Dover Castle, White Cliffs, and Canterbury

Wow. What a day!!! We had our first "excursion" as a group and drove up to see Dover Castle, Dover's legendary White Cliffs, and Canterbury. All on the southeast coast of England!

Talk about an early morning, getting out of London is nearly impossible so that meant waking up before the rest of the world so we could get there with plenty of time. So after getting ready at 5:30 in the morning, we had rice yogurts for breakfast, packed our turkey sandwiches (they put Ketchup on them...weird....) and got on the bus to head to the coast! Most people slept. Lucky for me I got a little nauseous and had to keep my eyes on the road because I didn't want to lose friends quickly by throwing up on them! We arrived in foggy Dover 2 hours later. It was better than I could ever imagine!

Looking down the hills from the castle. Classic foggy day.

Just cooking up some dinner at the castle.

We pulled up to the Castle, took a small hike getting up there and took a tour of the area. This castle was built mostly by Henry II, though it was also contributed by the Roman rule. The rolling hills with the flowers and the ancient building were a little too much perfect to handle. I couldn't put my camera down! There was a moat, a little village within the Castle's walls, and wartime tunnels from the Napoleonic Wars and WWII. We took tours of both, they were hidden in the side of the cliffs, and weren't rediscovered until a couple years ago! They used some of the tunnels as an emergency hospital for people getting off the coast from battle. It was amazing seeing how nothing had changed since!

I am in love with England castles!!! Here is part of the Dover Castle grounds.

 

We unfortunately had to leave the Castle... even though I was thinking about moving in! We took a short drive north to a wonderful lookout of the cliffs. These cliffs are famous for there crisp white color against the green hills of the coast. There were wild flowers, waves crashing, MAJOR drop offs, and just a little mist to make you realize that you were far from Utah. I was super obnoxious and kept singing "The hills are alive...with the sound of music...." but it was just to green and pretty not to look like a fool and sing! I'm sure I won't be invited back to the area though. Because I'm a crazy American.

White Cliffs of Dover with Sarah!!!

After a short visit to the cliffs, we headed inland just a tiny bit to the famous Canterbury!!! Anyone protestant? A member of the Church of England? Do you know who Thomas Becket is? Well we were fortunate enough to visit the Mother Church for Anglicans. Also known as the Canterbury Cathedral. This. Church. Is. Gorgeous. Thomas Becket was the Archbishop murdered in the cathedral by Henry II's knights. He then became Saint Thomas and many people take the famous pilgrimage to Canterbury to pay respects to him. And now I can say I have too! We took an extensive tour, saw some of the loveliest areas, and truly fell in love with the area! Oh, did I mention I saw the Archbishop of Canterbury? Super famous. Married William and Kate. Yeah. No biggie.

All carved from limestone. SO elaborate!!!

Canterbury Cathedral with some of the group!

I wanted to get a picture but he was doing a ceremony and didn't want to be disrespectful. Sorry folks.

We walked around the town of Canterbury next because we had some free time before we had to head home. Let me paint a picture for you. You know when Belle from "Beauty and the Beast" is singing that opening song, walking through that cute village? Well I'm pretty sure Disney just cartoonized (is that even a word??) Canterbury and put it in their film. There were these guys singing songs on the street, and asked us where we were from, we told them from Utah and they just made up a song on the spot about Salt Lake City and Mitt Romney. It was pretty clever! I was surprised they knew so much about the US and politics too! So that was a fun little addition to our day trip.

Isn't it the most charming place? This is just a typical Canterbury street!

Keep calm stuff is EVERYWHERE!

 We sadly had to leave to head back home. Got on the bus. Arrived safe and sound a couple hours later. Went to grab "take away" and Oodles of Noodles (soooo good). Came home and studied until.... now basically! I have class early in the morning so I'm going to go and do some last minute reading but I love you all! Hope "The Colonies" are treating you well! Much love from across the pond!