Dover

There'll be blue birds over
The white cliffs of Dover,
Tomorrow, just you wait and see.
There'll be love and laughter
And peace ever after
Tomorrow, when the world is free.
The shepherd will tend his sheep,
The valley will bloom again
And Jimmy will go to sleep,
In his own little room again.
There'll be blue birds over
The white cliffs of Dover,
Tomorrow, just you wait and see.

 

We recently went to Dover and the whole time I was there, I was racking my brains trying to remember the song about the white cliffs of Dover. I finally looked it up and then couldn't get it out of my head. It is a great song from WWII, apparently written by an American who had never even been to Dover. Kind of funny but they definitely got it right - the cliffs in Dover are white and beautiful! You can see Dover castle in the distance in this picture and the one below.

Charles' brother Andy was with us.

Here is Andy with the cliffs in the background.

And me and the cliffs (now remember people, I just had a baby two months ago so I may not be looking my best but I will get rid of that belly soon enough...)

I have been to Dover before (with Bethy) but we did not hike around the cliffs. We did the WWII tunnels under the cliffs. I wanted Charles and Andy to see the tunnels so bad but there just was not time especially since when we started heading over to them, we realized we forgot our changing mat (that cost me a lot of money) so we had to go back to the cliffs for it and therefore, got to the tunnels too late. However, I loved hiking along the cliffs. The views were spectacular! I will just have to make Charles go down there again and go through the tunnels.

Charles found this trail that zig-zagged down the side of the cliff to the water below. It was very narrow and steep in places but we all did it. Alex was a bit scared at certain points but with the help of her trusty mate Sammy, she conquered the steep bits and was quite proud of herself.

Uncle Andy and the girls

The baby dangling from Charles' chest over the cliff...that's comforting!

Family picture in front of Dover castle (or wait a second, is that Andy with us? These brothers, I never realized how much they look alike until Andy came to visit for two weeks. I can't even tell if that is my husband or not!) We did end up going to Dover castle since that is where you enter the tunnels, however, I didn't take any pictures over there for some reason. Oh well...

From Dover, you can see France. I enjoyed imagining what it would have been like during WWII, looking out from those cliffs to France, knowing Hitler was over there assembling his armies ready to attack...
The cliffs sure are beautiful but I can't say that about the city of Dover. Charles called it the "armpit of England." We drove in circles around the city trying to find somewhere to eat with a baby, three children and three adults all screaming for food. It was not one of our happier moments...