Dover: Sore Feet and Beautiful Sites

DOVER. Oh man, where do I even start? This is going to be a long post, so prepare yourselves. Many pictures to be had though, so that's something.

So in the spirit of freedom, our professors gave us one "choose your own adventure" day on the fourth of July. When they asked for people to throw out suggestions for places that people wanted to go, I raised my hand and said Dover. We were going to go there as a family a couple weeks ago, but ended up not having time to make the 2 hour drive out there. Incredibly, there were people who also thought that was a great idea! Suddenly we had a group of 10 people making plans to go to Dover to see the White Cliffs.

Going by bus was by far the cheapest option, so with tickets bought and ready, we woke up bright and early and left for the station at 6:30am. We hopped on the bus without a hitch and were off to Dovah!

You're required to where seatbelts on buses here. Strange. *psst! I may have been a rebel and not worn my seatbelt!* :D

 

 

Caitlin!

 

Alexis and Neeko!

 

Me and Malori!

 

Neeko sleeping in the most patriotic way possible. Pretty much everyone napped on the drive up, which is a bit of a shame because it was a pretty drive. Here are some sights from the bus:

 

First thing we did once we were off the bus was hike up the hill/mountain in pursuit of the castle!

 

 

Goats at the base of the wall! Haha :D

 

The view from the outer walls was spectacular. Once we were inside (after paying the nice ticket booth lady) we walked along the wall and down to the secret war time tunnels, which were amazing. They were used in WWI and WWII and were used as a crucial base, especially as Nazi Germany invaded France.

 

 

This piece of history was incredible. As the Allied Forces were corned into the French coastal city Dunkirk, they only expected to be able to evacuate 45,000 troops. But with the help of the local British people and their fishing boats, yachts, etc. and some very competent military leadership, they were able to rescue over 300,000.

 

This is the view from the cliffs that the tunnels ran along.

 

Such an incredible view!

 

The gift shop people at the tunnels were so charming! Two old men who wished us a very happy Independence Day and pointed out some tea we might buy to throw in the nearest harbor. :D I bought some rations fudge instead, which is heavenly.

 

On to the castle!

 

 

I have to admit, I couldn't really appreciate this amazing Dover Castle for its history because one of the guides made the mistake of casually mentioning that Marvel was there 2 weeks ago, filming Avengers: Age of Ultron. Let the geeking out of 10 film majors commence. He directed us to a Becky upstairs who was in the room they filmed in and knew more about it.

 

Us: Are you Becky?

Becky: ...yeah

Us: So we heard that Marvel was here two weeks ago and you were here??

Becky: Oh gosh! I thought I was gonna be in trouble or something!

 

Haha! :] She then proceeded to pull out her iPhone, show us some *legal* photos of what she saw and described how the room was used in the scene and what actors/filmmakers she saw. Guys. We stood in the same room that Joss Whedon and Robert Downey Jr. did!!! :D

 

 

Here's the room, although it will probably be unrecognizable in the film.

 

Apparently, Iron Man flies through this window. :D

 

Becky was so great to talk to. And she offered to take a picture for us!

 

 

 Just, ya know, sitting on a throne. The Queen, the King, and the Fool.

 

 

 

Then we headed to the roof! More gorgeous views!

 

 

Neeko flew Old Glory on a pole but...

 

It promptly was ripped away by the wind. That English castle was having none of our colonial rebellion.

Oh! And apparently Disney was filming Into the Woods out here a month-ish ago! Cool!

 

 

Then we asked for directions to the cliffs, and started our mile hike (finally!). The cliffs were the real reason I wanted to go to Dover, so I was glad to be closer to seeing them!

 

And boy, was I not disappointed.

 

 

We walked in the woods, then followed  a road up the mountain! Single file everybody!

Reached the visitor's center! Lunch break!

 

 

 

It was gorgeous. I wish we had time to walk all the way along them, but we only got to the first set then had to turn back. But one day I will go back and walk all the way out to the Victorian lighthouse.

 

We spend the next hour or so walking back into Dover, and we ran across a café that was good price and had the game on. I splurged a bit and got a chocolate milkshake and a chicken and bacon panini. It was delicious. And look at the straw! :D

 

 

Then the not so fun part happened--my phone died. And then there was some disagreement about where the bus was picking us up, and one of us lost their ticket, and then we were splitting up, and then we barely all rejoined and found the bus together. AHHHHHH. Ya. Much stress. But we all made it back.

 

Whew! It was quite the day of walking, but it was completely worth it. Isn't it just so beautiful?