Saturday we were up early to go to the 8am service. Mc thought it would be interesting to actually go to an Anglican service in the cathedral and so did I.
*SuperNova Travel Tip: If you go to a service in Canterbury Cathedral, then admission is free.
Of course, by the time we figured out where in this massive cathedral the service was being held, the only seats available were in the front row, directly in front of the priest. That's right, none of that sitting in the very back and doing whatever the people in front of us were doing for us! I was a little bit worried that the priest would instantly realize that we had only a basic grasp on what we were doing and would be cold and put out. However, he couldn’t have been more kind and welcoming. As a teacher, I was wondering if it was similar to how I tend to view reading - what gets them into reading isn’t as important as the fact that they’re doing it. An excellent experience that I recommend.
After the service, we had a beautiful breakfast in our lodge and then wandered around town before the noon tour of the cathedral. Canterbury Cathedral has been around since the eleventh century. It is absolutely enormous and every corner is filled with history. I highly recommend a tour (just 5 pounds). It would be beautiful just to wander around, but knowing about the stories and architecture and being able to ask questions gives the experience so much depth. Plus, then you don’t have to research the history in advance, which feels a lot like homework. We were particularly struck by the martyrdom where Saint Thomas Beckett was murdered (knights murdered him inside the church, then took off the top of his head and stirred his brains around so he wouldn’t be able to tell God what they’d done, which I thought showed incredible forethought) and I very much enjoyed seeing the relics of the Black Prince. Halfway through our tour, the organ started to play, booming through the main area and leading me to wonder if the Phantom summered in Canterbury. Turns out the organist was just practicing (hey, when else are you going to practice?), but it did lend quite a bit of drama to our tour.
Our tour ran a little bit long because there was a wedding going on (can you imagine getting married in Canterbury Cathedral?!? Well, you have to do it in the crypt) and our guide showed us a few extra things to kill time before finally being able to show us the crypt. We had to hurry to catch our 2:02pm train back to London to meet M and V, but we could not leave without first taking our picture inside Starbucks. And this was important to us because there was a
Starbucks built against the ancient wall comprising the gate into the cathedral grounds. A Starbucks had a wall that was well over 600 years old. This is the sort of thing we find infinitely funny, and if you don’t understand why, then explaining it further would be wasted on you. Meanwhile, we have the coolest picture of us at a Starbucks in Canterbury.
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