We had quite the adventure yesterday. We all dragged ourselves up in order to have breakfast at seven and left for the bus by seven forty-five. I would like to add that on my way down the stairs from breakfast in the hall I twisted my ankle. I don't even know how I do these things but somehow I manage on a regular basis. Those of you who followed my winter fall record will probably enjoy this post.
Anyway the bus ride to Dover was a few hours long but I brought my travel pillow this time so it was phenomenally more comfortable. I cannot even begin to describe how beautiful Dover is. The water of the English Channel is a stormy blue that rises and falls over a brown pebble beach; the white chalky cliffs emerge slowly over the city and the emerald greenery grows up until it forms the grass that blankets the hills of Dover; and the brilliant blue sky stacked full with crisp white clouds dome overhead. This was the beautiful landscape I found myself in, the gray slabs of stone rising from hill. And as we're walking towards it I tank it on the cobblestone.
Yep, that's me. I gash open my right knee and rip a small hole in one of my favorite pair of jeans. Luckily, Gayle, our Culture liaison/Etiquette mistress, had a bunch of band-aids in her bag. I kind of limped for awhile but I was still able to enjoy Dover.
There's so much history in Dover Castle. Initially it was a Roman settlement, an ancient lighthouse still stands on one of the hills, it's rock walls crumbling. Brendan our resident history buff was like a kid at Christmas when we explored the Roman ruins. We were all enraptured by different parts of the castle. I loved standing on top of the castle keep; all of Dover lay before me, the ancient history and the modern movements of the city below. But my far the best part was being able to explore the nooks and crannies. I felt a bit like I was playing princess.
Me on top of Dover Castle
This was my first real English castle, and though I should have known better, I was surprised by the immense amount of stairs. England likes to remind me how out of shape I am by continually having me climb a profuse amount of stairs. I literally had to stop and catch my breath on a little landing after five flights of steep spiral stairs. But it was worth it to get to the top of the castle.
We also went through a twenty minute tour of some of Dover's tunnels. Originally the tunnels were built to defend from Napoleon, but received most of their use during World War II when the city of Dover was bombed. We went through the portion of tunnels that was originally designed to be a hospital. I wasn't allowed to take photos but I do believe I had an experience down there. I'm still a bit skeptical but I may have seen a ghost. There was an audio overlay to the tour about a young mosquito pilot who was shot down in the ocean and brought to the hospital for surgery. As we're walking from the triage center we enter a long hallway, several doors lead to wards or barracks, but at the very end are large green locked doors.
The one picture I snagged in the hospital
The tour was leading us to the right towards the kitchen, but as people filed past I looked down the corridor for some reason. Just in front of the green doors was a tall man with close cropped brown hair in what I thought was an green airman's jumpsuit. He stood quietly with his hands behind his back and then suddenly walked with clipped steps into what I later found out was the surgery ward. Believe me, I have tried to rationalize this. I thought perhaps it was a hologram as part of the tour (we later discovered a hologram in the castle but it spoke and was clearly serving a purpose), but when we got to the part of the tour where I thought the hologram would show up nothing happened. I stared at the ceiling looking for potential cameras but nothing I could find looked out of place; the ceiling and walls were bare steel and rock with sparse lighting overhead. I later asked everyone if they had seen the man and got strange looks in response. I'm not above admitting I got duped, but I'm also not above believing in ghosts. A place with that much history has to have a few.
Still, we only had limited time in Dover and my group of friends--Sarah, Michael, Brendan, Jordan, Michaela, Julia, and Jessica--walked down the hill and found our way to the beach. The sky was so remarkably clear that you could actually see France in the distance, which is incredibly rare for Dover. The water of the Channel was cold! I squeaked when it first hit my toes. But it felt good to dip my feet and ease my tired muscles. Whenever I travel to someplace with a nearby body of water, I try to take a picture of myself in it. The English Channel is no different.
Our feet in the ocean
Clockwise: Sarah, Jessica, Julia, Michaela, and Me
Shortly thereafter we had to get back on the bus and head to Canterbury. It was a short, thirty minute journey, and we arrived just in time to attend Evensong at Canterbury Cathedral. The architecture of the cathedral is so beautiful. During the service I couldn't help but gawk at everything around me. Marble and granite carvings of angels and saints. The panoramic rainbow of stained glass. Canterbury Cathedral is most certainly visually stimulating. I took a ridiculous amount of pictures when Evensong was over. Gayle even told me that the stone chair behind the altar is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leading religious power of the Anglican church world-wide, and the chair is supposedly a thousand years old. At least that's what I was told. Very impressive.
Our group was allowed to go on the audio tour and many of us took that opportunity to learn of the extensive history of the church. Of course some of the most fascinating parts were about Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury who was martyred in the Cathedral. Many of you have probably heard the famous story in history class about how Henry II was rumored to have said, "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?", which four knights of the realm took as permission to murder Becket. The whole story is actually quite dramatic. You should look up the details (but not on Wikipedia!).
The place where Thomas Becket was martyred
The Black Prince of Whales is also buried in Canterbury, and of course the actor from A Knight's Tale immediately comes to mind. I hope the historical man was that handsome. But they had his actual helmet and tunic on display as well as replicas. Naturally, I took a great abundance of pictures.
We had to be back at the bus by six p.m. so we had roughly and hour for food by the time the audio tour was done. And being burned badly by my experience so recently at The Encore in Stratford, I went to Pizza Hut for takeout. Now I want no judgment from any of you! You're probably thinking my God Caitlin, you're in England shouldn't you be trying English cuisine. Trust me, they serve us high quality English style food nightly at hall table. When they leave us to our own devices that is my time to chow down on something I am sure my stomach will like. I essentially shoveled down a nine inch pan cheese pizza in twenty minutes. My group was shocked. But it was soooooo good.
It was about eight o'clock when we got back to Gonville and Caius, and we all seemed to congregate in The Buttery. Michaela and Julia convinced us all to dress up and go out karaoking at a pub called Quinn's. So I got all dolled up and headed out with the rest. We had a great time! We sang and danced to everything that played including Michael Jackson and the Spice Girls. Of course three of our group got up and serenaded the group with Sir Mix A Lot's classic Baby Got Back. Lots of laughter was had by all. Eventually some of us made our way over to The Regale, which was only about a block away. We danced some more but shortly thereafter called it a night. May I just say that the cobblestone streets and wedge sandals do not mix. I turned my ankle several times as we headed to the pub. I believe there's now a phrase among the group about "pulling a Caitlin" which covers any bit of clumsiness from falling to tripping. Yep, just brought this blog full circle.
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