Leeds-Dover

My two castle visits have nicely bracketed this first week of school. Sunday was the trip to Leeds Castle, which is mis-leed-ingly, not actually in Leeds. So with about 700 international students on an impressive number of coach busses we headed out. I was seated next to a girl from Germany so I was able to practice a bit, mainly just into stuff but I did learn that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows translates to "Harry Potter und die Heiligtümer des Todes" which is literally closer to "HP + the holy triad of death," which sounds awesome. We began our international assault on the castle, which for this season had a flower exhibition going on throughout the castle. Now some arrangements were lovely and fit beautifully into the carefully restored rooms; however some seemed unnecessarily gaudy and entering one room felt as if I was hit in the face with the overpowering bouquet of lilies. Leeds castle had been at one point the home of Catherine of Aragon, Henry the VIIIs first wife (the one that he created the Church of England to divorce, but she still got to live so good for her) but was more recently owned by Lady Baille, who it seems was a crazy bird lady. Everything in her house had to do with birds, the place is like the Neuschwanstein of England, which included a lot of imported birds on the grounds, including Canadian Geese. I fly 8 hours to see Canadian Geese. Castle gift shops are a very dangerous place for me, I have yet to buy anything but I doubt my resolve will hold out much longer; they have tapestries! And cool Tudor rose stained glass hangings. 

This week has been a series of tester for the various societies. I've auditioned for a play about clones (perfectly timed since I've just gotten into Orphan Black), tried out the school show choir, and shot a few arrows at the archery group. I've also begun classes: Chaucer and Medieval Lit, Early Drama, and Early Medieval History (just in case you were thinking that I was just having fun out here). This week was more on campus activities and often ends with my housemates and I sitting around the kitchen table and goofing off whether it be multi-lingual Disney singalong or group photos with the now infamous pink selfie stick and Chiara's coinciding look of disapproval at our antics. At a restaurant in Whitstable, Kelly, Matt and I went out to eat fish and chips by the sea. The sun had gone down by then but listening to the waves as we walked back to the car and chatted made for a lovely evening.  As another Hogwarts society event they brought up a bunch of owls and other creatures for an amazing afternoon around the Labyrinth. The owls were my personal favourite but Hufflepuff the Hedgehog and Kellogs the snake were adorable as well. 

And finally to close off the week a small band of us set out to Dover. As soon as we got off the bus Kat, Sandy, Sarah and I headed straight for the flight of stairs that cut up the hill to the castle. Most recently this castle had been used for filming Into the Woods and the second Avengers movie and it tends to stand in for the Tower of London whenever someone (often Anne Boleyn) needs their head chopped off.  However, in the past it's been a fortress, often the first stronghold against France, which you can just see across the channel. It's military history continued right up to WWII where the castle was a barracks and beneath the castle grounds run long tunnels used as a dressing station and as coastal defences. The tunnels recently opened for tours and as you go through the corrugated metal pathways speakers play the sounds of passing conversations and bombs dropping as the lights flicker, giving a real sense of atmosphere. As for the castle, we had our own tour guide in Kat but the other guides also had a bunch of additional tidbits including telling the stories behind all the graffiti carved into the walls. I can see how some people say castles can all blend into each other until they're no longer special, but for me it's finding the little details; the carving,s the windows, the paintings, windows and furnishings that took so much care and skill to make and deserve to be appreciated. Each castle has spanned hundreds of years and withstood so much to even still exist, even down to the carvings by two lovers hidden behind a tapestry. After the castle closed (and I abstained from another castle gift shop) we walked down to the Channel, and saw the cliffs. One day we'll have to come back and hike them but for now with the sun going down we figured best not to fall off the edge in the dark so we headed back to Canterbury.     

PS. I think something's wrong with my tv; I'm only getting the English Channel 
...
get it?
...
Ok I'm sorry, it's like 1 am here, I'll go