2022_07 England and Wales – Page 3 – Lynn's Travel Adventures

Canterbury

Today was an absolute glorious day; sunny and a temp of mid 80s. It was certainly our warmest day. But, it wasn’t just the weather. We thoroughly enjoyed our short day in Canterbury. Our hosts, Simon and Mary, told us about a park and ride just up the road where we could park for 4 pounds then take the free bus into the city center. It was a wonderful way to get into town as parking is very tight.

Our beautiful Lodge in Kent. It’s very specious with the bedroom upstairs. Mary & Simon renovated the garage specifically to be an Airbnb flat and did an amazing job. After the noise of London, we’re very much enjoying the quite of this location.

Once on the bus, we were in town in less than 10 minutes. Peter stopped at McDonald’s for coffee and breakfast. We didn’t have any eggs and he turned up his nose at my breakfast of Coco Pops which is the UK version of Cocoa Krispies. There wasn’t much to pick from in the mini-market by our flat in London and I love Cocoa Krispies because they make the milk chocolate. But, Peter preferred an egg sandwich at McDs so we sat for a short time while he ate.

Canterbury Cathedral is the seat of the Anglican church with the Archbishop of Canterbury being the senior bishop of the Church (the monarch is the head). There has been a Cathedral of some sort on this site since 579 and is the oldest and most famous Christian buildings in the UK.

One of the many statues on the outside of the building.

It was difficult to decide what pictures to include as the Cathedral is so beautiful. It’s built in the gothic style but is not as ornate as some other churches. Part of the reason is that during the Reformation in the mid-17th century, the Puritans destroyed everything they could get their hands on as they preferred to worship in a more spartan environment.

The Nave

The Martyrdom

One of the most famous events happened in the Cathedral in 1170. King Henry II was good buds with Thomas Becket. Thomas wasn’t particularly religious but Henry named him Archbishop of Canterbury anyway. Once Thomas got the gig, he also got religion and continuously put the church ahead of the monarchy. Henry wasn’t too happy about that and is supposed to have said, “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?” Four of his knights took him literally and killed Becket in his own Church. The site at which he was murdered is known as the Martyrdom.

The site where he was murdered. At least 4 miracles have been attributed to Becket and just 2 years after his assassination he was canonized a saint.

The Windows

Due to the Reformation, most of the windows are filled with plain glass versus ornate stained glass. Some of the original windows survived by moving them to Wales until the monarchy was restored with Charles II in 1660.

You can see the window on the far left is only stained glass a portion of the way up the window. The rest was destroyed during the Reformation.

Some of the windows survived not just the Reformation, but also WWII when the town was heavily bombed. Most of the windows that were left after the Reformation and restored in 1660 were removed and taken to Wales before the Blitz in 1940. Some of them were lost but most survived.

One of the volunteer guides told us that he was a kid during the war and he remembers that the city was so thoroughly destroyed (but by some miracle the Cathedral, while damaged, remained mostly intact), it was difficult to find his way around because all the normal landmarks had been destroyed. He said that eventually the town council put up small markers to tell everyone what used to be in that spot so they knew how to get where they were going. It was fascinating to listen to his stories.

These 4 windows did not survive WWII. In the late 50s, an artist was commissioned to design new, more modern windows.

This is the bottom right window of the 4 that were destroyed. You can certainly tell this is is of 20th century design. It represents Christ with the children of the world. Look closely at the older girl in the bottom right corner…she looks just like Belle in Beauty and the Beast.

The window near the entrance of the Cathedral.

One last beautiful window in a side chapel.

The Quire

As in every other Cathedral we’ve visited, there is the Quire which is where the Choir sits.

Photo taken from the front so we’re looking toward the Nave.

Royal Crypts

King Henry IV and his wife Joan of Navarre are buried in the Cathedral

As is the Black Prince, Edward of Woodstock. Edward was the eldest son and heir of King Edward III but predeceased the King by dying of dysentery in 1376. He was considered to be one of the greatest knights of his time.

