Canterbury

I came back up to London yesterday and felt quite proud of myself that I negotiated both the train and the bus. I had got a day travelcard since that was the most economical for me. After depositing my case etc at Bayswater I went out once more and took the 436 bus from Paddington to George St - just past Marble Arch and went to visit the Wallace Collection in Hertford House . This is a quite stunning private collection which was bequeathed to the nation on the death of Sir Richard Wallace.







Now today Friday. Paul, Chloe and I are off to discover the small city of Canterbury. I was surprised to learn that it was one and a half hours by train from Waterloo - I did not think it was quite so far away. We knew it was popular but none of us were prepared for the hordes of schoolchildren who were visiting it that day. The noise was deafening and took something from the experience.


However there was certainly plenty to interest us. We visited the Eastbridge Hospital in the main street. This was one of the resting places for the pilgrims since early times. We loved the old buildings and the narrow lanes. At this old place we smiled to see the modern Nero coffee sign alongside the old date.(You can click on the picture itself to enlarge it)





We also had our own lunch in a very old pub by the side of the river before we 'girded our loins' once more and went to see all round the cathedral. The food was really good, though I suspect not quite the same as that taken by Chaucer's pilgrims.


The cathedral itself is quite spectacular both the lower level of the crypt which seems to be the area still used for church services and the upper levels. We also loved the quadrangle area and the vaulted cloisters. I found the painted carvings very interesting especially the pulpit in the main sanctuary. all in all it was a great day and despite the noise of the teenage children (several of the groups appeared to have come over from either France or Germany) we all felt it had been a really worthwhile day out.