Canterbury

Yesterday Simon and I went on a jolly down to Canterbury to explore for the day. It was a great day out and we saw a whole lot of history. 

Our first stop off was the Pilgrim's Hospital which was started in 1190. It had a fascinating history and was used as a place of hospitality. It was where the pilgrim's would stay when they came to visit St. Thomas Beckett's tomb. 

Check out that little doorway

A lot of history

Along the street we saw this pub which I had to take a photo of for all the cricket lovers back home.

The Cricketers!

Nice spot for a beer

Then we headed to the Cathedral and it did not disappoint. We were both completely blown away, it was HUGE. It is one of the most famous Christian structures in England. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the church of England. It was founded in 597 and completely rebuilt from 1070 to 1077. Incredibly old. We couldn't believe how big it was, we loved exploring all of it.

Gate to the cathedral

Magnificent

Zara out front

It goes on and ON

Stained glass

Main window

After lunch we went exploring and came across a sign that said 'Norman Castle' so we followed the signs and found this...

Norman Castle c.1070

Where's Zara?

This ruined castle is one of the most ancient in Britain and was begun by William the Conqueror around 1070. I thought this was really neat.

On the way back to the station Simon picked up an old school basketball singlet from a second hand store and then when stopped off at a French bakery (loads of French people here) to share a pot of tea. We can't go long without tea now, it's the English rubbing off on us.

Tastea!

We caught the train back to Bearsted to where Ben and Julia live. Simon took me down to check out the village green before walking to their place. We both decided it would be a nice village to live in.

I think Si wants to play cricket here

We had a lovely pizza dinner with Ben, Julia, Julia's sister family, Brian and Mary. Then came the hard goodbyes because today we headed to Reading and said goodbye to Kent.

Thanks for a great time Kent! I loved every minute!

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