The Cliffs of Dover

So today was pretty much fantastic. We went to Dover. Right after we finished our last readings class we headed to St. Pancras station to catch a highspeed train to Dover Priory Station. Good grief that train flew! It only took us an hour to get there and that was with 4 stops at other stations. Dover was absolutely beautiful, I was pleasantly surprised at how small the town was. It was really just quaint and postcard perfect. The items on our agenda included checking out Dover castle "the key to England" and the famous white cliffs. Dover is only 20 miles of ocean away from France and on really clear days you can see the French coast in the distance. As we toured the castle we learned a good bit of British history. Dover Castle was built by King Henry II. In medieval times Dover sevrved as a point of passage for pilgrims wishing to visit the grave of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury. During WWII Dover castle was most famous for its use as the base of Operation Dynamo. This operation was the successful evacuation of British forces from France through Dunkirk port after the Nazis had taken over the country. It was all really interesting. The planning and execution of operation Dynamo occurred in a secret network of tunnels beneath the castle, which we got to tour today. The tunnel network at Dover was also used during the Cold War. Dover castle was defiantly my favorite castle of the trip and the white cliffs were certainly a site to see. We enjoyed it all so much that we stayed at the castle until they kicked us out at closing time. There was just so much to see and explore there (people were free to roam and read info at their own pace, no guided tour) we could have easily stayed for several more hours and still not seen it all.