Plymouth, England

Plymouth reminds me quite a bit of the town that I grew up in, Bremerton, WA. It is a Navy town (or perhaps Air Force) with a notable military presence. There are plenty of memorials around that honor veterans and the war dead. The weather is the same Marine Westcoast climate (which means it is usually raining) and it seems that most of the economy centers around the armed forces. The University of Plymouth, the facilities of which Michigan State University utilizes for the masters program which I am taking, sits on a hill pretty much in the center of Plymouth. The buildings are grey, monotonous, and ugly; another reminder of my hometown.

Plymouth basically has two claims to fame. It is from here, of course, that the pilgrims left on the Mayflower. It is also from here that Sir Francis Drake left to attack the Armada in July of 1588. It is said that Drake was playing a game of "Bowls" on the Ho (a bluff overlooking the channel, which still exists as a park today) when notified that the infamous Armada had been spotted, at which point he of course finished his game. The vastly outnumbered English fleet left Plymouth that night to begin their menacing attacks on the Armada. It wasn't until the Fall with the help of the storms that the mighty Spanish Armada was defeated.