This past weekend we headed out for yet another adventure. This time we stayed a little closer to home and went to Canterbury and Dover for the weekend. I could have spent an entire weekend in either town, so we are hoping to get back to see some more of the sights.
I loved Canterbury. I mean loved it. First of all, it's a walled city, so you still have to drive through the old city wall to get into the town center. We parked right inside the wall by an old castle... that didn't even show up in my guide book! I mean, really, when a castle doesn't even warrant a mention in the guide book, you know it's a good town.
There were two main attractions to the town for us. 1) Shopping. I needed a dress for a ball we have coming up. Yes, I said a ball. I'm not sure I've ever attended a ball before, but we're going in a few weeks. I did find a dress, and shoes, and a necklace, and a clutch... and the list kept seeming to build. I'll be sure to put up pictures. And N needed pants, (or excuse me, trousers... here "pants" means underwear, we mess that one up quite a lot!) Literally every pair but one of his pants had holes in it! After much trial and error for UK clothing and shoe sizes, we found most of what we were looking for.
The other attraction was 2) The Canterbury Cathedral. Again with the big churches. The boys were so good inside though, we were way proud of them. The Canterbury Cathedral is basically the center (centre) of the Anglican Church. Prepare yourselves for a history lesson!
So in 1170 Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury was murdered inside the cathedral by some knights of King Henry II. The king and the archbishop had very different ideas of the roles of the monarchy and the church at the time, and were frequently at odds with each other. The story goes that the king exclaimed in frustration, "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" Apparently his knights took his words literally and murdered Becket inside the cathedral. Since then thousands of pilgrims have come to the sight of the famous murder, and a candle still burns there. In fact, all the stairs leading to the shrine are worn by the footsteps of all the visitors over the centuries, and a tunnel was built in the 1400s under the choir to lead people straight to the shine, and keep them separate from the monks.
Here is a view down the nave of the church, which is only about half the length of the whole building. It's huge!
That night we stayed in a hotel in Dover, and had a horrible, I mean, horrible night's sleep. I had no idea my three year old snores like a truck driver! It was so bad that E actually got up an put in ear plugs so he could get some sleep. Ear plugs, to block out the snoring of a three year old! Poor little e, he sleeps with that every night... no wonder he's sometimes crabby in the morning, I would be too!
In the morning we were greeted with the worst shower I've ever experienced. The water was literally trickling from one little hole in the shower head... definitely not as they say here, "a power shower!" But, the hotel's fantastic breakfast made up for it all. By himself little e ate an entire Full English breakfast (two eggs, sausage, ham, toast and beans) and a container of yogurt, the kid can eat! And in case you were wondering, yes, he does weigh more than his big brother... Hmmm.
Our stop for the day was Dover castle. Dover is the town on the point of England closest to France. These days it is where the ferries all leave from to cross the English Channel. Obviously in the past it has been an important point of national defense, so this very imposing castle was built on top of the huge white cliffs of Dover, overlooking the channel.
What impressed me most about the castle was how it has been revamped and reused throughout history, right up to the 1960s! The first part of the tour we took was of the secret war tunnels. These were originally dug in the 1700s to house weapons in case of attack by Napoleon. They were expanded during WWII, and were used as a nerve center as well as barracks and a hospital. These are tunnels literally dug into the cliffs under the castle. In fact, from the ferry boat we could see the windows and balconies at the end of the tunnels, right in the rock!
Then we walked up the hill into the castle structure. This is one of the outer walls of the castle.
Looking down over the moat. You can see how high up on the cliffs this is. In the background there you can see the water of the English Channel, and you can barely make out the coast of France in the very back.
I was quite taken with this draw bridge. An actual drawbridge. It was really neat to see. Not only could the bridge be pulled up, the the large door above E's head could be lowered down as well, making a double barricade for potential attackers to go through, all the while dodging arrows from the many arrow shoots above!
Here N is looking especially cute sitting on the steps of the keep, or the big building in the middle of the castle complex. This keep is gigantic and was built by the same King Henry II as in the Thomas Becket episode. N wanted to go up and explore the top of the stairs (as he always does) I told him I'd go with him as long as he let me take a picture of him. Ah, bribery.
Our last stop was lunch at this cafe with a nice view of the keep. Not too shabby, huh?
A castle, an egg and mayonnaise sandwich, and a cup of hot chocolate the size of his head... N is one happy boy, and loves living in Europe!
