A Pilgrimage to Canterbury

Wednesday, November 4th:

Today we left Salomon’s and made our way to Canterbury via Ashdown Forest – home to Winnie the Pooh! We stopped in the forest and had a tour guide (who actually wasn’t very much of a tour guide). Basically she took us to Pooh’s bridge where he plays “Pooh Sticks”; so we got to play “pooh sticks” just like Pooh! In order to play you have to drop a stick on one side of the bridge (along with other people) and then run to the other side to see if your stick beat out all the others as it passes underneath. One of the times I played against our bus driver and he beat me, (which he decided to remind me of several times during the morning, haha); right afterwards he made some comment like “how does it feel to be beat by an English bus driver in Pooh sticks?” I guess I’m not sure, but for some reason it sounds funny. Beyond the bridge we got to see Piglet’s house too, which was super cute (and yes, that’s the appropriate adjective.) And after our walk we went to “Pooh Corner” for some shopping!

We arrived in Canterbury later that afternoon and had to be dropped off out outside the walls of the city since the bus wasn’t allowed through. Our accommodations kindly came to pick up our luggage in a van while we walked to our hotel. We were going to be staying inside the Cathedral Precincts, which is yet another walled area within the walled city of Canterbury where the Cathedral is located. This turned out to be even more amazing that I expected! It seemed super official to be let inside the walls; then looking up, this magnificent Cathedral stood towering above as we were led to the only accommodations inside the precincts, where we could see the Cathedral right outside our room windows! Talk about a prime location! For some reason when I walked into my room I was totally overwhelmed with how well we’d been taken care of all semester; I really can’t think of a place we’ve stayed in that wasn’t wonderful. I think it just hit me that we’ve really been living the high life in a lot of ways because we’ve pretty much gone from hotel to conference center to hotel to conference center all semester. Wow.

Once we were settled in I went out to dinner with a couple girls to…Pizza Hut – of all places. I was hungry so it tasted really good, but afterwards I decided I did not want Pizza Hut for a long time now.

Thursday, November 5th:

While we stayed at Canterbury we had class each day in the morning, studying and discussing several stories in the Canterbury Tales, and then we had the afternoons off to explore on our own.

The first afternoon we were there I was still feeling kind of lost and ambiguous about my spring scheduling, so I wanted to spend the day by myself and journal a while. I started out by wandering through the Cathedral, which we had free access to at any time we wanted since we were staying within the precincts. It was a beautiful place for me to simply zone out in as I walked through and pondered my own thoughts. On from there I went to find a café in which to eat lunch and pass some time. Normally this wouldn’t have been very hard since I’m a fairly decisive person, but my mood was making me rather indecisive so it took me a while to randomly select a place; however, I don’t think I could have chosen better, so God must have been directing my lack of opinion somehow.

I ended up having the most wonderful afternoon as I sat in “Cucina Caraccio” even though I started out feeling like a mental and emotional mess, the moment turned out to be very serene and especially just for me, though I did wish my mom could have been there to enjoy it with me; (Mom, if we ever go to England together, we’re coming to Canterbury and I’m taking you to Cucina Caraccio.) The café was truly picture perfect; it was actually an Italian deli and café, “a family business with seasonal specialties”. I ordered a frittata – an Italian style omelet that came with bread and salad (like “La Brioche”!), and I also had a pot of Moroccan Mint tea. Yum. And so I sat at a table in the bay window area by the front door where every once and a while a small breeze smelling the epitome of fall would waft in as someone left or entered. I so enjoyed my seat that I convinced myself – quite easily I admit – to order a dessert so that I might elongate my stay. I learned that all the desserts were homemade by the man-who-helped-me-select-my-dessert’s wife. I chose a coconut and apricot finger cake. Yum (again). He served it to me with a small dish of “crème fresh” which tastes like a weak/bland cream cheese only in the consistency of sour cream; I guessed it was meant to be spread on the cake and it tasted absolutely scrumptious! (In a small way it reminded me of spreading cream cheese on zucchini bread for some reason.) I continued to savor my moment for a little while longer as I sipped the rest of my tea and listened to the British voices behind me speak pretty phrases like “winter is on us” and happy things like “oh it’s her birthday” and “she just got engaged to be married.” I made sure to make a memory of this place that had no chaos, all peace, rest, love, family, and comfort. I could have stayed there forever.

That night I went to evensong at the Cathedral which was beautifully sung by a boy choir; I was really impressed. The most amazing part of this service though that put me in such awe, was to read the statement on our laminated service guides, which read something to the affect of: “People have been worshiping God on this ground for over 1400 years.” Such small text with profound significance.