Dickensian Christmas Festival in Rochester

Merry Christmas from Rochester
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Charles Dickens lived and died in Rochester and while there worked as a journalist while publishing his stories.  In his memory the town holds a Christmas Festival.

We weren't sure what to expect, but the festival was great fun.  Rochester is a beautiful little city right on the river.  It has a very old castle and the second ever cathedral to be built in England at its center, so it was a nice opportunity to visit.

God Bless Us Everyone!

Scrooge hanging around town
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The festival, as its name indicates, includes a number of Dickens features.  Locals dress up in Victorian outfits and stroll the streets visiting with the large number of guests that have come just for the festival.  There are street performances of some of the Dicken's classics.  We ran into the tail end of a street performance of A Christmas Carol and a performance from Oliver Twist.

The best part of our visit was the closing of the festival.  All the locals paraded down center street with lanterns and turned up in front of the Cathedral for the singing of Christmas Carols.  Once everyone was gathered around to sing, snow making machines started sprinkling snow on the croud.  It was really great and the closest thing that we will get to having a white Christmas - although, they weren't true snow making machines, it was just a soapy mixture.  Either way, that was definitely the highlight of our time spent in Rochester.