A Day at Dover

Our cruise ship was now docked at Dover and we could see the famous white cliffs.

We had breakfast with our travel buddies. Our meals were rather decadent. I rarely have crispy bacon and now I could have whatever I wanted. 

We then went down to the pier by 8:00 AM on our own. We were all going on different excursions.

Our first stop would be Leeds Castle and Canterbury Cathedral.

Leeds Castle has been called "the loveliest castle in the world." It was once owned by Henry VIII (of the many wives) who gave it to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. It was owned by many royals before it went to private ownership.

The last owner of Leeds Castle was the very wealthy Lady Baillie who bought the castle in 1926 and employed French interior designers to transform her new home. Lady Baillie was the daughter of an American heiress and baron. Apparently, she invited a lot of famous people there including Hollywood actors.

To be honest, we enjoyed the outside of the castle more than the inside.

Our next stop was Canterbury where we were taken to a restaurant and had the famous English bangers (sausage) and veggies. The banger was HUGE and most of us couldn't eat the whole thing. It was delicious though.

We were at the table with people from Texas, Arizona and believe it or not, Chicago! We had a wonderful time laughing and talking with all of them. 

We would often see our Chicago people throughout the ship for the rest of the cruise sending smiles and a wave of recognition to each other. 

Oops! The dessert was called Eton Mess. I guess it's because when you broke that meringue, it would make a mess. 

Canterbury Cathedral was under renovation. We learned about Thomas Becket who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170. He was once friends with King Henry II but got into a conflict about the rights and privileges of the Catholic church. Although there is some question about whether the King actually ordered Becket's assassination, four of his knights did go to the cathedral and murder Archbishop Becket.

We were told that Henry the VIII had Becket's bones destroyed, but according to Wikipedia, his bones are below the floor of the eastern crypt of the cathedral. Whatever the case, there was this marker pointing to where he was murdered.

We also saw this tomb of Henry IV and his wife, Joan of Navarre. And yes, there were a lot of other tombs as well. 

I liked seeing the tree outside the cathedral with spring blooms.

We walked around Canterbury seeing all the very old buildings and a statue of Geoffery Chaucer who wrote The Canterbury Tales. He is sometimes called the Father of English Literature.

That house built on a slope had a most original looking door.

It was another interesting day full of history and ended with a delicious dinner at the World Cafe.

Dessert was Viking's awesome gelato. Flavors were changed every night though chocolate was always there and I always got at least one (OK, maybe 2 or 3) scoops of it.

We met a couple who had been on 17 of these Viking cruises.

Goodness!

They must love the gelato.