Down by the seaside
This is as we walked from Zoe's parents house toward the town center. Notice the church is the highest structure in the town.
A view down the High Street toward the sea as we left a pub. One of the nice things here is that you can have a pint, or two, in the middle of the day and you don't have to hide your face and find some seedy joint where nobody knows you. Notice how Zoe is walking away from me. For some reason when I lug out my 25 lb 1999 digital camera she tends to want to distance herself from me.
A picture of the Ryde Pier. The Pier was finished in 1814 and was built because at low tide, ships cannot reach shore. On the photo on the bottom, you can make out the yellow catamaran leaving for Portsmouth. That is how we will leave the island on Monday.
This is a picture of the seafront. There are a number of pubs and hotels that cover this stretch of the town. This is a prime tourist spot for the English in the summer months. All though we have always been off season, I am told that the place is packed.
Here is the third way off the island, or fourth if you count swimming, the Hover Craft. It is about a ten minute ride across the Solent. You can see the Ryde pier in the background.