The drive down to Canterbury was ok, especially as Carla read excepts from "
The Canterbury Tales" to keep us entertained on the M1 and M25, and get us in the mood for our visit. We stayed in a pleasant self-catering apartment, in an Edwardian house called
Oriel Lodge, which was about a ten minute walk from the city centre. Once settled in our rooms, we
decided to explore the city for a little while in the late afternoon. Between our lodgings and the city centre was a very pretty public
garden area on either side of the River Stour, near to the old West Gate. Due to recent heavy rain, the river was flooding into the gardens - it was a fast flowing torrent! The main road from there leads into the centre and follows an old Roman road. We had a look around the extensive shopping area, which was bustling with Friday afternoon shoppers and a large amount of French schoolchildren who must have been over on a day trip (Canterbury is very close to the Channel Tunnel rail link and English Channel port of Dover, so its very easy to get to from the continent). We found the health food shop that Carla wanted to visit, called
Canterbury Wholefoods. Quite a well stocked shop, we were very impressed.
The weather was clear but cold on Saturday morning, so Carla kindly bought me a hat before we started our day exploring! We then visited the
Canterbury Roman Museum, a centrally located attraction that is actually built below modern street level, and shows some of the extensive archeological digs of the early 20th Century, as well as interesting pieces and recreations. Basically, they have built a museum around some Roman ruins, including a now very wobbly mosiac floor! We then had a look around the town centre, and after photographing the old Odeon cinema (a geeky hobby of mine) we walked along the Roman (and medieval) walls, which still exist on the West side of the town. After climbing 'The Mound' in
Dane John Gardens to get some impressive views of the city, we found ourselves at the old
castle which unfortunately is a ruin now. Still, very interesting to investigate. After lunch at our lodgings, we popped back into town and Carla bought some 'Winnie the Pooh' slippers from the
Winnie the Pooh shop.
Canterbury isn't a million miles from the location of the bridge where pooh sticks were first played! Anyway, only a stone's throw away from the shop is the famous
Canterbury Cathed
ral, which we went to next. I have to say I was very impressed with the interior, and at how big the building and site is generally (there are a lot of associated buildings next to it, as well as pleasant areas of open grass and trees - nicer in the summer though!) The highlight for me was seeing the point of pilgrimage for
Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered on the orders of Henry II in 1170. Also, underneath the cathedral, there are some incredible catacombs which just ooze atmosphere. Shame my photo didn't come out that well, but it was dark in there. Also, the nave was stupendous. It was especially thrilling to be there as a local choir was rehearsing for an upcoming concert. As we looked a the amazing ceiling,
Mozart's Requiem was echoing throughout the building. Wonderful! After leaving the cathedral, we did a bit of shopping and went home.
We visited
Leeds Castle on Sunday, even though the day was *very* wet - the rain didn't really stop all day. It was very easy to get to from Canterbury, just a simple drive down three main roads. We had to be careful with areas of the road that had standing pools of water though! The castle and grounds proved to be very impressive, although it was slightly uncomfortable walking through the extensive grounds in waterproofs. We really liked an area called 'The Duckery', which is made up of little ponds and small streams and patches of managed woodland. It is a haven for ducks, geese, and other birds such as peacocks! At the back of the castle, there is an aviary which contains ma
ny exotic birds from around the world, including some very pretty parakeets. We particularly liked a parrot called Oscar, who we watched eat endless peanuts and say "hello!" The castle itself is well worth a visit, particularly to see the older rooms done out in their medieval style. I was a little disappointed because only part of the castle is open to tourists, and some of this was rebuilt in the 1800's in a style that doesn't really interest me. Still, it is a working building which is used for other things than tourism. The main thing I liked about the building was the view of the castle from outside, as it is built on two small islands in a lake. Very atmospheric!
On the Monday, the morning weather was bright and sunny, so we decided to explore a bit on the long drive home. First, we went up to the North Kent coast to explore the town of
Whitstable, a fishing community that is famous for its North Sea oysters, and for a place to retire to. That was fun, as we explored the old harbour area and the little town centre. I was happy to see that the town has a whistful charm and a number of indepenent shops. We also explored the beach and the castle, which really is a 19th century manor house in some nice small gardens atop the low cliffs.
After the dreaded M25 was behind us, we found our way to St. Albans in Hertfordshire. What a pleasant place! We found the town centre to be lively shopping area, and contain some interesting old buildings, such as the famous clock tower. Just at the back of the town centre is the large medieval abbey, which was wonderful to visit. Inside the abbey there was an fascinating history of the site. Beautiful building! I bought a postcard showing a picture of King Offa (as in 'Offa's Dyke', the old English/Welsh border) as he appears in the Abbey. He founded the place in 793.
We had lunch outside the abbey in the gardens, next to some old grand buildings that made up the local public school. Whilst eating our sandwiches, we noticed a camerman filming some chap dressed as a monk! I wonder if that was for some upcoming documentary? I really should have asked...
A short drive away on the outskirts of St. Albans are the remains of the old Roman town, known as 'Verulamium'. This was one of the main settlements in Roman time, and famous for being sacked by Boudica. There is a wonderful
museum built near the centre of the old town, which has detailed re-creations of Roman life, and a large collection of pieces, such as pottery and coins on show. Also, they have a large mosiac to see there. The musem itself is located on
the edge of what is a now a huge park with playing fields. In the centre of these fields is a perfectly preserved Roman mosiac which used to be in a villa. The mosiac is now covered by a modern building for the protection of the floor and also keeping tourists dry and out of the wind. It was fascinating to see the detailed geometrical work on Roman mosiacs: they are really quite beautiful. On the edge of the fields back towards the town are some remains of the old Roman wall, but we didn't go out there. As we didn't have much time, we decided to go into the museum instead of crossing the road to see the remains of the amphitheatre - we'll go there another day. I bought a map of Roman Britain in the museum. It'll help plan future day trips!
The drive home was ok, we got back tired but happy. Fun little trip!
Staying with 'space stuff' (as my mother calls it)....at last, I'm watching the new "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" animated series. Starting from yesterday, 'Cartoon Network' has started to show them every Saturday morning, repeated on Saturday evening. The channel broadcast episodes 1 and 2 yesterday. The series picks up after the film released last summer. Episode 1 features a lot of Yoda doing awesome lightsabre battling (bad luck, battle droids), and the second episode featured the return of General Grievous and his new weapon, a super ion cannon. Great fun stuff, and the animation is superb. I'm looking forward to seeing some characters like Jar Jar Binks return in episode 8. What's also funny are the little 'Lego Star Wars' adverts in between the episodes. Hopefully they should be turning up on 'You Tube' soon.
