Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that is me. In my castle.
Obviously, it is not actually my castle, but, last monday, I did feel like it as I was climbing the spiral staircase up to the second level and gazing out over the courtyard and the rest of the ruins. This is Canterbury Castle in Canterbury. It was built in the 1100's by the English monarchs, and fell into disrepair. Now, it is little more than a pile of constructed rocks slowly crumbling in the sun. Sad, but true. The style went out of fashion, and it was abandoned. You can still see bits of silver paint, though, in some places. Once upon a time this would have looked a lot like Windsor Castle. Now, it looks like this.
The main site in Canterbury, however, was Canterbury Cathedral, the home to the Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England. It was shockingly beautiful.
For lunch, we went to the most precious little tea house ever. The Moat Tea House. The woman working was an adorable stereotypical English woman in a maid's outfit. The building was tilted. It was just the cutest thing ever. Wonderful. We had tea and soup.
Other sights in Canterbury included St. Augustine's Abbey, which was closed, sadly. We were able to see it through the gates.
St. Martin's Church, founded and built in 579, is on the outskirts of town. It was fascinating and really quite creepy. We went at nightfall, and it was an ancient graveyard. Many of the sarcophagi were above ground, and a few had bones hanging out. I had one of those impulses to run.. I kind of felt like on of the kids in the horror movies who should run but doesn't. But I did, I left. There were no zombies.
There was also the Roman Museum, which was pretty cool. Remains of the Roman city on which Canterbury was built were found under Bath when it was bombed by the Germans in the Blitz.
The most fun for me however, was the Museum of Canterbury. Why? Because it contained...
My childhood dreams were all achieved. I love Rupert the Bear.
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