Canterbury

Pictures: 1) Entrance to Canterbury - Roman wall, 2) inside the Castle Keep, 3) the outside of the Castle Keep, 4) on top of Dane John Mound in the gardens, 5) in front of Canterbury Cathedral, 6) the ceiling above the Quire where I attended Evenson, 7) On the edge of the Great Cloister looking in on the grass, 8) beautiful stained glass above an arch leading into the Great Cloister, 9) candle where the shrine of St. Thomas Becket once was



Sunday morning I woke up around 9 to catch the 11am train to Canterbury. It was a cloudy, cold day so I decided to just do Canterbury, and save Dover for a day that was sunny so the white cliffs would look lovely. I arrived in Canterbury at 12:30, and walked on a bridge that goes from the train station over the road and over the Roman wall that still surrounds part of the city (just as in Exeter). There was a sign pointing to the left that said "Canterbury Castle" and since I did not see that last time I was in Canterbury, I decided to go there first. It wasn't very far before I stumbled upon the ruins of an old castle. There has been a castle on that site since the Norman Conquest in 1066, but the stone one was built only about a decade later. It was used as a Norman stronghold, and later a prison. However, I'm pretty sure the part I took pictures with was the Castle Keep, which was built around 1100.

Canterbury was actually the first town to surrender to the Normans in 1066 because in the 800s and 900s there were many Danish raids on the town that resulted in so much loss of life that they didn't want the experience repeated with the Saxons.

Anyway, the Castle Keep was pretty cool, and still had a spiral staircase in one of the corners that I could climb, though it was blocked off before the very top...probably because the very top has long since crumbled away.

From there I walked back toward the spot where I arrived and went the other direction into the Dane John Gardens (the name is a corruption of the Norman-French word for a motte or 'donjon'). In the springtime they are beyond beautiful, but this time of year the flowers are just starting to appear and you have to look for them a bit more. There is also a white fountain shaped like a lilly pad flower and a big hill (Dane John Mound) with a monument on top. I do not know what the hill is for or what the monument represents, but the view from up there is really good. :) I climbed this promptly before walking through the gardens and into the city centre (that is how you spell it in Britain).

I didn't have a map, so I just sort of walked toward the Cathedral which I could see every now and then around a building. I made it to High Street, which is a main street in the middle of town, and it was quite hopping. People were walking all about, shopping, eating. There were loads of places to eat, and since I didn't have time to pack anything but fruit, I looked around trying to find someplace that looked good. Finally I went to the Cornish Pasty Shop (yes, pasty, not pastry), where I had my first English pasty. Basically, they look like calzones on the outside, except the breading is very flaky (pastry like), and the inside is all different things. I chose a chicken and vegetable one for £2.60 (that was the 'to go' price - they are more expensive if you eat them there). It was good because it was hot, pretty big, and I was starving, but there was a bit more pepper and leaks than I would have preferred on any other day. And, I found their definition of "vegetable" quite liberal given that besides the chicken, it was basically mashed potatoes, leaks, and specks of something yellow-orangeish. There were no healthy, brightly colored vegetables at all. But, that is British food for you. I swear they feed their kids nothing but white bread, butter, and pastries until they are at least 12. No wonder everyone's so pale. ;)

Anyway, I walked down High Street eating my pasty and looking around. I came upon the Royal Museum and Art Gallery, but since it was Sunday, it was closed. :( Canterbury had a lot of thrift stores, and I browsed in three of them, buying a nice black wool skirt for £5 in one of them. I also passed another museum that was closed, and I'd read online that the only church with visiting hours on a Sunday was Canterbury Cathedral from 12:30-2:30. However, since it costs money to go during this time, I decided to wait and go to Evensong at 3:15, not only getting in free but enjoying the singing service as well.

As I tried to kill time until then, I wandered the streets, looking in windows and whatnot. At one point I passed a pub and the inside was really full, and I read the chalk board out front and realized that there were several soccer ('football') matches on so all the guys were gathering for the games in the perspective jerseys. It was about an hour until 3pm when the sign said the Manchester United game would come on, which made me think of my friend Tommy and his Irish friends who I knew would all be watching that game (they are big fans).

After a bit I walked back by the entrance to the Cathedral Close and noticed that the people who took money were gone, so I just walked in and explored the Close grounds for a while. They had some lovely gardens and sections of the old Roman wall on the property. The cloister was also quite beautiful. I walked around the back of the church and that is how I stumbled across the Roman wall and then somehow found myself inside the cathedral cloister and I'm really not sure if I was supposed to be there, so it was pretty exciting.

It still wasn't 3:15 yet, so I went to a nearby Starbucks and bought a banana nut muffin and soaked up the warmth while I waited, then went to the Cathedral at the appropriate time. The Evensong service is held in the Quire which is past the Nave and right in front of the place where St. Thomas Becket's tomb was before it was destroyed by Henry VIII.

Evensong so beautiful, and I was much closer to the singing boys than when I went at St. Paul's. These kids are between 7 and 12 years old, and have the most beautiful soprano voices you've ever heard! This one boy had a few solo lines and I couldn't believe the sounds I heard coming from his mouth - he could be an opera singer. It was just really amazing, and to watch the man who was conducting them was like watching someone dancing. The singers sit in pews across from each other (and the audience sits on the same pews on each side of the choir pews). In front of each section of choir pews a little boy in a purple robe stands in the aisle. I don't know if these boys are in training (all the other boys wear white robes with some purple on them) or if they are just really good and that is a spot of honor, but either way, the one I could see opposite me was so adorable I wanted to pack him up and take him home with me. He couldn't have been more than six and his hair was in a bowl cut and just a tad too long and he had the face of an angel.

After the service was over I explored the church, going to the site of the former shrine to Becket. Becket was the Archbishop of Canterbury and was killed by followers of Henry II after a dispute over the rights and privileges of the church. The king was reported to have said "Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?" and that was taken as a "who will kill him for me?" Therefore, a bunch of knights went to find him and even though he knew they were coming, he stayed in Canterbury Cathedral, and though it is a crime to shed blood in a church, the men came in, snuck up behind him, and chopped off his head while he knelt in prayer. After this, a shrine with his bones was erected on the spot that now contains a candle, and people from all over Europe made pilgrimages to the martyred saint. This is the destination of Chaucer's pilgrims in the Canterbury Tales.



When Henry VIII changed the national religion of Britain to Anglican after having a falling out with the Pope (for not granting him a divorce), Henry demolished all Catholic associated shrines, stained glass windows, etc. across the nation. Because Becket was such an important one, Henry took extra care to completely destroy his shrine and bones, so no trace was left, and thus the candle represents it today.

After I left the Cathedral I walked back to the train station leisurely and caught the 4:20 train back to London. When I got back to Russell Square tube station to walk to my flat I was behind this couple and the guy had his elbow propped up on the girl's shoulder (as she was a good deal shorter) and walked like that the entire time I was behind them - using her like his personal arm rest. I can't believe she would put up with such an insulting gesture.