Canterbury and Dover

On my (long) list of things I've been meaning to blog but have put off for far too long is a trip that we took back in the beginning of May. It was just a day trip, but it was kind of the first traveling we've done with Arie and he did great.
We started the day leaving the house early in the morning so Arie would sleep for the hour and a half car trip to Canterbury. He obliged, so after finding parking and getting him breakfast we saw the remains of Canterbury castle.

Ryan and Arie in front of Canterbury Castle

We walked through town over to Canterbury Cathedral, one of the oldest cathedrals in England. It was pretty incredible. Thomas Becket, then the Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in the cathedral by some of the knights of King Henry II. The cathedral then became a site of pilgrimage, chronicled in Canterbury Tales.

Kelly and Arie in front of Canterbury Cathedral

Ryan and Arie at the entrance to the cathedral

Next we went to the ruins of a monastery started by St. Augustine. There was a surprisingly large amount of it remaining.

Ryan and Arie at the ruins of St. Augustine's abbey

We got drenched by rain as we made our way back to the car for the 30 minute drive down to Dover.
In Dover we went to Dover Castle, one of the most complete castles in England and also the site of a series of underground tunnels used by Churchill and co. while they were directing WWII. (We were helping out a friend with a flat Stanley project, so Stanley appears in the castle pic).

Dover Castle (and Flat Stanley)

Ryan and Arie getting pelted by wind and rain at the top of Dover Castle

Possibly not so secret...

We somehow found them

We hear you can see the coast of France on a clear day. Wonder how often they get to test that.

We drove by the white cliffs of Dover and called it a day. Amazingly, Arie also slept for the car trip home.

White Cliffs of Dover