Day 2 & 3– Aboard the “American Constitution” and Norfolk

   Yesterday we boarded the ship, ate, of course, and then decided which tours we would take. Today, going to Norfolk, VA we sailed past the Norfolk Naval Station which is supposedly the largest naval station in the world. I was in awe of how many ships were there. This morning after breakfast, where Tom had lobster benedict, delicious by the way, we went to the Military Aviation Museum. It is home to one of the largest private collections of WWI and WWII era aircraft in the world.  Each of the planes has been beautifully restored using original parts whenever possible. Most of the planes are airworthy. They had also moved the original Goxhill “watch tower” from England to Virginia Beach.  Yes it looked just like what you see in the movie, The Memphis Bell. Oh how I wished my Dad could have been with us. Of course we would never have gotten him out of there because he would probably have had more stories than our guides.

    This afternoon we were originally planning to go to the Virginia Aquarium, but since we are docked right next to the battle ship Wisconsin, we decided to go through that instead. We have been to an aquarium but never through a battleship.  It is 887’ long and 108’ wide. Its width is about that of the Mayflower. During WW II it had a crew of 2800 men. It has seen service in WWII, Korea, and Desert Storm. We took a private tour with only six of us and went into the engine room. We went down seven decks. The lecture was quite over my head as how the steam engines actually worked, but I guess she did serving in three wars. She could travel at 39 knots or 45 mph when at top speed. It was a most interesting afternoon. It certainly was not a tour that our ship could have offered as the steps were most steep and the area was crowded with six of us. So glad we did it.

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Tom & Holly