The ride to Canterbury took almost an hour longer than expected due to the holiday traffic. Monday is bank holiday and the following week of a half term vacation for the schoolkids. We were nicely ensconced in the back seat of a Mercedes van, so the traffic did not bother us. We unloaded all the luggage in the lobby and made our explanations for the volume. We grabbed our lunch salads and sat in the garden overlooking the cathedral. Then we took a walk through town. Lots of shops with funky things as well as a few good deals on clothes. Many of our items have worn out and require replacement so we bought a few sweaters for Leslie and a shirt or two for me. We got the call that our room was ready to we zipped back only to find that they moved all the luggage for us. Very cool! We were so early into the Cathedral that we got to hear the Boy's Choir practicing before their concert. We sat in a padded pew across from the nicest stain glass window in the place and it was fabulous listening to the singing. We listened for 45 minutes and then decided to head back into town for a happy hour before our dinner reservation. Corkk was a cute wine bar and we had a veggie platter with some wine and some bubbles. It was very entertaining watching the folks come in and look around. We had to move our table so that people could walk behind us so search through the bubbly selection. One man asked for help from the wine guy and said he could be "swayed into buying something better if it was truly tasty." 300 GBP later he was walking out with a fine wine in its own decorative box. I found some Primitivo for only 13 GBP and snatched it up. We asked if we could drink it at the table but only "a sip to try" was the answer. To avoid the corkage fee I had only a sip, but I took that sip three or four times over. Our dinner time was fast approaching so I bought two bottles of Primitivo and we returned to a most delightful dinner.
traffic immediately on the M25 ring road of London
Nice green rolling hills
Grand estates
More traffic as we approached the east coast of the UK
In Canterbury Old Town
The gates to the Cathedral grounds
What a sunny day
The Canterbury Cathedral Lodge
Our room for the night, with a great garden overlooking the Cathedral
The view out of our window
The garden
Snail in a leaf
The Abbey
Mocking the statue
Big drift wood horse
It is this big
In the grass
Holding the window
Grasping the window
Spring is green all over
Son of Man Sculpture
Looking pretty good
Some scaffolding is on the other end of the building
Our passage way awaits
Nice supporting ceiling beams
Steam Punk hats
Old 45's cut into logos of the bands that sang the song
The Pink Floyd flying pig
These birds are "Great Tits", can't make this stuff up
A Smooth Haired Fox Terrier gets a smooch while the Wire Haired stays on the shelf
Stained glass
The hall of regalia is in bad shape
Some of the flags were disintegrating
Yes, it is very tall in the center
The steps are greatly worn down
Carved stone to spare
Crucified on a deer!
The boys choir started singing
Knaves around the edges
Tile floors
The whole outfit, jacket, helmet and helmet topper
Some sort of bug
This wedge of the window depicts the abduction of Thomas Beckett right here in 1170
A wall of color
Looking back the long way
Woof!
The nicest window in the whole cathedral
The matching window
Not many folks joining us at this time of day
The sun is shining into the cathedral
Backlit!
The Windows reflected in a bell
Sitting in the Bubbly section
Leslie's first selection
The reds are in the distance
All the bubbles!
.jpg)
We are feeling good
I am feeling the wine
Part of a mini art show at the lodge
Sparkles in the spoon
Blingy
A tasty rose
Rarebit does not contain rabbit
A mushroom appetizer
A fancy white sausage pie
Trout on Pasta
Chocolate with crumbles and passion fruit
Carrot Cake
