Easter Monday - Dover

In the UK, Easter Monday is a bank holiday which means that almost everything that isn't tourist focused shuts down. We decided that with a bit of planning we could see Dover and Canterbury in a single (busy and long) day! We got an early start and took a two hour train ride down to the Southeastern tip of England. Brooks really enjoyed the train ride, the first time I've seen him really taking in all that we passed by.


Dover Castle doesn't usually make the rounds of American tourists, but it's really amazing! Settlements dating back to the Stone Age have been found there, the city was used as a main port for the Romans and Normans, and throughout English history it's played an important role because of its proximity to France (only 23 miles across the Channel). We visited the medieval tunnel system (deserted and creepy!), the old walls, the Roman lighthouse and the "keep" built during Henry II's era. We kept refering to LoTR Two Towers - "To The KEEEEEEP!" as we approached it from the lower walls around the tunnel system. Very impressive. This is the view from the top of the Keep. The dark bits at the horizon would be France.


Behind them is the Roman lighthouse. The outer castle walls with the keep and inner bailey are in the distance.


Under the castle hilltop, a maze of tunnels was carved during the Napoleanic wars to store supplies and house soldiers stationed in Dover. During the height of WW2 a hospital, a kitchen, soldiers' barracks and strategic planning rooms were all fitted into this spaces - just 15 meters beneath the hilltop. We took a tour of these "Secret War Tunnels" and I was really impressed with all the British did here - specifically the evacuation of Dunkirk (have you seen the movie Atonement? The main character was on the beaches of Dunkirk at one point in the film, just to give you a visual!). That entire operation was planned (in less than a week) and overseen in just nine days from these bunkers. Fascinating! Here are the boys after our tour, looking out from the tunnel balcony.


After we finished at the castle we marched down the hill to town and returned to the train station to find a taxi that could drive us over to the cliffs. We visited the eastern cliffs to see the famous "White Cliffs of Dover" up close. They are white because of the high chalk content in the ground. For those who have heard all my adventure stories, you might remember that I almost *died* (can you just hear the drama!?) on the cliffs of Dover 10 years ago while on a day trip from London. It was really fun to show Eric the site of my extremely vivid memories from that day. I was also very thankful that Brooks was content to ride on his dad's back and didn't want to walk around at that point.


(*** as an aside, I'm constantly amazed at the lack of basic safety precautions at natural parks or historic sites outside the US. I consistently think to myself things like "if we were in the States, there would be a guard-rail here or an at-your-own-risk warning sign or something!?" This cultural difference was interesting and a bit thrilling to me before I became a mom, but now I'm just terrified that my child will fall to his death while we're touring some amazing European site or something. Geez, I've made a huge mental shift in the last 18 months!)


The cab driver took us back to the train station and we jumped on the next train to Canterbury, eating our sack lunches on the way... After lunch, Brooks wanted to burn off some extra energy, so he and his Dada did laps up and down the train aisles.


Next stop, Canterbury...