Started the day off with a big mistake... I did not sleep in, and the Admiral had a full afternoon of activities planned, which meant no nap. After 153 days on the boat, you would think that I would have learned by now??? The adult fare was $1.50 and the 50% discounted Senior Fare was $0.75.
We caught the Norfolk to Portsmouth Ferry (first picture) across the river to the historic riverfront area in Portsmouth.
From the ferry, we had nice views back at the Norfolk waterfront and skyline. The scattered high clouds allowed the temperature to reach 70F away from the water. With a nice breeze it was comfortable sitting outside on the ferry with a sleeveless sweater on. It was nice going past some of the shipyards that we had passed yesterday with someone else "driving" so that I could be more of a tourist.
We first went to the Commodore Theater to purchase tickets for the 2:00 pm dinner theater showing of "Noah". After buying tickets, we had planned to go to a marine supply store, which it turns out is no longer in business. Well, we then spent some time in an antique store, but by then it was time to go inside the theater. We had been advised that all ordering needed to be done before the show started. Robert, the famous lockmaster that we met yesterday, had recommended the Nachos with BBQ Beef. We took his recommendation and were not disappointed. Just before the show started, we ordered some popcorn so that I could get my
movie popcorn fix... The theater is a historic landmark, but they have state of the art projection and sound (Dolby, 3-D, etc.). The side walls had colorful murals with local scenes (picture on right). The mushroom lights at the bottom were on the tables that had nice stuffed arm chairs that could be re-arranged for viewing the movie (and holding hands). All in all it was a pretty class act. Just one more of those pieces of local color that the Admiral has been so good at finding. Once more, we were very grateful that we have had the time to explore towns and find wonderful places like this theater.
After the movie, we walked around a little on the way back to a different ferry dock. Along the riverfront walkway, we passed the Portsmouth Lightship. Lightships played an important role in dangerous areas where it was too deep to build a lighthouse. It must have been miserable duty aboard an anchored vessel subjected to violent Atlantic storms, which no doubt made regular re-supply and crew changes difficult. One of the problems with the restoration and display of vessels is that they must be dry docked regularly to have their bottoms painted or in a worst case have the steel bottoms replaced. Here they seemed to have solved that problem by putting the lightship in the ground encased in concrete. They also have a wall so that several inches of water make it look like the boat is afloat. Pretty good idea, and it has worked for about 60 years.
We also walked past the "Learning Barge", which is a floating marine education center. This kind of facility is appropriate for this area given the heavy influence of maritime activities on the economy, environment, etc. Besides, I really like the name...
Sadly, by then it was nearly 5:00 pm and time to catch one of the ferries back across to our marina on the Norfolk side of the river.
..and so, I will end today's post with a picture of the blades on the (fake) paddlewheels.
No comments:
Post a Comment