Easter Monday - Canterbury

Just in front of the train station and within the old city walls is a beautiful park, featuring among other things this maze playground. Looked like a lot of fun!


While there are probably other sites to enjoy in Canterbury, because we only had a couple of hours, we went straight for the medieval center of town to visit the cathedral. Standing in line waiting to buy tickets, we discovered that Brooks had fallen asleep on Eric's back! Wahoo! I love it when Brooks "sleeps through church" as his (very loud) toddler voice tends to carry extremely well in Gothic cathedrals.


Canterbury cathedral makes everyone look like a professional photographer, especially on a blue sky day!


This church is MASSIVE! Like most Gothic churches, it's built in the shape of a cross. The nave is the long main aisle coming from the back doors to the center of the church. The high altar is usually just up from the nave, and individual chapels circle the arms and head of the cross. In this photo, I'm standing where the cross intersects - The nave stretches out behind me, so everything in this photo is only a third of the church's length, just the quire area and the high altar.


This is the quire, the original choir area just in front of the high altar. Before we left that afternoon, the choir members came out and had a rehearsal here. The acoustics were gorgeous!



The stained glass in the church is also just beautiful.


The Black Prince, heir to the throne of England after Edward III, was the quintessential knight in shining armor! He was also one of the original Knights in Order of the Garter, at age 14. He pre-deceased his father the King, so he got this beautiful tomb instead of the crown.


Easter flowers and decorations were still up everywhere....



Outside, daffodils were blooming at the bottom of the cathedral's walls...


The Cathedral's history is quite interesting. The oldest church in England still in use, it officially dates back to 597AD when the Pope sent St Augustine as a Missionary here to evangelize the pagans and establish the catholic church in England. During the 10th century, it became a Benedictine abbey. In 1170 knights of King Henry II murdered the famous Archbishop Thomas Becket during evening vespers. Soon after his death, the Cathedral began attracting religious seekers who had heard stories of miraculously answered prayers - Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales describes some of those pilgrims. Beckett's shrine was removed by Henry VIII in 1540 and much of the medieval stained glass was destroyed during the unrest of the Civil War in the 1640s. But amazingly the church was not seriously damaged during World War II, thanks in part to volunteers who patrolled the roofs to deal with fire bombs dropped by the Germans. Today the church remains a powerful part of the Church of England - the Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the church in England, is a member of Parliament in the House of Lords, and will be the one to crown the next monarch when Queen Elizabeth steps aside. Despite the rich English history in the church, I must say that it was one of the most reverent churches I've visited. Perhaps that's because Brooks was so quiet during most of our visit?!? :)

On the way home from Canterbury, Brooks was pretty wiped. In an effort to lull him to sleep, we cuddled and played the "name the face" game.... Where's momma's mouth?


Where's momma's hair?


Where's momma's nose?


Where's momma's self-respect?


I can't believe I'm posting this photo, either, but when Eric entitled it "the Indignity of Motherhood" I just couldn't resist. Fellow Mommas out there, this one's for you!

Eventually Brooks fell asleep in my arms and we enjoyed a peaceful ride back into town.


Once we hit London, we decided to eat out in our neighborhood, devouring big plates of pasta and reliving the fun of the day. Brooks made friends with a German boy Marcus who was sitting with his parents at the table behind us. We had a nice visit with them and then headed home for bath-time and stories.


We ended our long fun-filled weekend happy, tired, and feeling re-connected! What a great four days!!