Further afield.

Today is catch up on blogs day! Yesterday we took a day trip out of London to visit Canterbury Cathedral, Rye, and Beachy Head. They are all in the southeast of England in the county of Kent. Canterbury Cathedral is important as the oldest and one of the most important cathedrals in England. The Archbishop resides here, and Sir Thomas a Becket was assassinated here--that's a really good story, I recommend you read up on it. Also, this is the Canterbury of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, as well as Edward (the nice royal guy in A Knight's Tale with Heath Ledger), The Black Prince's tomb. The cathedral was beautiful, of course, and I got some really great shots of the interior that I feel make up for not being able to take pictures inside Westminster Abbey. The cloisters were my absolute favorite. I won't be able to put every picture up, but here are a few.



After Canterbury we made our way to Rye, a small town that was of the Cinque Ports back in the day; it used to be a port until the sea swerved away three miles. Bummer, I guess. This town, besides being old and charming, is historic for its proximity to Hastings, the area where the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066. The Normans, led by William the Conquerer, defeated King Harold here, ending Anglo-Saxon England and beginning French rule. This was the last successful invasion of England, which is amazing considering how small England is and the thousand years that have passed since. We wandered around the entire town in about 30 minutes, which should give you some idea of how small it is. Before heading back to the bus, we stopped into this little bakery where I had the best hot chocolate and a pastry for only 2 pounds 50p. Awesome deal. Some of the best sights to see in Rye include the church, Henry James's old house, and Ypres Castle. There were some French kids at the castle and I got to speak to some of them in French. It's kind of ironic they were there because of the number of times the French attacked Rye in the Middle Ages.



From Rye our coach wended its way to Beachy Head, which is synonymous with "the white cliffs of Dover," by which I mean it's the same basic idea. Beachy Head consists of 500 foot chalks cliffs that jut out into the English Channel, the sight of which let British travelers know they were finally home. We couldn't see France, but the sea was beautiful. What made the scene really picturesque were the sheep grazing in green fields behind us. It was a great day and I can finally say I've been to Kent now! Cheers.