Craft Fair + Boat Race

A few weeks ago we went to The Renegade Craft Fair in Brick Lane. This biannual fair brought crafters from USA and the UK together to sell their goods. It was fun to go and look, but there wasn't much that I loved. I did however LOVE this London embroidered map. 

The craft fair had an Anna Mae's pop-up. This had been on my list for a while of mac 'n cheese places to try and I have to say I was a little disappointed. I can whip up much better mac 'n cheese, and the price point it a bit steep. So unless you love mac 'n cheese so much that you will eat it whenever possible, I  would skip it. However, their booth was adorable and I absolutely love the American flag. U.S.A! 

After the craft fair we headed to Bishops Park to watch the Oxford vs. Cambridge boat race. There was a lovely church as you entered the park. 

We grabbed some fresh donuts (I mean how could we not?) and went to find a spot to watch the race. This has been a race that has been happening since 1829, with only a  few years where it didn't take place during the WW's. It was super crowded with people coming to support their school and have a lovely afternoon in the park. 

 Here is our view of the race. Not the best, but at least we got to see the boats. Also as both teams are blue it is was difficult to tell who was winning but we were able to look up the result after. Oxford came out ahead by 6 1/2 boat lengths. 

Dover

When people think of England, one of the iconic places that comes to mind are the White Cliffs of Dover. Historically it is an important port town as France is located a short 21 miles away. The train from London to Dover takes about two hours...and the cliffs are another 1.8 miles away from the train station, needless to say we did a LOT of walking. Once we finally got to the White Cliffs we were so excited that we decided to take a bunch of jumping pictures. We were careful to stay away from the edge as it is a sheer cliff.

Here we are looking normal :) Rachael and Warren are super awesome and we could (and did) spend all day talking with them about everything and anything. 

Resting our legs, and wishing that it wasn't so foggy so that we could see France. Luckily by the end of the day the skies had cleared enough so we could see the other side of the Dover straight. 

On our walk on the Cliffs of Dover we saw a bunch of really pretty horses. I am not sure what the deal with the horses is so lets just assume that they are wild horses as that sounds more exciting. 

When I saw the cliffs my immediate thought was 'The cliffs of insanity!' I do love a good Princess Bride reference...but when we were walking we noticed some cable going about halfway down the cliff. You can see it here on the left part of the cliff. I wonder what was going on with that. 

After hours (literally) of walking we headed back into town to grab some lunch. Sadly the place we had wanted to eat at was closed as it was Easter Monday. That was just fine though because we went to a grocery store and got provisions to make sandwiches and then proceeded to eat our make shift lunch on a bench in front of this stunning church. 

          

The Church of St Mary the Virgin was originally built in 1150. Although it has undergone additions and renovations parts of the original church still stand.

A lot of the tombstones are from the 1800's. They are mostly family tombstones with the names of several family members on each stone.  I like how they have incorporated the gardens with the tombstones.

After our sandwich snack we had to walk up a HUGE hill to get to Dover Castle. Even though my legs were getting tired I am so glad that we made the trek to the Castle as it was awesome!

Dover castle was built in the 12th century and is the largest castle in England. It has been stunningly preserved and we were able to walk throughout the castle. Here is one of the watch towers. The castle, as it stands today, was commissioned by Henry II. As it is located on a key entryway to France it has been home to many invasions, sieges, and battles.

     

The castle has amazing spiral staircases. They even have spiral staircases that lead into spiral staircases. It almost felt like being in an Escher painting.

The picture below if the view from the tower pictured above. Below is St. Mary in Castro church, built around 1000.  Next to the church is a Roman lighthouse, built in the year 50. Yes 50. I love that there are still so many artifacts from the Roman invasion nearly 2000 years ago. This lighthouse is the oldest lighthouse in England and one of the oldest in the world.

Here is an interior view of St Mary in Castro. It is still a fully operational church, with services held every Sunday.

Here is a view of the lighthouse with the main fortress of Dover Castle in the background. Not only was Dover Castle used in the medieval times, but it was also used as a headquarters during WWI, WWII, and even during the Cold War. During the WW's the castle was used as a naval command centre. During the Cold War the castle was used as a regional seat with the design of organizing life in case of a nuclear attack.

And finally, if you look really closely you can see France! We were very excited to see France. After looking for it all day we were rewarded with a glimpse of the continent.

All in all Dover is rich in history. The white cliffs are stunning, and Dover Castle in truly inspiring. The fact that this site has been used by people for nearly 2000 years in simply astonishing. Although Dover is a bit out of the way, I would highly recommend going if you have the chance. That being said, it is not something that you have to do more than once in your life.