Day 42:

Today was our last day-trip out of London. We went to Canterbury first, and then to Dover. When you hear the word Canterbury you probably think of one of two things: the "Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer (considered the first real English literature) or the Archbishop of Canterbury (who is the equivalent of the Pope in the Anglican church, although technically the king/queen is above him). Both of these things are directly linked with the Cathedral in Canterbury. It is a HUGE chapel and although much of the bright color and gold adornment has worn off over thousands and thousands of years, it is still beautiful. The oldest parts of the chapel are from the 1100s. People used to make pilgrimages here to worship and just to marvel at the building. These pilgrimages became even more frequent when Thomas Beckett, the Archbiship of Canterbury under Henry II, was murdered here. (The two had been long-time friends, but when Thomas was appointed he became a pious man and did some things differently than what Henry wanted. In a moment of anger, Henry said "Who will rid me of this meddlesome priest?" and 4 knights took it as thier cue to ride off to Canterbury to murder the priest. It turns out the king didn't really intend for his friend to be killed and made the pilgrimage to Canterbury barefoot to show his penetance for the deed. Beckett's body was buried in the crypt in the Cathedral and a new chapel was added on in dedication to him. A piece of the sword that killed him and a portion of his scalp that was sliced from his head were kept on display for many years and people thought that praying to them or touching them would give them healing powers. Of course, this only increased the number of pilgrims that made the journey to Canterbury. You can still see where the stones are worn smooth from so many people kneeling there.

Next we went to Dover. We just expected to see the white cliffs, but we actually spent more time seeing a castle there (a little too much time in the castle). The neat thing about this castle though was that you pretty much had free reign to wander where you wanted. There were a few places roped off, but you could go up and down most corridors if you felt like it. You were also allowed to go up on the roof where there was a great view of both the city in the valley and of the English Channel. It was kind-of a hazy day, but we could still make out France across the water. The castle was the old, stone, big, open, cold kind - not like a fancifully furnished castle you'd see today. I think it was more often used as a vacation or visiting castle by Henry VIII (among others) and as defence point.

view from castle roof: can you see France?

old chapel next to the castle

After playing around at the castle we got to go down to the beach for a half hour or so. There was no sand... just rocks. It was a little bit painful to wade in the water, but worth it. One kid actually jumped in and started swimming... in his jeans!!! Let me tell you, that was a fun bus-ride home for him! I wish we could have gotten a better view of the Dover Cliffs. We could see some - they're all around, but because we were at a big port area it wasn't just the stunning secluded-in-nature cliffs you see in pictures. They were beautiful though.