Wednesday 3 August 2011

Canterbury Cathedral and a River Cruise


On Tuesday of our holiday we went to Canterbury - a very difficult place to park your car! We eventually found room in a multi storey car park which was conveniently situated near to the main shopping centre and The Cathedral. We lunched at a Marks and Spencers Cafe - the food was lovely and the staff were friendly.
After lunch we walked up to Christ Church Gate and The Cathedral.


You go through the Gate and there in front of you is Canterbury Cathedral where Thomas Becket, the Archbishop was murdered in 1170 and which made the Cathedral a pilgrims destination and inspired Geoffrey Chaucer to write "The Canterbury Tales".
I remember being forced into reading "Murder in the Cathedral" by T. S. Eliot at school which I didn't enjoy. It's funny the things that you can re-call - the brain really is a fantastic filing cabinet.


We entered the Cathedral - it is very big. It makes you realize how small we are in the grand scheme of things. We resembled little ants in this vast space.


This painting attracted my curosity - who is the little person in white tugging at Mary's gown?


There were many beautiful stained glass windows.


The pulpit!


An engraving from the side of the pulpit.


After our tour of The Cathedral we walked in the Cathedral's grounds and saw this lion on one of the walls.


We left The Cathedral and had a mooch around the shops.


We then saw a sign advertising River Cruises and thought that it would be a nice way of seeing a bit more of Canterbury.


The Cruise lasted for 45 minutes and was very relaxing until we came across some local drunks who shouted from a nearby bridge how they could tell us some stories about Canterbury. We were sat in a punt with about 10 others, many foreign tourists. I don't know what they made of them!


Near to where this photo was taken we saw a moorhen with its chick. There was no photo opportunity as they were quite well hidden in the greenery.


I liked the reflection in the water.


All too soon the trip was over.


We asked one of a group of three ladies who were sat opposite us to take a photo of the three of us together and here it is! I have an intense dislike of having my photograph taken so a photo of my is very rare!
After our River Cruise we returned to the car park and drove back to that wonderful house where we were staying at in Whitstable.

Until next time,

June.

2 comments:

  1. I've been to Canterbury! It was quite a while ago though. I like the sound of the river cruise, shame about the drunks though. Nice to see you again!

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  2. when our lecturar, Miss Meenakshi Paul was discussing about the "Murder In The Cathedral" to us, we were supposed to be in the Cathedral.......now, i have very much desire to see this cathedral church. where Thomas Becket was murdered.........

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