Kent, England

There are so many cool places in England to explore.  On our 4-day trip we wanted to see as much as we could, so we took a day trip with Evan Evan's tours from Victoria bus station to Kent.  We had a great guide,who was knowledgable about all of the sites, and looooved to talk.  We heard about lots of cool history, and covered a lot of ground including: Leeds Castle, Canterbury, and Dover.

As we were driving we crossed over the Greenwich Meridian. The Greenwich represents the Prime Meridian of the world-Longitude 0º.  Every place on Earth is measured in terms of its distance east or west from this line, and it divides the world into eastern and western hemispheres.  Pretty cool.  Our first highlight was Leeds Castle, set on 500 acres of pure tranquility.

The castle was built on two islands in the middle of a man-made mote in the 13th century.

When Henry VIII lived here, he had 700 eels, 3 porpoises, and a dolphin.  I don't know how long a dolphin could survive in these waters...Good thing he didn't do this in modern day or someone would have called animal control!

I can't tell which picture is better, the one with us in it, or the one without us...So enjoy them both: The Castle!

 The lawn perfectly manicured, and makes for a great putting green or croquet course.

Let us go inside!

I really loved the rooms in the castle, they have been re-done to represent the original time frames of residents, up until the 20th century when Lady Baillies lived there.  Here is the 18th century decor:

Quite the bath....

Reception room for entertaining lots of guests!

No need to go to your local church to pray, when you have a castle big enough to have your own prayer room!

...and into the 1970's, the house became completely modernized.  This was definitely my favorite decor.  The bedroom was commissioned in 1936 to resemble the French Regency.  They were so advanced for their time, they even had built-in reading lights over the bed.

A pretty parlor, with one of Jordan's favorite paintings (this one is a replica, the original is in the library...keep scrolling).

World War II interrupted the progress of updating the castle, but in the late 1940's a new library was created, and it was by far our favorite room. I just love the couch colors!

I need these couches, they wont match anything in our house, but they are so cool!

Before leaving the castle we went to look at the Black Swans, which are all over.  They were pretty friendly and would come right up to you...squacking and all.

Here we are before leaving.  We signed a new lease... just waiting for the move in date :::wink::: :::wink:::

We boarded up our bus and headed on our pilgrimage to Canterbury.  First we stopped for lunch at Pantelis in Canterbury.  It is a cute old fashioned restaurant that has really good food at great prices. It was like eating home-cooked traditional English food from a grandmothers kitchen...Steak Pie and Fish and Chips anyone?!?

 ...and a Hatch does NOT turn down dessert when it's offered: Apple Strudel

We made it to the Canterbury Cathedral, which is most important church in the Anglican faith.  In 1170 it was the murder scene of Archbishop Thomas Beckett (allegedly on the orders of his friend King Henry II because he chose to protect the Church's interest even when disagreement erupted between the Church and the King).  Beckett was later made a saint and his shrine at Canterbury became a major pilgrimage site for hundreds of years.  If you haven't watched the old Richard Burton movie Beckett you might want to check it out.

It is seriously huge, and gorgeously gothic!

We took a stroll around. I feel like this is what Hogwarts must be like....

I love the cloister ceilings!

The architecture was so beautiful

If you think the outside is pretty, wait till you see the inside:

There were lots of shrines, and beautiful stained glass:

Some serious stained glass work!

A Thomas Becket tribute:

This shrine was my favorite, it is dedicated to the local regiment and all the wars they have fought in:

 I love how dusty and old it is, and so well preserved!

The Canterbury Cathedral was really beautiful, and a great place to visit.

The last part of our day trip was to Dover.  Have you ever heard of the Cliffs of Dover before?  They are famous white cliffs standing 400 feet above sea level.  This is the closest point to continental Europe and so every Englishman's first sight on returning home from war would be the white cliffs.

France is only 20 miles away across the channel, some people have swam it...Jordan took a feel, but too cold for today!

Monument to the swimmers:

Well, it was a little chilly, but we did see the cliffs (you can get a better view if you're on the fairy over to France). 

 Unfortunately we didn't have time to go into the castle up on the cliffs, which is super cool (we saw a Netflix show on the castle); there are only so many hours in the day. We did have a great time, and we continue our adventures in England in Bath.