The Isle of Wight

SouthWest Trains is currently running a promo wherein we can get return tickets for 10 GBP, anywhere they run. So we got our explorer hats on and figured out that in combination with a hoovercraft, we could get to the Isle of Wight pretty cheaply, so we were off on our Saturday adventure! It's quite a journey to get there, so we took the 7:58 am train. It was a lovely ride for an hour and a half into Southampton (where Titanic set sail from). In Southhampton we caught a bus down to the harbor and caught the hi-speed passenger hoover craft to East Cowes. Then we caught a couple of buses to the center of the island as close to Carisbrooke Castle as we could get, then walked the rest of the way. One cool thing about castles is that they have amazing views because they're built up on hilltops to prevent surprise invaders. One un-cool thing about castles is that they're built on hill tops, so when you're a tourist you sometimes have to hike up the hilltop :) The view to the surrounding lands was beautiful! I can only imagine how spectacular it will be in the Spring!

They have the oldest and deepest well on the island that was dug hundreds of years ago. It is still used today to measure the water in the island's reserves and is where the council checks to see if they will be on restricted water usage or not. Back in the day, it used to be powered by slaves, but more recently they use donkeys. Here's Jack showing us how the donkey powered well works. So cool!

 Jack and Ben liked each other.

 

We were pretty excited about it not raining like the forecast said it would, but it was blustery and very cold on high up on that hill so we headed out to our next stop. Unfortunately, we missed the bus just as it started to rain, instead of standing in the rain, waiting 20 minutes for the next bus, we decided to walk the 20 minutes to the bus station. And for that 20 minutes, was the only rain of the day with a little snow/slush thrown in for good measure. Go figure. From the station, we caught a bus to Osbourne House the summer home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. When they bought it, it was too small (only 18 bedrooms!), so they tore it down and Albert designed a new one. They really did need more space because V&A had 9 kids! Plus all the servants and ladies in waiting. V&A also bought up all the nearby land and had their own private beach. Albert even designed the garden so that only from Victoria's rooms could you have a straight shot view to the shore - he lined trees in an arrow formation so the shore view from most other rooms was blocked. Now that's love right? Sadly, we couldn't take pictures inside, but it was beautiful and since they were the only monarchs to live there it has been preserved almost identically to the way it still is today.

I love Victoria and Albert. Victoria was the Queen and Prince Albert the Prince Regent and as such, tradition is that he always walks (in public) 10 paces behind the Queen to show his role as supporter and not equal to her. Well, Victoria thought that was rubbish and thought of him as her equal partner. She even had a second door built in to the wall leading from their sitting room to the room where she met with her Prime Ministers so that she and Albert could enter the room at the exact same time - and unprecedented move at that time. 

Albert was really involved as I said with the construction of the house and he was quite afraid of fire, so there is no wood at all used in the structure of the building. Also, there is a gap between the exterior and interior walls that was filled with sea shells as another fire-damper.

 A razorback at Osbourne House - Arkansas represent for Brian and Eila!

After Osbourne House, we hopped back on the bus to the West Cowes ferry terminal to catch it home. We didn't realize that with it being a vehicle ferry, it took an hour instead of 20 minutes! It was tight catching our train, but we barely did (it was in the station when we came running in like gang busters).

 

We finally got home around 8 that night. Rob thought we looked a little bedraggled and kindly documented it for us on (digital) film. It was a really fun day, albeit, a cold one. I wish that we would have more time to visit when it's warm, but we'll see - there's just so much to do!