Day 15 VCUK-23 June 2019

Today I woke up super early and got ready and packed and made lunch and then went and caught the train from Euston to Charing Cross and being an entire hour early sat and read and waited.

The train was on time and I got a window seat. It was pretty empty and uneventful and I read the whole time. I love seeing all the little towns and rolling hills out the window. I like to think about all the lives and families in the little houses and if they long for the city or if they're content doing little things. I like to imagine them as content doing little farm things all day in their old little houses but I know they're probably business workers and busy bodies like everyone else and probably don't even have a garden.

I got there and immediately wandered my way straight to the castle. My knack for direction pays off. Google maps said it should take 30 minutes but it took me about 15. I also took this cute little stairs (very tiring tho) route that the maps didn't know about that was essentially straight up to the castle from the town center.

I went in and got my ticket and started wandering. IT WAS HUGEEEEE. I thought it was just going to be a castle but it was A Castle. It had an outer curtain wall that was ginormous and a huge steep moat pit thing around it and then inside that were a bunch of different structures including another bailey and keep. It was wild and I spent all morning there. Surprisingly I think I was able to see almost literally everything. I wandered to the right around the outside edge of it first. The views were gorgeous. In one direction is the cliffs, one the see and port, and the other two the rolling hills. I went into all the little nooks in the wall and viewpoints and towers. Then there were a couple of little buildings that had a restaurant in them now and I dunno what they were originally. I ate my Nutella sandwich and apple.

Then I wandered down farther. There was a little tower and bridge. Then the tunnels! Uncle Chris would've really liked it. There were two tunnel entrances that you could do tours of. One the hospital (which I did later) and one I don't remember but it had something to do with technology and it was a long wait and a long tour so I didn't have time. I walked down this path down along the side of the cliff that led to a different part of the tunnels and had a little exhibit in it. Dover was important in WWII cause it was a base but they also planned the Dunkirk rescue from it and that's where they brought the soldiers to.

Then I went and continued up and around the outer wall. There was a manor house that used to be the mess hall. It has a great unobstructed view of the sea and is pretty big. Sadly it's not open and they're not using it for anything now. I wish they had more signage here and more explanation of what stuff is. There was also a look out point for ?flag signaling? and also this weird stairwell that goes into the depths (I would later come out of this).

I continued up and along the wall. This side was higher up and had a bunch of gun battlements and barracks and little underground hut thingies and a tower! I went into all of it. Even the scary dark tunnel parts. It's really crazy how much is built here. The tower part was really cool cause it was a little pathway and then all the sudden you're on the remains of a medieval tower with pretty arches and arrow slits. Also really cute on the moat/hill below there was sheep! They mow the lawn! cute

Then I went into the medieval underground tunnels. They were dug way way back when the french were invading and couldn't get through the walls so they dug under and the english dug back at them. The tunnel was spooky and I was not a fan. It also had a tower in it and also cannons.

Then I finally went into the castle bailey. It had little exhibits and a cafe and gift shop in the wall part and then in the middle was The Keep. When I say it was a big castle I mainly mean this (also the grounds but this was also ridiculously big). The Keep was built by the Henry II as a "modern" castle but in the keep style. So it's a big square. It was so immense it was wild. The rooms are all set up like they would've been back in the day completely with colorfully painted replica furniture. It was really interesting but yet again I wish there was more info on it. The ground floor I entered in had a MASSIVE kitchen its larger than any kitchen I've ever seen. Even bigger than the one at Brighton Pavillion. Then the next floor had a bedroom and the dining hall. Then the next floor had a throne room (I sat on the throne of course). (Some man commented about how I sat on the kings "man" throne instead of the "female" throne and I wanted to throttle someone.) Behind the throne was a a hallway to the king's bedroom and also a closet room and another room that led off to this little private chapel which was weird and very gothic. Then there were two other random rooms that were pretty empty, a bathroom that was actually vaguely private, and a well which was insane. It is apparently dug 400 feet into the ground cause that's sea level. Then there was a large entry staircase that goes to the ground floor and a rain water collection room. Then one more floor up was some weird hallways that apparently originally helped let light into the rooms below them. They had a bunch of windows overlooking the different rooms below. Then finally it was the roof. The whole structure has two giant spiral staircases in opposite corners of the building which was interesting and easy to navigate but also the staircases were wild looking and very wide. It was really impressive.

