We successfully executed a noon meet-up with Walter and Cleone @ the Holiday Inn, our home for tonight at the port. The rental car was returned and we headed off to a delicious, huge (think small whales) fish and chips lunch at a nearby pub, the Duke of Wellington. This old pub was built in the late 1400s and has been an inn ever since. Right inside the pub, sitting on a bar stool, was a cute cocker spaniel that clearly was a regular and not at all uncomfortable on its high perch. We gave him the attention he demanded before settling down at our table.

Joining our merry band of six for lunch was Margie and David, friend’s of Walter and Cleone’s from their days in England. Dan and I had had the pleasure of meeting them in England back in the late 80s. Margie, as a matter fact, invited me to her home and prepared my very first afternoon tea!

We wiled away the afternoon on foot popping in and out of shops, wandering the streets, and walking parts of the old wall. We learned that Southampton was one of the departure points on D-Day. Later we stumbled onto a huge anchor from the original Queen Elizabeth II (QE II) which was given to the city by Cunard in 2010 to commemorate the fact, according to a nearby plaque, that Southampton was QE II’s home port from which she set sail for the first time in 1969 and the last time in 2008.

An Englishman heard our accents and asked if we were from America. Once he got the answer he was looking for he pointed out a plaque on the old city wall that in part read, “The Pilgrim Fathers embarked here from the west quay on the Mayflower August 15, 1620.” I’m sure we would have never noticed the plaque had he not pointed it out. Suddenly the name Mayflower Cruise Terminal made more sense as did the tall statue with the tiny sailing vessel on top dedicated to the Mayflower. Duuh!

With our huge late lunch, none of us was starving for dinner, so we ate light in the bar at our hotel and headed to our rooms to get organized for a deep, satisfying (a lot of wishful thinking going on with jet lag lurking) night’s sleep.