Examiners have looked at the crypt with Xray and have verified that the Black Prince is in fact buried there. They have also done DNA testing on the remains and on the attributes in the Crypt beneath the Cathedral (we were able to visit but not take photos) and they DNA matches proving that those items were, in fact, worn by the Black Prince.

Replica of the Black Prince’s garment. We saw the original in the Crypt and it is still in amazingly good shape.

A last few photos

Looking from the Nave into the Cathedral.

We spent about 2 hours in the Cathedral and enjoyed every minute of it. The volunteer guides are very knowledgeable and very happy to answer questions.

By the time we finished, it was time for lunch so we headed off to The Three Tuns for lunch. Pubs here have modified table service. Each table has a number so once you’ve decided what you want to eat. You go to the bar and give the bartender your order, your table number and your money. Then someone brings you the food. We haven’t left a tip at a restaurant since we got here (and they’re not expected) so by the time we get home, we’ll have to retrain ourselves to leave tips.

This pub had a senior menu which had nothing to do with age but with smaller portions. Since we usually have too much at lunch we were thrilled to have smaller portions. And, it came with either a salad appetizer or a dessert. It should come as no surprise that we picked the dessert.

Today’s lunch was Chicken Diane and chips. The “Diane” part was a mustard based mushroom sauce. It may not sound very appetizing but it was delicious. Peter played it safe with fish and chips.

I’m sure this warm fudge cake and vanilla ice cream was low-fat.

After lunch we spent about 30 minutes in the Roman museum. The Romans inhabited what is now Canterbury as early as the 1st century BC. The ruins were discovered after the bombings of WWII with excavation occurring after the war.

A rare Iron Age helmet from Julius Caesar’s time (mid-1st century BC).

We made it an early afternoon, getting home around 2pm. But it gave us (me) a chance to do laundry and hang clothes out in the beautiful sunshine. Tomorrow we’re off to Brighton Beach with a couple of stops along the way.

Kent

In spite of a few nervous moments in the car, we made it to our first stop without difficulty. Once on the motorway, driving was easy. It’s the surface streets that are nerve wracking.

Anyhoo….we got to Leeds Castle by about 10:30 and had a lovely time touring the beautiful old building. It was originally a fortress for about 200 years, then it became the home of kings and queens for another 300 years. The first monarch to call it home was King Edward I in 1278. Another famous resident was Henry VIII. He made a lot of improvements but preferred Hampton Court Palace. Leeds Castle is where he banished his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, when he wanted to divorce her to marry Anne Boleyn.

In the mid 16th century it was turned over to a nobleman and it was subsequently owned by 5 different families. Finally in 1926, the last family sold it to a wealthy heiress for the equivalent of 10.5 million pounds in today’s money. Lady Baillie totally renovated the castle in the Tudor style but with a 1920s flair. It was quite cool to see how such an ancient castle could look in a modern style.

Lady Baillie literally had a throne for a toilet.

One of the many fireplaces. This one was in the Dining Room

After visiting the Castle, we headed to the Castle View Restaurant for lunch.

Peter played it safe with a burger but I tried the Ham and Red Leicester (pronounced Lester) quiche. When I asked what Red Leicester was, the hostess said it was cheese. When I asked why not just call it a ham and cheese quiche, she smiled and said, “we’re trying to be posh.” Whatever it was called, it was quite good and just enough for lunch.

After lunch I took a deep breath and got back into the car for the drive to Dover. We went to see the famous White Cliffs of Dover and ended up spending several hours in the Dover Castle. We saw the cliffs but didn’t find a good place to stop and take a photo.

Dover Castle is administered by the English Heritage and, since we are members for a year, we got in for no charge. Of course we paid for the membership but we’ll more than make up for that with the different places we’ll see.

Dover Castle was founded in the 11th century by Henry II, who was father to Richard the Lionhearted and King John (who the nobles hated so much they made him sign the Magna Carta; we’ll see that when we get to Salisbury Cathedral next week). It has served as a major defensive fortress throughout British History, up to and including WWII.

