Nadines Travel Blog

It was nice to see that it was only a 15-minute drive from Regency villas to the Canterbury Cathedral.  We found a parking area near one of the gates of the old Roman-walled city.  The Romans originally had seven gates in the original wall around the City.  It is beautiful old crushed rock wall and you can see bricks up higher which would have been added later in the millennium.  We parked near Queningate.  These 7 gates and walls were built to defend the town between 270-90 AD.  It's unbelievable that they are still standing. Some history for you to the left. The parking was not cheap it was 3.50 pounds/hour.  We walked the diameter of the walled city just to get the feel of being inside the wall and we walked to the first gate and then we made our way to the Cathedral.  There are many ancient buildings along the way.   We have been in numerous European and other churches around the world, so I figured that we'd be 10 minutes and out.  ...

We visited Leeds Castle in Maidstone, England.  On this European trip, we visited many castles but I think that Leeds Castle might be my favourite. This Castle does not focus on the history and there is a lot of history in this Castle but it focuses more on the beauty of the castle itself and its grounds and extensive Gardens.  I took copious amounts of photos of everything on this self-guided tour. It was 30 pounds per person if you purchased it online.  If you just walk in it is 35 pounds per adult. We lucked out and got a fairly nice day there was intermittent rain but just splatters here and there. It was so exciting for me to think that King Henry VIII (the fatso) lived in this Castle with his wives but even more interesting to me is Henry's first wife - Queen Katherine of Aragon.  She was married to him for over 20 years and loved the ingrate until the end, even after he divorced her and dismissed her from the court.   In one area of the castle, you c...