Portsmouth's 375th Delegation in England

Day 1 -Saturday, 18 May: We arrived in Portsmouth this morning before noon after a 6 1/2 hour flight overnight to London and then a van provided by the Portsmouth City Council for the 1 1/2 hour trip to Portsmouth. Most of us got little or no sleep on the British Airways flight, which was fully booked. Once here we walked around a bit to find a pub for lunch: there must be a pub on every block in this city! After a short nap, we were met by Portsmouth City Councellor, Hugh Mason, who took us on a walking tour of the old section of the city, which dates from the 11th century. A short stop at Hugh's favorite pub, the Hole in the Wall, and then the walking tour continued along the waterfront, eventually arriving at the Spice Island Inn for dinner within sight of Portsmouth's Spinnaker Tower. We are being shown a very impressive level of hospitality by the Portsmouth City Councii, with Hugh providing a running historical commentary on his beautiful city, aided by Matthew, his fellow councilor, who accompanied us on most of the tour. We arrived back at the Hotel Ibis at 9:45 p.m. after an evening of strenuous walking and ready for a full nights sleep.

Day 2 - Sunday, 19 May: Another busy day, starting with an invitation by the Very Reverend David Brindley, the Dean of Portsmouth to attend a special Pentecost Service at Portsmouth Cathedral, which dates back to the 12th century, and for lunch afterwards. The Cathedral was rebuilt after World War II to the original specifications and hosts a highly diverse and enthusiastic congregation. The service itself was followed by the release of red balloons in honor of the Pentecost celebration. After the service, we were invited to the Dean's home, where we met his wife, Gill, and then were taken to the oldest pub in Portsmouth, The Dolphin, for lunch. This pub was founded in 1528, predating the foundering of Portsmouth, RI by110 years, and may have been patronized by some of our Founders who sailed from Portsmouth enroute to the New World in the 1630s. (It makes a good story anyway!)

After a short break at our hotel, we were met in the lobby by the future Lord Mayor designee, Councillor Lynn Stagg, and taken to another pub, the Abarbistro (formerly the American Bar Bistro named after the US sailors that frequented the place during and after WW2) for a fish and chips dinner hosted by the current Lord Mayor, Councillor Frank Jonas and some other Porstmouth City Councllors. This was followed by a driving tour of the areas surrounding Portsmouth, which included a Roman Fort, Portschester Castle, which dates back about 2000 years.

After a few other stops, we were returned to our hotel at about 9:45 PM.
Tomorrow is a really busy day, when we attend the Lord Mayor "making"
ceremony starting at 10 AM at the Portsmouth Guild Hall. Then we will attend the Annual Council meeting in the afternoon, where we get an opportunity to make our formal invitation to the new Lord Mayor, followed by a dinner that evening in the Lord mayor's Banquet Room (I'm not making this up...) that starts at 7:30 PM and will conclude at 11 PM. Shortly after 10 PM, I will be allowed a short speech of greetings from Portsmouth, RI to the Council and Lord Mayor, along with the delegations from Portsmouth's sister cities from France, Germany and Japan.

So, you can see we are keeping busy - and I cannot say enough about the
hospitality being show us by our namesake city. We look forward to trying to reciprocate when their Lord Mayor comes to visit us for our 375th celebration festivities in Late August.

Doug