Day 4 of our trip to England

The night before last, we walked to a little market to get a snack for the room. When we walked through the arch, I knew I wanted a "selfie." I've taken this shot before, but it's so important, I had to have Butch do it again.

This is one of the original gates in to London--hundreds and hundreds of years old! That's St. Paul's Cathedral in the background. 

Yesterday was our trip by train (about an hour) to Kent and Hever Castle to visit the birthplace and home of Anne Boleyn. Little did we know that it was bought by the Astor family in the late 1800's. It had fallen into disrepair. He brought it back to life and changed quite a bit on the inside. But the outside is still as it was prior to 1500--drawbridge, moat and all.

But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start with our arrival to this sweet little hamlet in the country. After departing the train, it was a mile-and-a-half walk to the castle in the most beautiful, scenic country. The weather was perfect with gorgeous blue skies. Along the way, there were wild blackberry bushes and other berries that I couldn't identify. I joked with Butch that I was tempted to have a blackberry--he didn't think that was a good idea. Really, neither did I. But I did see this and felt like it was a sign:

It's some variety of Queen Anne's Lace. That got me to thinking, "Hmmm, was that flower (actually a weed/wildflower) named after this Queen Anne?" I guess I need to do some research. 

Okay, I did. This is what I found out: it has nothing to do with this Queen Anne--but Queen Anne II who was doing some embroidery work and pricked her finger with the needle and got a drop of blood on her fabric. That's why there is red within the blossom of the flower. I never knew that. I'll have to check that out.

Along the way, as I said, it was a beautiful hike:

I sent this picture to Jordan and Morgan who just spent the weekend hiking and camping in Yosemite National Park--our favorite USA park. I wanted them to know that they didn't have anything on us! Now if that's not "one-upping" them, I don't know what is! Mitchell loves hiking, so I sent it to him too!

As we were walking along, we came across this ancient church.

I don't know anything about it, but it's the thing I love about England. There's just really neat old stuff all around every corner. You just never know what you are going to happen upon. We didn't take the time to explore this as we were on our way to the castle and wanted to beat the crowd!

And here it is!

There were lots of fun facts, like this:

1. King Henry traveled with his own locks (in picture) and locksmith. He didn't trust anyone to keep him safe!

2. He would have an entourage of 200 nobles and servants. 

3. A visit from the king could be quite a hardship on the household like the Boleyn's who only had 50 servants!

4. They had to come up with food and accommodations for the nobility for who knew how long.

Just very interesting.

After touring the house for about 2 hours, we had lunch at the little cafe. The food was not great, but satisfying. The dessert--carrot/pistachio cake was the highlight of the meal--even with sultanas. I was showing off for Butch at my knowledge of British words. I'd already laid "fortnight" on him--that means 2 weeks. Sultanas are raisins which I don't like. But somehow, when I call them sultanas, they are delicious! Not really, but they are tolerable.

After lunch, we went out into the gardens. It was beautiful--not going to bore you with all those pictures because I was actually a bit disappointed. There's nothing I like better than strolling through gardens. It really is one of my most favorite things. I will forego a house tour in exchange for the garden. But, my biggest pet peeve is a garden without places to sit and enjoy it. Part of enjoying a garden to me is sitting, pondering the beauty, and paying attention to the aromas of the flowers. I know I'm kind of "geeky" like that. 

I will share this one picture:

I'm standing in a water maze. This is a first for me. Turns out, it's a place for kids to have fun as when you are walking around, the water shoots up all around and gets you wet. I didn't really walk around for fear that the pavers might be slippery. 

We continued our walk and took some stunning pictures. 

I'm not sure which of these I'm going to choose...

...but I'm going to have it blown up, framed and hung in one of the guest rooms. All of the art in those rooms are pictures I've taken from my little iPhone! They really do look like professional pictures. 

So after a fun day touring Hever Castle and grounds, it was time to hike back to the train station. Now here's the thing about hiking: you need to have proper clothing and footwear. As for shoes, I was okay, Butch, not so much. I had tennis shoes. He had good walking shoes, but that's not the same as hiking shoes! And, when I'm hiking, I'm not wearing nice clothes--usually a pair of leggings and a t-shirt. Plus, I'm not dragging a 5lb. purse! That really wears on my neck after awhile. The hike really wouldn't have been a problem, and it was still beautiful, but what I didn't realize as I was marveling at the fun and beauty of it when we were going to the castle, was that it was downhill! OMGosh! Think of 1.5 miles of a very slow incline. We both got hot and sweaty and that 1.5 miles felt more like 10!! I was sweating in my eyes! Butch's clothes were drenched--and he had planned to wear everything twice. Best laid plans...

Really, I'm not complaining. It was totally worth and I'd do it again tomorrow! Oh wait, we have lots of other walking to do tomorrow: Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe; several museums: one I can't remember the name of, The Charles Dickens Museum, and the British Museum. I'm just about worn out!!

Total miles walked today: 6.8 miles

Unusual things: 

Even the regular old rain grates are "pretty" in England!

And this:

I would totally like to stay at a chocolate hotel. I don't know what it is, but sounds right up my alley! 

We ended our day back in the hotel executive lounge for happy hour drinks.

Tonight, our "buddy" was serving Aperol Spritz's. I'm not even going to say how many I had. Okay, I had 3. Then he wanted to make me a 4th. I said, "no." Butch said, "no." But since he's not the boss of me, I told our "buddy" I'd take a half. He made a full, so I had 4. Yep, 4! And I'm not sorry!

We had dinner at Cafe Rouge next to our hotel. It's French. We each had a bowl of French onion soup and shared a Croque Monsieur sandwich. Delicious! Oh, and I brewed my own iced tea again. It seems like England has more ice since the last time we were here! Five years makes a big difference!

Okay tomorrow, bring it on! I'm ready for you!