Lexi's Adventures: London: Day 5: Canterbury Cathedral, Rochester Guildhall Museum, Rochester Castle, and Rochester Cathedral

Today we left London and went out about an hour away from London. I actually slept most of the ride so it was an easy ride for me, because otherwise there would have been a lot of carsickness going on for me. It was nice to go out a little bit into the country and stray a little bit away from London. As always, our guide was spectacular. They are so knowledgeable on the history of England that I am amazed they can fit that much info in their heads. They remember each date exactly. I'm impressed. She'll be guiding us on Monday on our History of Policing in the UK day.

Our first stop was in Canterbury, which has a lot of markets in it. But most of all, it has the Canterbury Cathedral. This Cathedral has parts of it that dates back to the 12th Century. To put it frankly, this is a big and old freaking building. The Cathedral has undergone different additions and renovations to it so it has many different styles of architecture, like Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic. The building is massive and very impressive. I could just feel how rich in history that it was by walking through it. Thomas Beckett was murdered here and then not long after the building burned down, many of whom thought that it was retribution for the murder. I could take photos of most of the cathedral, except the crypts that are down below. Those were also really cool to look at and walk through. It was silent and felt very solemn. Many different bodies are housed here, especially archbishops. I forgot to mention that this Cathedral is based in the Anglican faith, which is very similar to Catholicism. The Anglican faith was created by Henry VIII and was solely created so that he could divorce his wife Katherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn (many of you will probably remember that he wanted sons and kept having girls). This building was so amazing and at times overwhelming. I really appreciated it, both for its faith and its architecture. The building has so much stone and it is impressive what was done hundreds and hundreds of years ago. They are doing restoration on it now, but maintaining its original integrity. I could also appreciate that. Look below to see this massively impressive building in all of its glory. I feel like I could have spent an entire day there.

Canterbury was fairly modern in parts with some parts maintaining its old town feel to it. There were some majorly modern shopping centers in there, which made me a bit sad, but it is expected. We had some lunch, did some shopping, and then headed to Rochester, which seems to have maintained most of its centuries old feeling. I loved the look and environment in Rochester.

Rochester was a bit of a ways, and about an hour out, from London. This town was still lined with cobblestones, which I really liked. The buildings had also maintained a lot of its integrity. We were visiting the Guildhall Museum, specifically to the exhibit on the Hulks (old prison boats dating from the mid-1700's until the last one burned down in 1857). These were massive boats that held prisoners of any age and any crime. Seven year olds who stole a loaf of bread could be housed with older men that committed murder. It was inhumane, from what I saw, and eventually they were abolished (thankfully). I found that the Rochester people are very proud of Charles Dickens. He wrote a lot about the Hulks as well as Canterbury and Rochester in general. I haven't really read much on Charles Dickens, but it was interesting. They had a Charles Dickens section in the Guildhall Museum, but I opted to go see the Rochester Cathedral (free admission) and the outside of the Rochester Castle (not free). The Cathedral was smaller than the Canterbury Cathedral, but also very impressive. They had a graveyard in the front and this is where Charles Dickens wished to be buried. Instead he was buried at Westminster Abbey in Poet's Corner in London.

After that, we made our way back to London. I'm still impressed by how many buildings have been maintained. I think that Canterbury Cathedral managed to stay up was because London was bombed heavily during WWII, but I'm not sure that Canterbury was bombed as much. Although they did have firewatchers that kept an eye out on the cathedral. I was very glad that I got to see these places that are so rich in history as well as so old, to be frank. It amazes me that I was walking on stones that people have walked on dating back to the 12th century. That is something I would never be able to experience in the US and I was glad I got to see that today.

Tomorrow is a tour of the Houses of Parliament, which I'm very excited to see upclose. Then we are on our own for the afternoon. I might branch out by myself. I do want to see the Houses of Parliament at night and get pictures of it from across the Thames as well as the London Eye and the London Bridge. But I won't go at night by myself so hopefully someone will go with me. I also want to go to the street where they filmed Sherlock and have the 221B Baker Street door placed (even though the address is not even on Baker St) as well as go to the Sherlock Holmes pub which also has the apartment above it (from what I heard today). These are things I might do by myself. I'm not sure of anyone in my group who has quite the appreciation of Sherlock Holmes that I do.