Dover's city center is pretty small with a couple of main streets with shops. The main attraction there is Dover Castle. We hiked up the hill along Dover's famous "White Cliffs" to reach the castle entrance, got our tickets, and began our tour. Along the way guides led us through tunnels used in the wars against Napoleon and in WWII that were AMAZING!!! The 3.5 miles of tunnels were carved right into the cliffs and held thousands of troops in barracks, kitchens, hospitals, and communication centers. This place was really hoppin'! It was just so strange to think of everything that had gone on in these cave-like war rooms. Next we were able to roam the grounds of the castle itself pretty freely. We are talking a huge medieval castle from 1st-Century AD that is our playground for the day! We crawled through tunnels and sat in passageways that looked out to the English Channel. We even got to stand on the roof looking down on the city of Dover from atop a high tower. It was right out of a story book!
Following our tour we walked down to the coast and in 50 degree weather and water that numbed on contact we got in the ENGLISH CHANNEL!!! Yay! It was fun and we continued to walk down a pier for some great views of the water and cliffs. About that time we were getting hungry and being on the coast we knew we had to get fish and chips. Finding the right place was the problem....
Stopping to talk to a local civil enforcement officer, we thought we could get the 411 on the local grub. Unfortunately, the officer had different ideas than us. She talked for ten minutes to us describing different locations to try for great "pub atmosphere and a place where the locals would go." Finally she came up with the perfect spot...without knowing where we were from she said, "You know what?! If you go just down here and turn left there is the KFC!" What? Maybe we misheard. The KFC?! Yes- she suggested we go to the local Kentucky Fried Chicken for some good fish and chips. Needless to say we kept digging for better options and finally settled on the Eight Bells. At this pub style restaurant, locals were hanging out after work and we quickly learned to find our own table and order food and drinks at the bar. We both got fish and chips and decided to SPLIT OUR FIRST BEER!!! Ha ha! That's right, folks. Laura and Tripp have now both had alcohol...and beer, no less!
Okay- so we have a confession. The fish and chips was FANTASTIC, but we could not bring ourselves to drink much of the beer at all. Really- we tried our darndest, but decided that is not the alcoholic drink for us. (We are hoping for better luck with wine in France and Italy.) We wouldn't change a thing, though. We got a great deal and enjoyed our stumble to the bus station to catch the ride home after a wild night at the pub! Ha ha!
Tomorrow we travel to Paris in the evening, so we don't know if we'll be able to post. Look for us soon, though! Love you all so much.
Raising our foamy and full glasses of beer to the USA,
Tripp and Laura
3 comments:
I was ROTFL at your beer blog!
I am so proud of my little drunkards! Way to embrace the culture!
Wasn't Dover incredible?! I loved the castle, and climbing to the top of the keep. It was like being transported back hundreds of years. So cool! I'm glad you guys got to go there.
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