Photos
Today we took a tour with the Evan Evans company. The destinations were 1) Leeds Castle, 2) Canterbury Cathedral, and 3) the Dover cliffs and the Battle of Britain memorial.
The weather was cloudy with intermittent rain, sometimes heavy.
We were picked up on time around the corner and taken to the collection point. We departed from there (Victoria Coach Station) after 0845 but within reason. Traffic was terrible in the morning rush hour - it took a full hour to get across London to Greenwich.
But our tour guide, Monica Mello, was outstanding in doing a running commentary on the structures and what happened in-and-to them over the years.
We reached the motorway about 1000 and drove more rapidly to Leeds Castle. It’s one of many built when the Normans took over the country about 1066 after the battle of Hastings. It is advertised as the “most beautiful” castle, and it may be. We did our self-guided tour of the very impressive set of buildings and bought a few souvenirs.
We traveled two-lane roads in the rain to reach Canterbury. We were shown by Monica into the town, given a meeting point and time, and everyone was released for lunch or shopping.
We met Monica at the appointed time at the entry to the Cathedral grounds. She led us in and around the interior as she gave an excellent presentation on the Cathedral and its modifications over the years. She pointed out the chair of the Archbishop of Canterbury which gives this church the designation “Cathedral”, some of the stained glass windows of note, and more history as she walked around the Cathedral with us trailing behind.
At the end of her talk she gave the history of the murder of Thomas a Becket in a side room off the main altar. Thomas, the bishop, had changed from supporting the king to supporting the Pope in the divisions of the time. A party of the kings supporters came to the Cathedral to persuade him to return. He said he could not, and they killed him using three swords one of which is said to have lost its point in the violence.
At the scene of the killing, a tribute is shown.
Then we returned to the meeting point and the bus to go on. Steve, our driver, took us across country on small roads until suddenly we dropped down off the heights down to the shore at Dover. There’s an artificial harbor with ferries coming and going across the channel to France, 21 miles away. Monica gave us time for photo shoots. I caught pictures of the harbor, the chalk cliffs, and the Disney cruise liner tied up to the breakwater.
Onward then, up onto the heights to the Monument to the Few in the Battle of Britain. The site is dedicated to those who flew in that battle, especially those lost. It’s a fine memorial, well worth a stop, and features a pair of WW2 Spitfires that probably flew in that battle.
Then we began our return to London on the motorway. We relaxed on the way back and some slept. The bus went through a tunnel and another to get onto the Red motorway across town, which was moving fairly well. Steve dropped us off at a bus stop on Victoria Street close to our hotel as a courtesy, right at the scheduled time.
The trip was well worth the money and Monica Mello was an excellent tour guide.
We returned to Sanctuary House, put our stuff away and ate in the pub. We decided we take a small walk left in us, so we walked down to the Thames at Big Ben. At Parliament Square, called Churchill Square by some for his statue in the corner, we came upon the public gathering mourning a Member of Parliament who was stabbed and shot to death yesterday in her constituency.
Jo Cox, age 40, was a Labour member, so the Labour Party ex-leaders led this gathering while the Prime Minister & party leaders were leading one in her home grounds. She was particularly active in aiding Syrian refugees, so that community was present. Her accused slayer is in custody. The motive is not yet known.
TV is running nearly-continuous tributes to her tonight.
In this photo, Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, is the person to the right of the three.
We continued out onto the bridge for a picture or two at sunset, right at 2000, so the big bell tolled the Westminster bells, then gonged the eight times. We’re watching TV tonight; one TV glimpse showed the people here holding a moment of silence at the same eight gongs we heard on the bridge.
The speakers, possibly contrary to what we would see in the states at the slaying of a Congress-person, are not blaming the knife, nor the gun, but the hate and the divisions that cause that hate.
