British Isles 2015:
Day 2 - Dover, England/Calais, France

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British Isles 2015: [Day 1 - London] [Day 2 - Dover/Calais] [Day 3 - Southampton] [Day 4 - Guernsey] [Day 5 - Cork] [Day 6 - Dublin] [Day 7 - Wales] [Day 8 - Belfast] [Day 9 - Glasgow] [Day 10 - At Sea] [Day 11 - Invergordon] [Day 12 - Edinburgh] [Day 13 - At Sea] [Day 14 - Versailles] [Day 15 - London] [Day 16 - London]

	Sunday, July 19, 2015: After taking a taxi to the Holiday Inn, getting four hours of sleep, taking a taxi back to the Novotel, storing our luggage, and eating breakfast, we set off for our day's adventure.
	We took the Hoppa bus to Heathrow Central Bus Station.
	It was a beautiful day out, the first of many beautiful days on our trip. From here, we took a National Express bus into London.
	Here's a beautiful pub: the Swan on the edge of Hyde Park.
	This is Wellington Arch in Hyde Park.
	At Victoria Coach Station, we had a short layover and transferred to another bus bound for Dover.
	We passed the Victoria Palace where "Billy Elliot" is playing.
	Here's "Wicked" playing at the Apollo Victoria.
	There's the River Thames (or Thames River for those of you who don't like to talk like you're in the 18th century).
	Wow, now that's an impressive structure for an Underground station.
	Oh, yeah, the Hoff. This is an ad for the new show, "Hoff the Record." "The greatest method actor of all time." - David Hasselhoff.
	After a very pleasant 2 hour 20 minute drive, we arrived in Dover, ...
	... and disembarked at the Dover ferry passenger terminal. There are the famous white cliffs behind the bus ...
	... and here is the Dover ferry passenger terminal.
	Port of Dover. Every Time.
	We checked in for our ferry trip to Calais and waited for the bus transfer to the ship.
	Off we go in the bus!
	We had to get off of the shuttle bus briefly so we could go through immigration.
	Then back on the bus ... (Maersk!) ...
	... and into the ferry walkway, ...
	... and onto the Pride of Kent, a ferry operated by P&O Ferries.
	Once onboard, we found the Club Lounge and were welcomed with a glass of champagne and snacks (once we showed them our Club Lounge tickets, of course).
	There were less than a dozen people in the huge lounge, so we had this entire section to ourselves.
	Debbie went back out on deck among the masses ...
	... to get some photos of Dover ...
	... and those famous white cliffs. Having perfectly blue skies made them look even more beautiful.
	Back in the lounge, we switched seats for a better view of the cliffs and ordered some lunch. Debbie ordered a prawn sandwich while Tom enjoyed an open face roast beef sandwich, washed down with complimentary Diet Cokes.
	Crossing the English Channel to Calais, France, takes about 90 minutes. There's France now coming into view, ...
	... and here we are at Calais Pier 6.
	With about 2.5 hours until we needed to check in for our return ferry, we headed off to the city center.
	A path guided us around the ferry port and down a ramp into town.
	We started from near the upper right corner of this map and headed to the bottom center.
	Here's the Pont Georges V Bridge, facing at the tower of L'hôtel de ville de Calais.
	The Elephant Parade, featuring brightly painted elephant statues, was underway from June to September 2015. This one is named Flower of Asia.
	Here's a peacock-shaped topiary at the entrance to Parc Saint Pierre, ...
	... and Le Monument aux Enfants du Calais just down the street.
	Across from the park is L'hôtel de ville de Calais.
	In the garden out front stands one of the copies of the statue, Burghers of Calais by Rodin, 1895. This is the first one made, and one of the copies stands in London and another in Washington DC.
	Here's Debbie trying to get a better shot of it.
	There is an extensive garden in front of the hotel but Debbie did not photograph every flower in it.
	Ditto for the perfectly pruned bushes.
	Check out the detail on the clock tower. Gorgeous.
	Having seen what we came here to see, we took the scenic route back through town, stopping to get some Euros out of an ATM and passing another elephant, ...
	... and another, ...
	... and another.
	Here's the plaque that accompanied the last elephant above.
	Here is Parc Richelieu, ...
	... and here's a busy shopping section of town.
	We saw the La Place d'Armes, ...
	... and another elephant.
	Our return took us past the city waterfront ...
	... and the Calais Lighthouse.
	Yes, that was another elephant you saw in that last photo. Sharp eyes!
	We returned to the ferry terminal a little early so they let us take the earlier ferry.
	This was the Pride of Burgundy, and the club lounge was much smaller.
	The free glass of champagne was the same size though. We amused ourselves by twirling our glasses to make spirals out of the champagne bubbles.
	Au revoir, France! We'll be back in 12 days!
	We had some more sandwiches for dinner -- another roast beef and smoked salmon, plus more Diet Cokes and free wi-fi.
	It was evening when we approached Dover, but the sun was still up so we got another nice view.
	Cliffs. White ones.
	We were back in Dover by 6:45 PM.
	With over an hour to wait for our bus, we took a stroll along the waterfront.
	Here's Marine Parade (also known as East Cliff), according to this convenient sign.
	A man and the sea.
	Of course, we had to walk down by the water, ...
	... and Debbie had to get a traditional shot of her standing in a body of water -- in this case, the English Channel. But wait, isn't that wave behind her a little too large?
	Yes. Yes, it was. She got to sit in wet jeans for the entire trip back to Heathrow.
	We left Dover shortly after 8:00 PM, ...
	... and drove through the charming English countryside, ...
	... reaching Victoria Coach Station after 10:00 PM. We withdrew some British pounds from an ATM then bought dinner in the dirtiest Burger King we've ever experienced. As hungry as we were, it was the most delicious food ever.
	Then we boarded our bus from London to Heathrow.
	The Albert Bridge looked gorgeous all lit up at night.
	This Heathrow sign was also pretty cool when lit up at night.
	We ran from the Heathrow Central Bus Station to the Hoppa bus stop and caught the last Hoppa of the evening once again. Day 3 >