic Engineers Memorial was easily the most impressive of all the Titanic-related sites in Southampton.
There were other memorials that weren't Titanic related. Some for notable people, some for events. There was, of course, a cenotaph. But the oddest of these was the remains of a tree in Palmerston Park (I think - there's five contiguous parks and I can't remember which one it was in). It was wrapped in rope and there were numerous photos attached. It had the ad hoc feel of a roadside memorial, but if a recent disaster had taken that many people, I'm sure I'd have heard about it. It remains a mystery to me.
Holyrood church was next to my hotel. It was the nailed-in-the-blitz building I referred to above.
This is the view from High Street:
And this is around the corner, on Bernard Street:
It being after hours, I couldn't get inside to get a decent photo of the Titanic Crew Memorial.
I also saw a pair of gargoyles that reminded me of Labyrinth.
Outside the hotel, unrelated to Holyrood or Titanic, is one of Queen Elizabeth II's anchors:
This building is noteworthy for being the last place a lot of Titanic's crew slept before leaving port.
And this is the Grapes. Noteworthy for being a good enough pub to save four crew members from death, because they stayed a little too late that day. Chantelle told me I should lift a pint here. Instead, I went out and had really awful Chinese buffet for supper. I should have listened.
There was a whole cluster of Titanic-noteworthy locations at the south end - pretty much all of them related to the day to day business of running an ocean liner. Here's the old railway terminal:
The hotel where the 1st class guests stayed:
And the building housing White Star's local operations. This was were relatives gathered to get news about their loved ones.
The last of the southern memorials was actually within the entrance to the docks. As this is a working shipyard, I needed to ask permission from the guards to go in and take a picture. I think this was more to acknowledge that there's heavy truck traffic, then anything else. Anyway, I took my picture, thanked them, and left.
SeaCity museum included a large Titanic exhibit, but also went into lots of detail about Southampton unrelated to Titanic.
All Titanic museum exhibits require a painting of the ship.
Marble Titanic clock. The one it corresponded to on the ship was wood, so looked somewhat different.
Finally, the SeaCity Museum urinals. I took this picture so I could forever marvel just how robust they are. Seriously, these things could be the last artifacts of humanity, they're that solid.
My tour went into the twilight hours, and after supper I retired to my room, exhausted, and a little melancholy due to dwelling on a tragedy. Next morning would be my flight to Edinburgh.
After a few hops and skips, I was in Southampton. The train station was close enough to my hotel that I could have walked, but I opted for a bus instead. I checked into the Dolphin Hotel, which is noteworthy for two things, 1) Jane Austin had her 18th birthday party here, and 2) It was not turned into a smoking crater by the Nazis - a fate neighbouring buildings did not share.
This was one of the nicer rooms I stayed in while in the UK. It was huge, had a wonderful bed, and a nice view of the High Street. And staying there felt like having a week's worth of claustrophobia drained from your psyche.
The point of the side trip to Southampton was to get my Titanic geek on. I'd found a brochure online, and I had a copy on me. Everything was stowed in my room. It was time to explore.
A quick note: I'm presenting this in the order on the brochure, but what actually happened was: lunch, museum (before it closed), work my way the sites on the map from north to south.
I couldn't fine #1 (the Postal Workers' Memorial and Book of Remembrance) since they were in buildings that had closed for the day. I did find #2, Titanic Musicians' Memorial. It's seen better days, being limestone that's been exposed to 100 years of pollution.
The Titanic Engineers Memorial was easily the most impressive of all the Titanic-related sites in Southampton.
There were other memorials that weren't Titanic related. Some for notable people, some for events. There was, of course, a cenotaph. But the oddest of these was the remains of a tree in Palmerston Park (I think - there's five contiguous parks and I can't remember which one it was in). It was wrapped in rope and there were numerous photos attached. It had the ad hoc feel of a roadside memorial, but if a recent disaster had taken that many people, I'm sure I'd have heard about it. It remains a mystery to me.
Holyrood church was next to my hotel. It was the nailed-in-the-blitz building I referred to above.
This is the view from High Street:
And this is around the corner, on Bernard Street:
It being after hours, I couldn't get inside to get a decent photo of the Titanic Crew Memorial.
I also saw a pair of gargoyles that reminded me of Labyrinth.
Outside the hotel, unrelated to Holyrood or Titanic, is one of Queen Elizabeth II's anchors:
This building is noteworthy for being the last place a lot of Titanic's crew slept before leaving port.
And this is the Grapes. Noteworthy for being a good enough pub to save four crew members from death, because they stayed a little too late that day. Chantelle told me I should lift a pint here. Instead, I went out and had really awful Chinese buffet for supper. I should have listened.
There was a whole cluster of Titanic-noteworthy locations at the south end - pretty much all of them related to the day to day business of running an ocean liner. Here's the old railway terminal:
The hotel where the 1st class guests stayed:
And the building housing White Star's local operations. This was were relatives gathered to get news about their loved ones.
The last of the southern memorials was actually within the entrance to the docks. As this is a working shipyard, I needed to ask permission from the guards to go in and take a picture. I think this was more to acknowledge that there's heavy truck traffic, then anything else. Anyway, I took my picture, thanked them, and left.
SeaCity museum included a large Titanic exhibit, but also went into lots of detail about Southampton unrelated to Titanic.
All Titanic museum exhibits require a painting of the ship.
Marble Titanic clock. The one it corresponded to on the ship was wood, so looked somewhat different.
Finally, the SeaCity Museum urinals. I took this picture so I could forever marvel just how robust they are. Seriously, these things could be the last artifacts of humanity, they're that solid.
My tour went into the twilight hours, and after supper I retired to my room, exhausted, and a little melancholy due to dwelling on a tragedy. Next morning would be my flight to Edinburgh.
