Canterbury

Only part of the Canterbury Cathedral, probably about 2/3 of it.

Last Friday, we went to Canterbury for the day. It only took about an hour and a half by train and the journey went smoothly. We went with some friends of ours here, Grant and Jana because if you travel with four or more people, the tickets are half price. As an added bonus, Grant went to school there so he knew the town and where to go.

We left here around 9:30 and arrived around 11. We stopped and had a snack/small meal for Jason of fish and chips (well, Jason had fish, we all just had chips). A funny thing is with fish and chips here, they sell something called mushy peas. Jana said they are surprisingly good and that Anna might like them. So we got her some and they were like baby food. It was just the thing for Anna and she quite enjoyed them. In fact, she was pretty upset when they were gone so we had to give her chips to round out her meal.

When he stood up straight, he was even taller than the rafters.

We spent some time walking around the place which was charming. Apparently, within the city walls, you can't change the exteriors of the buildings. So all the buildings are really old and way cool. You can tell when a building is actually old (rather than just trying to look old) because the door ways are really tiny, smaller than Jason, just right for me. When companies redo the interiors, they will often turn three floors into two to have normal ceiling heights.

While we were there, they were in the middle of the Canterbury festival. We never did find out what was going on for that but there were little flags strung across the high street which gave it a nice, festival-y feel. It reminded me of the festival in the Disney movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

After walking around and just enjoying the place, we decided to go to the cathedral. Grant and Jana decided not to come in with us because they had been there before and the prices had gone up. So they just wandered the town for a bit.

Talk about a big space. I was impressed, Anna didn't seem to be.

The cathedral was amazing! It was huge and had tons of stained glass (which I love). It was a sunny day so we were able to enjoy the way the light played in the space. They had it kind of chopped up into three different areas, each with it's own name. It helped break it up so it didn't feel quite so huge. There was also a crypt in the under part that was darker. I thought it was interesting how they had little chapels named after different saints or families and each one would have an altar and a few chairs.

Some of the beautiful stained glass. There was tons of it everywhere with lots of beautiful blues.

This candle is where the tomb of the guy people would make pilgrimages to see used to be (if that makes sense). It was destroyed by some king so now they mark it with a candle.

The grounds were very nice. There was a bit of grass and the remains of an abbey and the remains of the church that was destroyed. By that point we were getting cold and tired so we didn't really explore outside the church so much. The bathrooms were pretty cool. Each stall had it's own sink and the flush was a chain hanging from the ceiling.

Us on top of the city wall.

When we were done with the cathedral complex, we met up with our friends again and went to late lunch/early dinner. Then we bought a couple of things in a couple of shops and walked along the old city wall to get to the train station to catch the train home. The whole trip went smoothly and we had a lot of fun. I thought of my sister Jen the whole time. Not only because she is an English major but also because she's the reason I have the beginning of the intro to the Canterbury Tales memorized in the old English. Some things you just never forget.