Day Three – Portsmouth and Arundel Castle
Today we persevered through heat, low ceilings, and spiral staircases. Getting up bright and early to go either to Arundel Castle or HMS Victory, depending on which group you were in, was a struggle, but definitely worth it.
My group headed to the quaint English town of Arundel first, where we took a detour to the craft fair to support some small businesses.
Once on the castle grounds, we took a walk uphill towards Fitzalan Chapel which is where all the dukes, duchesses and earls of Arundel are buried.
Behind the chapel there were the gardens which were personally one of my highlights. They were full of different flowers, produce, statues, and great for a mini photoshoot. Before entering the castle, we cut through the rose garden and sat under a tree for a bite to eat.
Once inside, and might I add with no AC, we started the long trek to the keep. The keep was the original castle before becoming mainly for guarding purposes. Inside the castle there was breathtaking rooms and views with perfectly preserved furniture. You could tell it was the original furniture because of the pungent smell of dust!
Next stop was HMS Victory where we walked down the loading dock and scouted out some ice cream places. The boat was undergoing some restoration but you could still see it’s grandness.
Once on the boat and a few bumped heads later, we set out to answer the questions in our ISCA global programme booklet. We learned that the captain was Thomas Hardy, the boat took 4-8 people to steer, and it took 60-90 seconds to amputate an arm during battle.
So, after pestering the staff for answers, we took a peek in the HMS Victory Museum and proceeded to ice cream, which I then proceeded to drop!
We finished up the day by watching the new Harry Styles music video “Late Night Talking” (on repeat) and a quick dip in the pool.
Giulia
