canterbury is located about 2 hrs by bus south east of london. i was kind of expecting to see lots of logos like this.
but there were none. so anyway after alighting from the bus we linked up with the other people who decided to travel by train. we were a motley crew, consisting of one singaporean, two malaysians, three chinese and four indonesians. the bunch of us then went to the cathedral, which is the main attraction of canterbury.
for a small town like canterbury, the cathedral is colossal. it comprises of many sections, including a crypt where silence is strongly encouraged and photo/video taking is forbidden (which reminded me of fatal frame). fortunately for us there was a children choir practicing in the main hall of the cathedral that day, so we got a free show (or rather background music). the walkway of the main hall was reminiscent of a war memorial. there were so many plagues in memorial of soldiers who died in service during the 19th and 20th century.
christ church gate entrance of the cathedral
the cathedral facade
main hall of the cathedral
free background music
after spending 1.5 hours in the cathedral, we searched around for a supposed place where we could go punting (i.e. row boat, not the singapore pools kind of punting). unfortunately we headed in the wrong direction and didn't find the punting place in the end. but we chanced upon a small canal where there were ducks and swans swimming, not something one can find back in singapore. someone in the group (adrian) started to feed the birds bread. suddenly, a whole flock of seagulls and pigeons came swarming over to fight with the ducks and swans for the bread. it was quite a sight to see so many birds savagely battle for mere 75p per 800g loaf wholemeal bread.
interestingly they travel in pairs, one male one female
pathway along the canal
anyway we decided leave quickly before the birds digest their food and start to bombard us with their droppings. we had a quick lunch, before heading to the norman castle (which was free) to take a look. though it was called a castle, in reality it was just four stone walls with a stairwell at one of the corners. it originally consisted of 2 stories worth of living space, but since most of the interior was destroyed, the castle is now a hollow shell of what it was supposed to be. we also made a short stop at st augustine abbey, which again is another ruin, but were turned off by the entrance fee.
st nicholas parade where we got free chocs
the spartan interior
the norman castle
following which, we went to visit canterbury tales, which in my opinion was a waste of 7 quid. in essence, it was an audio guided tour narrating 5 of the 24 tales of Geoffrey Chaucer, with manequins and other story-telling props along the 35 minute journey. there was a crying baby in my tour group, which was irritating, but most of all the stories were not particularly entertaining (though The Wife of Bath's Tale was quite passable). one would be better off reading the stories off the net and listening to l'arc en ciel as background music, spending the 7 quid on something more worthwhile like socks.
then, as dusk fell, we went to walk around the city centre, visiting the italian and german markets. the girls went to shop while the guys... just hung around till the girls were done. dinner was take-away fish and chips (since we were going to be late for the bus), which is the best (and cheapest) fish and chips i had in the UK thus far. okay ignoring the fact that i've only eaten fish and chips at one establishment in the UK, the fish and chips at canterbury (the deep blue) is really quite good. the fish is crisp and not too laden with oil while the potatoes are... well not too oily as well. my only gripe was that there wasn't enough vinegar in my fish and chips.
speaking about food, i've got a massive craving for the ramen at santouka at central. crap.
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