CANTERBURY & LONDON

OCTOBER 28 – NOVEMBER 2, 2024

We were starting another 5 month sojourn. We started in London, to see my kids

and grandkids.

Halloween was coming up and Freya wanted to decorate the house. She had some help reaching the tall parts with the use of her new stepladder.

I had brought some red maple leaves from Canada. I had intended to get them laminated before we left, but I forgot. So we spent the first full day looking for a laminating shop in London. We walked to Hackney, only to find out they did not do it. We phoned another shop in Walthamstow and ended up walking there to get it done. In total, we walked 7 km. It turned out very nice and will make a nice keepsake of their Canadian roots.

We took a day to visit Canterbury. We entered the old town beneath the Westgate Towers. This 60-foot (18 m) high western gate of the city wall is the largest surviving city gate in England. Built around 1379, it is the last survivor of Canterbury’s seven medieval gates, still well-preserved and one of the city’s most distinctive landmarks. Canterbury was walled by the Romans around 300 AD.

It is a lovely old town with hotels that date back to 1503,

a brewery dating to 1698,

and a school dating to 597.

The streets are filled with old buildings that have been repurposed to shops, restaurants and coffee shops.

The main purpose of the trip to Canterbury was to see the Cathedral. In 596 Pope Gregory I ordered that an Abbot from Rome lead a Gregorian Mission to convert the heathen Anglo-Saxons. The Cathedral was founded that same year, albeit from the remains of a former Roman church. It was expanded, burned, rebuilt and altered many, many times over the centuries. The church we see today Romanesque and Gothic.

The inside has vaulted ceilings that seem to rise to the heavens. The long aisles go on forever.

As is typical in these old churches, they have a grand assortment of exquisite monuments and tombs.

and a creepy old crypt.

There was also a small museum, just off from the crypt.

A very unique feature in this church are tiny prayer niches. You kneel down and stick your head into the niche. You can talk in a normal voice, telling ALL your secrets to God, and those standing directly behind you can only hear a soft murmur. It also muffles the sounds around you, outside of the niche. VERY clever!

In 1170 the Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered right in the church. He had a longstanding quarrel with King Henry II. Four knights took it upon themselves (or maybe a hint from the King) to rid the problematic Archbishop forever. But it kind of backfired. Miracles were reported from Becket’s tomb, he was swiftly canonized. Pilgrims came in droves, substantially increasing both the prestige and the income of the cathedral. In fact, I met a lady at Freya’s gymnastics who told me to say a prayer to Thomas for her when I go.

Outside of the cathedral are the cloisters. I always enjoy the beauty and solitude of walking around these ancient prayer walkways.

We had a walk around the Kings School. It is Britain’s oldest; public school; and is arguably the oldest continuously operating school in the world, since education on the Abbey and Cathedral grounds has been uninterrupted since AD 597.

We cannot mention Canterbury with out mentioning Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of The Canterbury Tales, a collection of 24 stories told by a group of 30 pilgrims who travel from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Thomas Beckett.

We noticed the shingles on most of the buildings looked like stone. We asked someone and were told they were slate. They are nailed in place through a small hole drilled into them.

Our train was delayed more than 15 minutes on the way to Canterbury. It was announced that we were entitled to a partial refund because of this. It was also delayed on the return journey. When I tried to apply for the refund, the system would not accept my credit card, despite the fact that I used that card to pay for the journey. Sara tried through her bank, and was successful. It will take a couple of weeks to process. It remains to be seen if I actually receive any money, as it will be filtered through Sara first. LOL

We also managed to squeeze in a football tournament that Julian was playing in. We didn’t get to watch the entire thing, because we had a plane to catch, but Len later told me that his team won and he was Man of the Match! Way to go!

Len arranged an Uber for us to get to the nearest tube station, where we caught the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow for our flight to Cyprus.