September 27, 2008 – London / Dover / London

We got up very early and headed down to breakfast by 7:15. The restaurant was much better this time around. We caught the 7:49 train to Sittingbourne. The view wasn’t very good as it was so foggy you could hardly see past the railway fence. We arrived in Sittingbourne and exited the train to catch a bus to Faversham. We sat at the top front of the double decker bus. The fog gradually cleared during this trip and we arrived in Faversham with about 1 mile visibility. This meant that we were able to see fields of hops (we were in beer country!) and Marisa got to appreciate the gardens long the way. The train to Dover Priory left at 9:54. The train was fast to Canterbury East, where we saw the ruins of the city walls and the Cathedral in the distance. From there we stopped at every stop to Dover Priory. We arrived at 10:40 and headed off towards Dover College. Just inside the main gate we met Rupert Hill, my former deputy housemaster. It was great to catch up, however briefly because he was going to officiate a sponsored walk the students were engaged in. Because of this there was nobody on campus, which was a shame because all of the buildings were locked up. We didn’t get to see the refectory and chapel from the inside but we got a few pictures from the outside. We then walked down Biggin Street, stopping at Marks and Spencer for a few things, including a jacket for Marisa. We visited the waterfront and Marisa got to see the white cliffs. Then walked back up to the station to catch the train 11:49 to WalmerLeo met us at the station. He still had the same car – the white F reg. Citroen BX GTi from when I last saw him in 1994. He took us to his house and served up some pink champagne, we sat in the living room and talked about various subjects and he told us of some of his adventures in Kenya. At 1pm we drove to the Hare and Hounds in Northbourne for a very nice lunch. We started with Cream of Mushroom soup and then Marisa had a steak and mushroom pie and I had Cumberland sausage and bubble and sqeak. The food was very good. From there we drove back to the station. The train came 15 minutes earlier than expected so we bade a hasty goodbye and thank you and headed back on the train. We were very sleepy and don’t remember anything between Folkestone Central and Maidstone East. We arrived back at Charing Cross and walked to pick up our tickets for Zorro the Musical. We picked up a Cornish pasty and went to Next and Marks & Spencer on Oxford Street. Zorro the Musical was a great performance, to the music of the Gypsy Kings. The singing and dancing was great and the cast looked to be having a great time. It is definitely a show worth seeing. Marisa couldn’t get enough of the flamenco dancing in the show and insisted that we need to go to Seville for vacation one day so she can learn. Afterwards we walked to China Town for another meal and then caught the tube back to Victoria.