After I went and bought a water bottle cause I was dying by this point and was also throughly exhausted and hiked out but hey lets go hike the cliffs of dover amirite.

I went to the church which was lame and the Roman lighthouse which was cute. It's crazy to think that this location has been consistently used for so long.

Then I went to the tunnel area again and I did the hospital tour. It was interesting. They did it as an immersive experience so each room she would hit a button and it would play noises and the lights would flicker and stuff. It was spooky and crazy. It did an air raid and the lights went out. Not a fan. Then there was the kitchen, and dorms, and sick bay, and surgery amphitheater. All the furniture and fixings were original which is sorta crazy. It apparently has 4 levels of tunnel which was built in 5 months. The lower levels have the important rooms and the bottom level was made incase of Nuclear war as a doomsday location for the south east of England. Then when we came out we came out of that spiral staircase I saw before.

Then I took the lady's directions and went out of the one gate and down and around the corner and walked along the sea sticking to the cliff wall and eventually it turned into a steep staircase and hill and then suddenly I was on the cliffs of dover. She said it would be a 45min-hour walk from the castle but I took it as a challenge and did it in a half hour of course. I've concluded that all directions given from google maps or British people should subtract 15 minutes to get an accurate Amelia time.

Dover cliffs were beautiful. I got an ice cream at the top and then went and walked. It's not like cliffs of moher at all. It's more like a park. It's free to enter (unless you have a car) and you essentially just wander and it has little markings on the path like walking trails in a forest. It was gorgeous. I walked until I got on top of the one cliff and then sat for a bit. It was really nice. Lu would've loved the wind in her hair. The ocean was cool and misty and you couldn't see anything. But the cliffs were really cool and very white and then crumbly at the bottom. I walked to the next cliff top too and then the one after that. At Moher you could see a couple of the cliffs at once but Dover you can only really see one at a time. There was a cool little area of cliff that was lower than the rest and really pretty and I went and took a picture but it was scary so I didn't sit on the little rock like other people were doing.

Then I walked back. It was honestly so nice out today. It was overcast but not rainy and it was sunny a bit but not cold and it was windy. I went back the way I came but then on the way down there was a path that said to Dover Castle so I thought I'd go back a different direction cause I like trying different routes and had time so I thought maybe I could stop back in the castle and see the other tunnel thing. But no. What a mistake. It went into the woods (not really a hike) and was nice and shaded and vaguely pretty but it took me the wrong way and I'm sorta annoyed cause I literally have no idea why they'd even bother placing that sign. I was with this other lady who was also sightseeing and lost so we went a bit together but honestly I left her in the dust cause I was on a mission. Once we got through the woods I figured out we had gone around the base of the hill the castle is on and gone past it essentially and in no way going the right direction. It was frustrating. Then we had to walk along the side of the road for a bit and then down another path to a little historical site where a plane went down in WWII I think. Finally we made it to the front of the castle and I still had so much time to spare. Then I couldn't find the stairwell that I took to get up so I just took the road route it wanted me to take originally which had no ~vista~ and was boring and made me annoyed. A not great end to a great day. I made it to the train station and sat and waited for the train in a half hour. I was exhausted. I caught an early train home (I was originally supposed to take a 6pm train home but I took a 4:30 express and made it back to london by 6pm.

I did the dishes and then made spring rolls for dinner which were really good. I watched the Great British Castle's episode about Dover Castle which was cool. I wish I watched it before though cause they talked about how people swim the English Channel to there and there's a pub where all the swimmers sign the walls and I would've liked to go there and literally passed it but I forgot that was even a thing.

Then I took a shower and then collapsed on the couch. I blogged and then went downstairs to watch Love Island and work on the JWT brief. I had tea.

I thought our street was really cute but now it's getting sorta annoying. Directly across from our apartment is a baby that always cries. It seems like all times of day the baby is left there and screams. Its terrible. Then there's the watchers. There's a lady and man who sit in one window on the top floor diagonal from us and they stare and Mallory always thinks they're staring into their apartment and it's really unclear. Then apparently a lady told Sasha a week ago unprompted that there's a junkie on our street or something. Then there's dogs that bark aggressively for awhile and cars that speed down only to stop short so they don't crash into the dead end wall. I feel safe but it's just annoying.

The fam saw Frozen the musical today again without me and it sounds like it was fun.

Worked on the JWT brief more and facetimed home and then went to bed.

Then I went to bed and slept long.