An Adventure in England - Week 1

Greetings from England! I figured it would be easier to write about my three week adventure in three different posts. Doesn't that make me a an awesome guy?! Ha! Anyway so let's get into the thick of this!

Day 1 - Saturday the 15th of September - I awoke to a 4am start this morning as I had to make my way out to Pearson International Airport for the flight to London. I made it to the airport on time, however, the issue with the airport in general is that there is no real indication where you are supposed to check in. After wasting a good 30 minutes trying to print out my bag tags and tickets and standing in the International / Domestic queue (yes for flights to USA) I made my way to the right area and got sorted. Security was as just as stringent, I think either my necklace or shorts kept beeping so I had to go through the full body scanner. I didn't really care to be honest I just wanted to get through. Anyway, after that I made my way down towards the gate, checked out the Duty free shopping... very pro North American products. Anyway I didn't need to grab anything on the way over so I walked down to a cafe and had breakfast whilst watching the AFL Collingwood vs West Coast game. Lasted until the 4th Quarter before I had to go wait by the gate to board. The flight was full, but fortunately for me I was at the back of the plane on the 2nd last row in the middle with an isle seat. It was perfect for me and I had the USB charger on there too so I ended up just plugging the phone in and started to read. The in-flight films were not too bad too - I ended up watching The Avengers (again) and a bit of Tropic Thunder in between reading my book. The flight was only 7 hours and the food wasn't that bad. Upon arrival into the UK, the border security took well over 1 hour and 30 minutes.... Lucky I had a fully charged phone! Music was on the cards all the way. Anyway I finally made it through boarder security, collected my bag and was greeted by Chris and Jen with a sign! We made our way from the airport to Billericay, had some McDonalds on the way and when we got home I met Mary, the puppies and we ended up crashing for the night!

Hadleigh Castle

Fosters!

Day 2 - Sunday the 16th of September - This day was started with a nice hot cup of tea before we made our way around Billericay to get some odds and ends. We checked out Billericay's latest shop on High Street called Poundland where yes everything is only a pound. For example, you can get 3 cans of Dr. Pepper for 1 Pound! It's pretty crazy. After that we made our way to ASDA which is an offshoot of Walmart back in North America. After we had checked out the shops we were on our way for some lunch. We headed over to the Quays to enjoy my first English pub fayre! I had a foster - yes fosters and it wasn't a bad drop truth be told and I also had Toad in the Hole (sausages, mash potato in a Yorkshire pudding with HP sauce). It was massive! I managed to get about half way through the feast before I was completely stuffed silly. We rolled our way down towards the lake outside of the pub to watch some crazy people go wake boarding on a raised pulley system. Talk about crazy - it was pretty cool that day and they were in the water. Anyway, after this we made our way down to Southend-on-the-sea. We checked out Adventure Land which is an amusement park before we went into the arcades and tried out go on the 2p machines. They are seriously addictive but so much fun in the process. We walked up and down the "beach" before making our way to my first castle experience! We made our way to Hadleigh Castle in the afternoon which is  now only ruins. The castle would have been very impressive back in its day, however all that is left is the north wall and the south tower. We took plenty of photo's and took in the scenery before we made our way home to chill out with some TV before going to bed.

Cliffs of Dover

 Day 3 - Monday the 17th of September - Today we made way to Dover Castle! The drive to Dover took about an hour. We found a park and made our way to the admission booth and bought our tickets. Entrance to the castle was 16 quid which was pretty good considering we were there for well over 5 hours! Anyway, we made our way firstly up to the oldest structure on the site which was the Roman Castle that dates back to the 1st century AD. We took some photos of it before we then checked out the Church of St. Mary in Castro. It's an awesome church with old heraldry that has served the castle and community for centuries. There is a board at the back of the castle which dates back to the 12th century. After this we made our way into the castle to check out Arthur's Hall which gave an interesting insight into the construction of the castle and the Kings that ruled during the time of its construction. We then checked out the Queens Royal Regiment on site and checked some awesome memorabilia from ages past. There was some very interesting World War II collections in the building too. After this we made our way inside the Castle Keep. It was a massive structure. We started out in the kitchen after the main entrance before we made our way up the spiral staircase towards the Feasting Hall of the King. After this we entered a resting chamber probably for Princes or servants of the King. After this we continued to climb to the top of the tower to take in some breathtaking scenery of Dover and the castle itself. Simply amazing. After this we checked out the Kings bed chamber before making our way back outside again. It's architecture is amazing. How they built this all those years ago still blows my mind away. Once we checked out the keep we made our way outside the keep walls and checked out the medieval tunnels towards the front of the keep. It was very cool going underground and checking out some of the underground tunnels. To think that people would have had to protect the castle there is crazy.

