What We Did on Our Columbus Day Vacation

As promised, I am back with more pictures and irresistible English history morsels. I know you all are loving your side dish of history. Like most of you, we had a long weekend last weekend. We decided to take our first real trip, like the kind where you have to spend the night in a hotel. We actually could have seen all these things without staying overnight in a hotel, but it would have meant a lot more driving, so we figured, hey, we gotta start sometime. We were a little apprehensive about booking our first (well, I guess our second, actually, but that was such a nightmare it doesn't even count) hotel stay since arriving in England. But, then I remembered a commercial I had seen about one of the budget hotels over here, and I checked out the website. We made our reservation just two days before our stay. It was super easy, and we immediately began to feel more confident about our traveling prowess.
So the reason for our trip was an English Heritage event this time, not just a site. Quick quiz! Who knows why this particular weekend is important in English history? Well, I'll tell you. October 14, 1066, that's why. Anyone? The Battle of Hastings. If you remember nothing else from your side dish of history, you'll impress countless friends and co-workers with this tidbit of info. The Battle of Hastings was the last successful invasion of England. That's right. Nearly 1000 years and no one has done it since. So our weekend sort of revolved around this fact. On Saturday we went to the battle reenactment. It was pretty interesting. There were lots of medieval booths and a kids battle, paint your own shield and archery. And of course you could wander the grounds of the abbey built there to give thanks for the victory. We had a really good time.

We spent the better part of the day at Battle Abbey then drove on to Dover. But we did make on little stop on the way to see what we thought looked like a pretty cool castle. We got there right at closing time, so we didn't get to go inside, but I'm willing to bet that inside there were a bunch of stone walled rooms of varying sizes. Don't get me wrong. I love me a castle tour, but the insides all start to look the same. It's the outside views that are impressive. But don't just take my word for it. See for yourselves.

It didn't hurt that this is what we saw as we walked up to the castle. I could hear the blowing of the hot air, and see the balloons behind the trees and my first thought was that there was a bounce house set up, but that seemed way too American. When I realized it was hot air balloons I thought that was much more appropriate, considering the setting and I was very excited for the boys to see them lift off. Very Cool. Then Kyle started talking about going up in one. Not as cool. They look a lot cooler from the ground, as far as I'm concerned.
Bodiam Castle is a National Trust castle. We haven't joined National Trust, yet. I'm sure we will. It's just a really great way to get out and see things. We've already made good use of our English Heritage membership, so a National Trust can't be too far off.
So, anyway, as I said, we drove on to Dover where we stayed the night at our darling budget hotel. The boys love hotels, so, if they hadn't been having fun, their vacation was made upon arriving at Premier Inn. We went for mom and dad gold medals by taking them to McDonald's for dinner then watched the British version of American Idol, X Factor, complete with Simon Cowell and then called it a night.
We spent the better part of the next day exploring Dover Castle. Because of it's location, Dover has been a primary defense for England through the ages, contributing to that whole haven't been invaded for nearly 1000 years business. There are several centuries represented by architecture as well as technology. We began our day with the Secret Wartime Tunnel Tour. Not so secret anymore, but still very interesting. We continued on to the medieval castle where there were a couple of interactive displays. The boys went with Brandon down into the medieval tunnels, but I could not get past the large spider hanging overhead at the entry.

We had a great time. We watched the ferries coming in from Calais and began imagining our trip to France. We saw the famous white cliffs. And, once again, the boys loved it. I'm still amazed by this and will probably continue to be amazed until it all comes crashing down around me and they start hating castles. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Well, if you've stayed with me this long you're either a very loyal friend, a grandparent, or really bored. Thanks for hanging in there.