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Bet Bet's adventures abroad
Today I got up early again, and therefore did not have a sleep in on a SUNDAY. I know. But I was excited because I was heading to Canterbury!
I arrived at about 11 after a 2 hour train ride, on which I saw my first ever pheasant in the gorgeous English countryside and drifted off to sleep dreaming about the pheasants in Danny the Campion of the World dropping out of all the trees after eating the raisins with sleeping pills in them.
When I arrived at Canterbury I was excited to see clear, sunny blue skies and that I had left the overcast gloom behind in London. I headed towards the main town centre and there was a huge gate with turrety things that was called Westgate (MUCH more impressive than Tamworth Westgate...), which was basically the bridge over the river and entrance to the town.
I headed towards the Canterbury Tales first, which was basically a guided tour by Chaucer, apparently (okay, I know it wasn't REALLY him...), who retold a slightly summarised version of 4 of the Canterbury Tales while some scary looking people and animals were illuminated for each part of the story, room after room. So, after my earphone fitting, I headed off and in the first room I walked in and almost screamed with fright because the first thing i saw was an old woman slumped over a table, passed out, and it was very dark and I wasn't expecting it. Anyway, I stood right in the middle of the room so nothing could accidentally touch me (if I accidentally backed into something) and wished 'Chaucer' would hurry up with his story about Thomas Beckett being murdered and the start of the pilgrimage. I have to admit I was a bit scared because it was very dark and eery and smelt like the 14th Century (apparently, anyway, because I don't actually know what this smells like). So after Chaucer said I could move on, I bolted up the stairs past all the beckoning peasants with horrible looks on their faces, and up the top I almost ran into a man who at first I thought was another figure, but he was actually real and I almost screamed again when he moved. Anyway, I had managed to catch up with a family of 5 so ended up going around with them, which was great because I forgot I was scared and was able to enjoy all the tales. It was really cool to see something I not only learned in school, but was really interested in, and I was surprised to see I remembered all the stories they retold. So that was great and was done REALLY well and maintained by people who are obviously passionate about Chaucer, and I really enjoyed it despite a scary beginning.
Then I went to Canterbury Cathedral, which is yet another majestic cathedral and so absolutely stunning. (And yes, I did take the picture at the top...) I probably could have looked at it all day if it wasn't a bit too cold to stand still for long periods of time. I had a wander around inside, and stared for a long time at some really amazing stained glass windows, which covered almost the entire front wall of the cathedral. As far as cathedrals go, it wasn't the most impressive I've seen, but was still nice. Most of it is a crypt, which I didn't spend much time in because as interesting as looking at someone's grave is, I find crypts creepy. But I did see where Thomas Beckett was murdered, which had a weird kind of instrument hanging from the roof, a little table and written on the floor in kind of blood drippy writing was 'Thomas'. Eww.
Then I walked around the St Augustine's Abbey, which is the remains of the Abbey. Despite being a pile of rocks (no, really, it is just pile of rocks everywhere), there were some interesting remains, although I got bored on stage 2 of the audio tour and was only there about 1/2 an hour. The entrance (which is now the entrance to one of the uni colleges) is really beautiful, but you can't go inside because it is in use by students.
I walked back to the town centre and wandered around the little cobbled streets for a while, and ended up at Westgate Gardens, which are immaculately kept and SO pretty and peaceful, with a cute little river running through them, and what will be explosions of colour when spring gets here properly and all the trees and bushes come to life.
I left at about 5 so had quite a good day there. Out of everywhere I've been so far in England, I think Canterbury has the most things to see. It has such an interesting history between the murders and religion and pilgrimages, and it's such an amazingly vibrant little town. I can understand why someone would want to live there, although eventually you'd probably stop doing the Canterbury Tales tour. I can't say I fell in love with it, but I certainly had a great time and was glad to spend a day in such a beautiful (if a tad creepy) place.
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