Dover Castle

 We also checked out some sally ports which are defences for the front of the keep. After this we went down to grab a bite to eat before doing the two World War 2 tunnel tours. The first tour took us to into the tunnels where Operation Dynamo was orchestrated which is the evacuation of troops from Dunkirk. The casemates were massive and constructed by the Royal Engineers all by pick axe. Its interesting to note that Hitler said that the castle was never to be hit. He knew the tunnels were there and he would have liked to use it as a forward base once Operation Sealion (invasion of England from Nazi Germany) was in effect. After this tour we made our way to the hospital tour which was a sight and sound tour. The smells of the tunnel was crazy. It was realistic and the tour gave an insight into how those doctors and nurses lived underground for all those days and nights and operating in conditions that by today's standards would have been considered medieval. We then made our way around the rest of the castle, checking out the battlement walks, taking photos of the white cliffs of Dover before making our way home.
On the way home we stopped in at Bluewater which is a massive shopping centre in Kent, one shop wanted to charge me 17 pound for a US to UK power converted. We settled with M&S and I scored one for 6 pounds. We made our way home, sore, tired and weary and ended up crashing.

Day 4 - Tuesday the 18th of September - A well deserved break!! Today we didn't get out of bed until very late! We made our way to Wimpey's for burgers and chips for lunch which was well lush. We checked out the Billericay museum which gave an insight into Billiercay and its surroundings. It was a very quiet day to be honest which ended with a few pints at the White Hart to watch Real Madrid beat Manchester City in the Champions League.

Royal Guard

Day 5 - Wednesday the 19th of September - Today we made our way into London! We walked down High Street to the Billericay Railway station and caught the train to Liverpool Street. I then had my first experience of the tube and we made our way from Liverpool street to Tower Hill. As soon as you exit the station you are greeted by the mighty Tower of London! It's simply amazing - inside a massive city you have this huge medieval fortress! Simply awesome. We made our way around the tower and got a tickets and entered the site. The start of our adventure took us inside one of the smaller towers which gave us an insight into the living quarters of the King. There was some interesting exhibits about how people lived, what the bedding and linen was like back in the 1100's. The next tower took us to a throne and also there was a slab where King Henry VI died. We checked out some other interesting articles of plates, coins and other day to day utensils used during the time of the Tudors and Stuarts. After this we made our way up into a battalion tower in which we tried on a medieval pikeman's helmet, checked out the standard issue heavy crossbow and bolt before making our way through to one of the last towers which housed some of the old crown's of kings. It's interesting to note that most of the jewels were cannibalised by the successor in order to make a new crown.
Once we made our way back down to the ground floor we checked out the exhibition of the Crown Jewels. Unfortunately there was no photography allowed in the last two places, however it was still amazing to see them with your eyes. The crowns, sceptres, orbs and relics were so intricate and amazing. We checked out everything that survived the England Civil War and once the Monarchy was re-established with Charles II. Queen Elizabeth's coronation was shown on big screen TV's and her crown and jewels were awesome. Simply amazing.
Once we finished this we entered the museum of the Royal Fusiliers. I got a few souvenir coins and checked out the WW2 memorabilia. I also tried on a combat helmet (with the dreadlocks I don't really thin I'll be making the cut for the army!) and also the combat pack which was about 60-80 pounds. Checked out the medals received by the British Army and the men who have received the Victoria Cross.