There were several costumed performers throughout the Castle.

One of the beautiful stained glass windows.

We got to be King and Queen for a few moments.

Replicas of some of their crowned jewels.

Banquet Hall. The furnishings and decorations are accurate reproductions of what would have been in the Castle during the time of the Kings.

We also toured the underground passageways and rooms that have been used for defense since the Napoleonic Wars. These rooms were used to plan and execute Operation Dynamo, the plan to rescue the trapped British and French soldiers from Dunkirk in May 1940. I thought Peter knew everything there was to know about WWII but even he didn’t know about these underground rooms.

Part of the Castle from the roof. The water in the background is the English Channel. In the distance, you can see the French coast.

The tour was fascinating but, unfortunately, we weren’t able to take any photos. By the time the tour was finished, we were exhausted and decided it was time to head to our new home for the evening. Our hosts, Mary and Simon, are absolutely lovely and welcomed us with open arms; not to mention a bottle of wine and other goodies. After chatting with them for a little while, we settled on our patio with wine and cookies.

Tomorrow we’re heading to Canterbury to check out the Cathedral. For now, though, it’s after 10pm and I need a shower and a bed. Talk with you tomorrow. Love to all.

Mad Dash Through Castle, Stratford and Oxford

So, I made it through the first day with the car and managed to stay on the correct side of the road (left), turn into the roundabouts correctly (clockwise) and 3 out of 4 times got into the car on the correct side (right). Of, course I was a wreck most of the day but all in all I did okay. I missed 2 of the turns in roundabouts, though. One of the times we almost ended up on the ferry to Calais, but I saw a turn called “emergency escape” just in time to avoid that disaster.

We are settled into our lovely flat in Kent but before I get into that let’s catch up with yesterday’s adventures. We took a Viator tour that started in Warwick Castle, a medieval castle built on the site of a fort originally built by William the Conqueror. It was owned by the Earls of Warwick until 1978 until it was sold and turned into an amusement park. It’s mainly for kids but we enjoyed touring the main home. It was staged as if it were a holiday party in the early 20th century.

One of the two knights in the great hall.

Beautifully scrolled headboard in the room used by the Prince of Wales. This was the guy who eventually abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson.

Then it was on to Stratford-upon-Avon which was very crowded with tourists. We had a little time to walk around the pedestrian street before meeting our tour guide, Godfrey, for the tour through Shakespeare’s birthplace.

Pedestrian Street in Stratford-upon-Avon.

Will’s birthplace. He was the 3rd of 8 or 9 kids.

His dad, John, was a glove maker. Apparently he was the Jimmy Choo of glove makers in the 16th century. These are samples of the type of men’s gloves that were popular in that day.

The kids bedroom. The kids would move from their parents bedroom to this room when they were about 5 years old. The test they were given was to walk with a candle from one room to the other. If they were able to do it without spilling any wax, they were old enough to move to the “big kids” room.

Of course there was a statue of Will in the pedestrian street.

Our last stop before heading back to London was Oxford. We did a blitzkrieg walking tour (about 45 minutes) through town. Godfrey told us what the buildings were but without taking notes there was no way to remember. There are 38 or 39 colleges at Oxford, each with their own building(s) and libraries.

I do remember that the green dome was designed by Sir Christopher Wren who also designed St. Paul’s Cathedral in London (among many other building).

I think this is Bodleian Library. It’s less of a library now than a building used for special occasions. All graduations are held here. Since there are so many colleges, they do them virtually every day of the week during graduation season.

We didn’t get back to our flat until almost 8pm, so it was a very long day. But we spent a good portion of it in the bus so it wasn’t too bad. Even though we wished we had more time in Oxford, we still enjoyed the day.

Luckily, I had done most of the packing on Sunday evening so all I had to do yesterday evening was put the final bits into the suitcases for our 7:45am car pickup back to Heathrow to pick up the car. More on today in the next blog, which should be up soon.