Pilgrims in Canterbury

Once in Canterbury we took a cab to our hotel, the Cathedral Gate Hotel, then up the staircase to the second floor where reception was. We were shown to our room, which was known not by a number, but by a name - the Daybreak Room. This room was on the third floor overlooking the Canterbury Cathedral. To get to the room we had to take a few little twists and turns, and down a small flight of stairs - definitely an interesting design which was obviously put together over the centuries.

We went to the Cathedral to have a look around after the Evensong service was over (which we missed by half an hour), but were promptly chased out because they were preparing for a concert there that evening. So instead we looked around for a restaurant - Beth had a Ploughman’s dish, I had a Sweet Potato, Beans and Spinach with Curry dish (not exactly what I would think was a traditional British dish, but then again sitting right next to us were a couple of gentlemen of East Indian descant having some pints of Ale. We were so full when we finished that we couldn’t even have dessert though it looked great (more Sticky Toffee pudding which Beth was eyeing, and some Raspberry and Pear Crumble that I thought looked good).

Our stomachs full we wandered around the streets only to find that most of Canterbury packed up Saturday evening (other than the pubs) so we could only do a little window shopping. After this lost its charm went up to our hotel room to take it easy. This turned out to be a nice change, we just relaxed and listened to the concert from the Cathedral (it was the Verdi Requiem, and we could hear it pretty well at times from our room (that’s how close we were). So we looked out our window at the cathedral (the picture is the Cathedral in the evening from our hotel room window), I did some catch up on the computer, and Beth recorded her pictures and did some reading. Every once and a while the bells would chime, the music would swell and it was a nice way to spend a few hours.

We slept in a four poster bed with night curtains (not that we needed them, it was a beautiful evening. The windows over here do not have screens on them which I found a bit strange at first, but then again I’ve hardly seen anything that looks like a mosquito. The Cathedral was lit up at night, so we could continue to look at it, even when it got dark (at least until they turned the lights off at 11 PM, but by then Beth was already asleep, and I was getting ready for bed).
We both agreed that it was a good thing not being able to get into the Cathedral Lodge as originally planned, this hotel room was a decent size, had a good bed, and a great view…. and we were going to have breakfast delivered to our room (at no extra cost) the next morning - but that’s another day and another post.