Tower Bridge

We had a bite to eat inside the cafe - I had Salmon and chips - my god it was delicious! After this we made our way off to the main keep which the exhibition stored the amour of the kings! We checked out King Henry VIII's amour before and after he gained weight. We then proceeded through and checked out the armour of the houses of the Tudor's and Stuarts. We also checked out some current armour of the House of Windsor (current royal family). Making our way up stairs we checked out some gifts to the Kings of old from other nations including an awesome suit of Samurai amour from Japan. The tour continued up stairs which showed more suits of amour including the worlds smallest and tallest suits of armour. We finished off the tour down stairs and made our way outside for some photo's along the river Thames and then we made our way to Tower Bridge.
We walked both sides of the Bridge before we proceeded to do the Bridge tour which takes you to the top of the structure that provides some amazing photo opportunities of London. We made our way down stairs in time to view the raising of the Bridge. It was one of the highlights of the trip - London is generally very busy and noisy however when the bridge raised the whole city went silent. It was really eerie but it was cool see. We made our way down into the massive pump rooms that uses hydraulics and steam to move the bridge up and down in the old days. Now it's all performed by electricity. Once we finished the tour I shot through a video post card to the old folks before we made our way back up to the tube towards Westminster. We checked out the London Eye 

Big Ben

and House of Lords and Big Ben - we got to hear Big Ben chime at 5pm too! Another highlight! After this we made our way down to Westminster Abbey before we decided it was high time for a break at a pub. We had a pint and kicked up our heels for a good 30 minutes before we made our way to Buckingham Palace.

Buckingham Palace

 The palace itself looks smaller than it does on the TV but it's still a huge structure. We took some photo's but we missed the change of the guard. We then made our way back to tower hill to check out Tower of London and the Tower Bridge light up at night. That provided another amazing opportunity for some photos. Tired, sore and very weary we made our way back to Liverpool street before heading back to Billericay in which we stopped for a beer at the White Hart to watch one of Chris's friends play in a band. Two pints later and I was dead to the world. This was such an awesome day - I can see myself living in England now!

Tower Bridge at Night

Day 6 - Thursday the 20th of September - Another well deserved break today! Today we made our way to Hainault Forest where there was a free farm to check out. Really good idea for kids as there are lot's of normal farm animals there for kids to check out. Horses, chickens, geese, donkeys, cows, rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels and of course sheep. We had lunch at the cafe down the road before we headed off to Chris's sisters place for pizza, beer and Buzz! We finished up the night by chilling out at home before going to bed.

Day 7 - Friday the 21st of September - Today we headed off to Tilbury Fort. This old fort was first constructed when King Henry the VIII was alive in order to protect the Thames and London. It is a formidable structure that when it was first constructed was built right on the river. Now it is quite desolate but there are still some structures that remain. The main gate called the Water Gate was upgraded by Charles the II and since then it has been upgraded over the years. We checked out the bastion and the swamp to the rear of the fort before making our way to the casemates where the gunpowder would have been stored. We also checked out the living quarters of the Officers. Inside here was an exhibition of WW1 and WW2 memorabilia. I got to finally see a Sten 9mm Sub Machine Gun which was pretty cool. After we finished with the fort we made our way Wat Tyler Parklands. This the site of a few traditional cottages and an exhibition hall. We had more fun playing on the play park - trying to hurt ourselves doing stupid stuff on the flying fox, the hamster wheel, some spinning wheel thing and of course the massive slide! We were completely worn out after this as we are so unfit! But hell it was fun to be a kid again!
We made our way home and then we headed out for proper English feed - a Carvery! We stopped in at Toby Carvery and I had myself a King Sized portion of the following; Roast Gammon, Pork, Beef and Turkey, Yorkshire Pudding, Stuffing, Cauliflower Cheese, Peas, Potatoes and Gravy. It was absolutely amazing! I demolished the whole plate and ended up having a Honeycomb Sundae for desert - talk about food coma after it! We came home to chill out before heading to bed.

So there you have my first week in the UK. It's been a full on week. Next week takes us north to Birmingham and south to Southend-on-the-Sea. Stay tuned for next weeks post! Hope you have enjoyed the adventure so far because I sure have!
Until next time!

~Matty