Canterbury

Despite weather forecasts of heavy rain and the feeling in the pit of my stomach that it was a bad day to go, I went to Canterbury on Saturday. Having for some reason lost my ability to sleep past 7:30 in the morning, even on weekends, I was showered and breakfasted by 8:45 and decided to head to Victoria for the 9:33 train, which should have been an easy enough task with time leftover. So I was at Earl's Court by a few minutes past 9, waiting for a city-bound train. For a variety of reasons that mortals don't understand, the first train that came got delayed as a door went haywire and an passenger alarm got pulled (which happens a lot and is generally just an annoyance) so it was just sitting there, and then another functioning train pulled up to the adjacent platform but it couldn't leave until the faulty train left. So everyone was going back and forth between the trains trying to continue their journeys for 20 minutes. I got to Victoria at around 9:25, ran through underground station, walked like the wind to buy my ticket, say with aghast that the train left in two minutes from platform 2 while I was in front of platform 20, ran across the station and hopped on a train that I was just assuming was going to Canterbury but was not entirely sure.

90 minutes later I did indeed arrive at Canterbury, where the strong wind pushed me in the direction of the cathedral. Luckily the heavy rain wasn't due until the afternoon and I was just greeted by the type of light drizzle where you just end up a bit moist after a few minutes but you're not really sure how. Now the cathedral itself was amazing, especially considering it's real hey day was around 700 years ago (circa the publication of Canterbury Tales). There were some very nice retired people there to answer your questions and point you in the right direction and you walked all around greeted by amazingness wherever you went. It was warm, dry and wind free. You even got to walk around the crypt, which in places was very, very dark. The cathedral's big claim to fame is that it's the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the head of the Anglican Church/Church of England. I didn't see him, perhaps it was his day off. And as part of this, about 800 years ago some knights or something took the king a bit too seriously when he said that the archbishop of the time (Thomas Becket) was a pain in the neck and they killed the guy inside the church. Like I don't go to church or anything, but it seems pretty wrong to murder a bishop inside a church. Anyways, it was this crime that made the place a pilgrimage site. The cathedral also contains the graves/coffin statues whateveryou call them of King Henry IV and his queen, the enchantingly named 'Black Prince' and a bunch of archbishops.

After walking through the cathedral I decided to walk around it. In the back you sort of chance upon what I can only assume to be the fanciest most expensive boarding school for preppy children ever, the King's School. There were high school age kids running around with books in their uniforms on a Saturday. I hope they go far in life. Anyways, it was quite intriguing how one side of the cathedral was relatively clean and open and simply formed, while the back side had all sorts of odd angles and random buildings coming out of it. But was very pretty!

Upon leaving the cathedral, I walked around the main shopping bit of the town a bit. There were some really cute old Tudor buildings around, and then loads and loads and loads of chavs. It was like a thick chavy sea. I had to wade through track suit bottoms all the way back to the train station. Basically, Canterbury is what should be a cute old town with a neat cathedral, and it partially lives up to your expectations by having this fancy school and a small number of really fancy people in town that you would associate with the school, and then they ran out of fancy people and filled it up with people speaking a language where all sentences end with 'innit'. It's a bit sad really. It's like going to a quaint New England town for some cuteness action, and then a bunch of rednecks drive by in pick-ups shooting guns into the air. And you're like, oh no. So with this in mind, I'm not sure if I would recommend Canterbury as a holiday destination.

As an additional side note, I went to a movie when I got back. Before you even get to the previews they show commercials now. Do they do this in the US? If so to what extent? Because they, in my mind, took it too far. There were (yes I counted) 10 car commercials alone. TEN. And maybe 2 or 3 non-car commercials. Do people really think that people watching movies in London are buying cars at such a rate where they need to see 10 commercials for them? It's ridiculous I tell you! Anyways, that's all. The picture above is taken from the cloisters around the back of the cathedral. I took many pictures of the inside and outside of the place that I'll try and get online tonight or tomorrow!