Dover

One of my favorite stories to tell people--it's quite possibly my number one favorite--occurred on my month-long stay in Cambridge, England. It is a wonderful memory about which I have no complaints. Except for the person with whom I share it, perhaps. Of course, this is England, so we're talking about the Woman here.

I was there for his birthday weekend, and I wanted to do something very special for him. He was living in England for almost a year at that point, and he'd never ventured very far off the base. If I recall correctly, he hadn't even been to London before I visited.

By the weekend of his birthday I had been to multiple cities, castles, and other general places of interest, but I knew he'd be most impressed by Dover castle.

We got there a late, and of course I was irritated. I had wanted to take him to the Secret Wartime Tunnels that wind their way through the white cliffs of Dover beneath the castle. We missed this opportunity by a measly 10 minutes. Not only this, we were unable to truly see the castle because we were rushing through it. I think the "10 minutes to close" announcement was being made as we walked through the entrance.

After rushing to the top of the castle (with a castle guard hot on our tails to kick us out), we snapped some quick pictures from the view up-top, and then made our way out to the castle grounds.

The other half of his birthday plan was to swim in the English Channel.

Now, every day up until his birthday had been incredibly hot. Apart from a slight drizzle every day that lasted anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes, it was blazing hot under the sun; perfect swimming weather. Which of course meant that on the day we decided to go swimming, it was going to be a breezy 65 degrees at best, leaving the English Channel "unswimable."

Because we were unable to swim in the Channel, we decided to walk up and down the beach because there looked to be some food stands down by a pier. We ordered a bunch of seafood which smelled great but was okay at best. When we finished, we walked back up the beach, planning to return to the car and drive home completely defeated.

I realize that up until this point I have done nothing but complain, so I'd like to retract my previous comment of "I have no complaints." But remember how I said that this is my favorite story to tell people?

On our way back to the car, we spotted one of those virtual roller coaster machines, so we forked over the ₤3 each to try and reclaim the excitement of the day. After a minute and a half of money well-spent, we came out of the machine to a completely different atmosphere.

The sidewalks were filling up with people, and as we walked closer to where our trek had begun, we realized that the promenade had transformed into a regular road-side attraction.

As we were making our way toward food tents and mini-rides, we heard a man announce over a loud-speaker, "Are you guys ready for the fireworks tonight?"

I had no idea what was going on, but I was totally ready to see the fireworks. We ran down the beach toward the source of the sound to figure out what was going on, and I quickly realized I'd have to wait because it was at least two hours before the fireworks began. Luckily, whoever had planned this show had thought this through. To entertain us, they played music and let us dance on the beach with Dover Castle and the white cliffs in the background.

I'm just going to stop there. What else could I possibly say to make the situation any more amazing? Besides of course: