We are in London now, and I am behind on the posts. We took the train across France from Germany to the coastal city Calais. From there we sailed on a ferry across the English channel to Dover, England--famous for its white cliffs. The cliffs are part of the reason I wanted to do this. Another reason is that many writers mention Dover in their literature. Matthew Arnold wrote the famous poem "Dover Beach" while there on his honey moon, and Mary Shelley describes the cliffs in her travel writing (and in the novel Frankenstein).

Dover is also very dense with English history--from Roman and Norman invasions (Hastings is close-by--think 1066) to the Napoleonic wars to WWII. The Dover Castle was very interesting. We saw all of the above-mentioned history there in one place. We took a tour of the underground tunnels built during WWII, including the underground hospital. Very eerie.