Castles, Tunnels and Heaven

May 14 Day 7

We drove to the town of Dover, right across the English Channel from France. We toured Dover Castle, which was built in the 12th century by King Henry II. The castle itself had about three different levels with large banquet halls that looked like it came straight out of a movie about the medieval times. The castle was surrounded by a large wall, within which there were numerous buildings and rooms. Outside of the wall, there was an embankment and lookouts, surrounded by a deep ditch and another embankment. I'd like to see anyone in medieval times try to breach those defenses.Dover Castle

An ancient Roman lighthouse next to a Saxon church

At the edge of the castle grounds, which sat above the cliffs overlooking the Channel, were a series of tunnels built into the soft chalky ground. THey were originally built around 1800 during the Napoleonic Wars, as a defense against Napolean's army. The British were able to successfully defeat Napolean at the battle of Trafalgaar, due in part to the strategic position of these tunnels. They were added to in the 1930's and were used during World War II to plan the evacuation of the allied troops when Hitler overran Belgium and France, and to help plan the D-Day invasion of France in 1944. The tunnels had hospitals, meeting rooms, barracks, everything you needed to run an army in secret. IT was very interesting.The Secret Wartime Tunnels

While we were at the castle, a large group of school kids from France were on a tour. They acted like just any other group of teenagers, thoroughly engrossed in their own little social world and oblivious to most people around them. They behaved OK for the most part. There was this one kid who I kept running into, and he kept greeting me with "Hello" in his best English accent and I would reply the same, but eventually I replied with "Salut" which is the French equivalent to "Hi". There were actually a lot of French visitors that day, I'd say the majority of them were French. Afterall, it is just 24 miles across the English Channel to France.The white cliffs of Dover

After touring the Castle and the tunnels, we drove to a small Castle called Walmer castle, which was used mainly as a home. It was originally built about 700 years ago, and has changed owners alot, but has been mainly in the hands of the Royal family. WHat we liked most about it was how quiet it was, because we got there about 1/2 hour before closing. The inside was beautiful, more modern, about 1700's, but the outside garden was delightful. Mom said she felt like Elizabeth Bennett from Pride and Prejudice walking outside in the garden surrounding their home. It reminded me of some of the paintings of gardens by Thomas Kinkade. Well, afterall, they call Kent, which is this part of the country, the Garden of England.
Walmer Castle

A funny thing happened while we were in Dover. We had driven into town after our castle tour to do some shopping, and as we were leaving our parked car, Mom excaimed, "I feel like I've died and gone to heaven!" I thought to myself, "Wow, she must be really enjoying herself". But then she pointed to a group of retired people with white hair wearing white shirts, white pants, white shoes, and white jackets gathered on the lawn next to the parking lot. As we got closer, we realized they were a lawn bowling team, and they were practicing against each other. They really did look like what I would imagine people to look like in heaven, all dressed in white. We got a good chuckle out of that.Our angels playing lawn bowling

One thing we discovered about driving along the country roads: they are barely wide enough for two small European vehicles, and the cars go 70 miles per hour on the narrow roads. It was a little nerve wracking, and you combine that with still getting use to driving on the left side of the road, and it makes for an interesting experience. But we're getting the hang of it, with no more blunders today.English version of the Port 'o Potty