Norfolk, Pt. 2

Our day began at 0830 EDT, boarding the bus to the Submarine and Surface Naval Base of Norfolk. We took a public tour of the base, and thus were shown all the buildings, as well as given information about while driving by all the ships currently in port. The most impressive thing about this tour was driving by the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower, a Nimitz-class Supercarrier, the largest ships in the Navy. What an imposing sight to see one of those things floating in the water. Jaw-dropping, really.
Next, we took an up close and personal tour of an AEGIS strike command cruiser, the U.S.S. Porter. This was an impressive, if smaller, ship, and was manned by about 250 men. The tour was quite extensive. We then took a break for lunch, resuming the tours with an interesting expedition into the LHA multipurpose amphibious warfare ship the U.S.S. Nassau. The sheer size of the ship was difficult to realize until you were right beside it, or inside of it. It bears a striking resemblence to a miniature aircraft carrier.
Finally, we ventured into downtown Norfolk in order to visit the Nauticus museum and U.S.S. Wisconsin. The museum explored some interesting naval history and contained some fascinating scale models of old and new ships (including the aforementioned Nimitz-class supercarriers). The U.S.S. Wisconsin is a Battleship attached to the mueseum that has not yet been taken off the active duty list, so it can still technically be recalled for use by the navy. We only got to walk on the deck of the Wisconsin, instead of going inside like we did on the other ships we toured.
I had cheesecake from (gasp) the cheesecake factory tonight. There was a little Cheesecake Factory bakery that served all sort of food in the MacArthur center mall in downtown Norfolk, so I decided to indulge, courtesy of the government. It was Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake. Amazing.
To top it all off, we ran by the Apple store next and they had fully functional iPhone models just waiting to be test-driven, so me and Josh Riggins spent a full 25 minutes or so messing around with the iPhone. Now that is a technological marvel. For all the complaints about it, it really is a stunning piece of equipment.
Tomorrow, heading home: departure at 0700 EDT.