Day 2 15/2/09 - England

London -> Canterbury -> London

Highlight

• For once there was no trouble with the transport.
• As we arrived relatively early, we took a quick tour around the central streets before the world came out. The place reminds me of the other cathedral towns we have been to, most notable York and Cambridge in terms of the architecture, the layout and the range of shops.
• Had a quick look at the Westgate as well as a stroll along the Tyne river, with its shady tree setting, before making our way towards the Cathedral in time for mass.
• The Cathedral was indeed impressive, although, as usual, they were doing restoration work on it. Only a very small section of the outside had been restored, and looked very clean, but the rest was in major need of the scrub up.
• For such an important church, there were relatively few people who were at the sung Eucharist. We sat through the very long service, with the highlight being we were actually interacting with the High Priest himself when it was time for the “peace be with you” segment.
• After the service, had a look around the impressive Cathedral…crypt, the altar and the abbey and cloisters on the outside before we left, saving ourselves the £7 entry fee.
• Lunch was very nice at Michael Caines. The portions were very small, like tasting menu portions. We were actually not full afterwards – which really is not such a bad thing  The execution was very well done, although the service left a lot to be desired.
• There wasn’t that much to see other than the Cathedral, we visited the old Norman castle, which really didn’t have much to recommend it, as most of it had been destroyed.
• Took a walk along a section of the City Wall, and up a which was artificially created in ancient times.
• Walked to the St Augustine Abbey, but it was part of the English Heritage property, so we didn’t go in.
• Just as well that we decided to skip this for another time as it started raining at this point, quite hard too. So off we trotted to the shops to waste some time before our bus.
• The shops were pretty much the same as everywhere else, but they all closed between 4pm and 5pm on Sunday, so we were still left with nothing to do between 5pm and 5:50pm.
• We actually arrived 10 minutes early on the way back, and there was no trouble, unless you count the mean bus driver who didn’t let people who put their luggage in the back section instead of the front, like he told them, get off at the stops they wanted and made them go all the way to Victoria.

Food

• Michael Caines at Abode Canterbury:
  • Twice baked Roquefort soufflé - poached haddock, quail’s egg, hollandaise sauce
  • Boudin Blanc - wild mushroom puree, roasted almond foam
  • Roast Topside Kentish Beef - pomme puree, wild mushroom, red wine jus
  • Pan Fried Mackerel - Serreno ham, smoked red pepper puree, basil and aged balsamic vinegar
  • Orange Rhubarb Charlotte - orange cream, poached rhubarb
  • Banoffee fool chocolate fudge muffin - caramel and cream sauce