Bristol to Calais (with photos)

Yesterday was a long day of travel. I woke up around 6 am and walked through the rain most of the 3 miles up to the bus stop where the National Express Coach was going to be. Along the way, I got myself breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, and coffee. During this time I also made sure I wouldn't have to go to the bathroom in case the coach didn't have one. The bus was due at 8:30 and was to leave at 9:02, though perhaps because of the rain, it didn't arrive until 9:10. This was the first leg of my three part journey to Calais. I got off in London around 12:30 to pick up the next bus and had just enough time to get another coffee and go to the bathroom. This next bus brought me all the way over to Dover. (That rhyme was half intentional.) During the whole trip the sky was overcast and dropping varying amounts of rain but I was able to read and listen to my iPod. It seemed ironic that for my whole stay in the UK there was a drought and the moment I left, it decided to act the Britain again.
The greatest part of the journey was the ferry ride to Calais. Although there wasn't much to be excited about by other people's standards, I am lucky enough to find each new experience thrilling in it's own way. So I was inexplicably excited to be on a ferry, crossing the English Channel on a gray, gloomy evening. The waves weren't rocking us very much either; it was a smooth ride that could have been considered boring yet I enjoyed every minute of it. I got some fun pictures and had a very engaging conversation with someone in order to keep them distracted enough not to start panicking. They had heard crazy stories about a ferry that wasn't able to dock for 6 hours because the waves were too rough to safely approach its destination and about people on board getting severe sea sickness.
When we got to Calais around 8 pm, I ended up waiting close to two hours for a taxi ride because the people who got rides before me weren't going close enough to my hotel for it to be worth sharing. In the end with just 35 minutes to spare before reception closed at 10:30, I ended up getting a free ride with a couple to whom I vented a bit about my predicament. This wasn't the intention behind talking, I was just too tired to keep these thoughts to myself. I had been on the move in one way or another since 6 am and had waited in the rain at the beginning of my trip and then again at the end and I just wanted to sleep.
Today, I slept til 8 or 8:30, walked all the way to the beach and got myself a breakfast on the way there, then walked along the beach for a while. The feel of the sand was unique at one part of the wide beach. It felt softer than normal and I don't mean soft as in my feet sank into it, I mean soft as in a silk sheet with a high thread count. (Don't misinterpret this as me knowing what that's like in person. I only learned from other sources.) Just the same, it was exceptionally soft. My lunch and dinner today has been bread and Camembert cheese. It didn't take long to fall back into my French eating habits. When I came back to the hotel, I perused Facebook, but also tried to consider where to go next. I've decided it will be a last moment decision when I take a look at the train options tomorrow. I'm thinking seriously about Brussels and it wouldn't be too hard to get there or to find a place for the night. We'll see what the day brings.
Calais has been a wonderful place to explore and there were many unique things to take snapshots of and I ended up with another hundred or so photos by the end of my explorations.