Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Dover Castle to the Sherwood Forest - Part II

Life is beginning to return to a normal routine after almost three months of "being on vacation". Monday night it was just the four of us sitting at the dinner table. The last time that happened was June 1, right before my parents arrived and our summer holiday began. But before I get too comfortable being back in real life, I need to get caught up on our blogging adventures. It's late, and I am oh-so-tired, so I'll just leave you with our Dover Castle adventure for tonight.

There is some fascinating history about the castle you can check out here if you have a minute. Dover sits right on the coast is the closest point to France, and so, although the castle standing today wasn't built until the 12th century, the place itself has been an important defensive city since the time of the Romans in the 1st century AD. In fact near the castle is the remains of a Roman lighthouse that is supposedly the oldest standing building in Britain.

During the Napoleonic wars there were a series of underground tunnels build throughout the castle. During WWII these same tunnels became a military command center and underground hospital. I was super excited to tour the tunnels and learn more about them, but unfortunately the traffic getting to the castle was a lot worse than I was expecting and so there just wasn't time. We'll have to make another trip out to Dover before we leave England to see the tunnels. But we did enjoy walking around within the castle gates and catching a glimpse of France in the distance.

The beautiful castle

Victoria pointing the way we should go



France in the distance
The Roman lighthouse

PS I found us a new flat yesterday. I have two weeks to get us all packed up before moving day. It's not quite as nice as our flat now, but it has everything we need and we'll be saving a bundle of money on rent each month. It's only a half mile from where we are now. It will most definitely be the shortest distance I have ever moved :)

2 comments:

Laura said...

Really your pictures are amazing, thank you for sharing of your travels.

Congrats on a new flat, and so close! Yay, for saving money, that's wonderful!

Jan said...

I LOVED the pictures, especially the video of Antalya and her little sidekick dancing. Love the skirt upside down on Victoria's middle. That video is priceless to me, Sun! Thanks for catching the moment and for sharing!