A day in Canterbury

We left Dover after the sunset and drove to Canterbury. After a battle with the GPS we finally found the hotel we were staying at. It was on the grounds of the Cathedral and this is what we saw when we arrived. It really is beautiful and impressive.

This picture was taken from inside the room we stayed in.

The next morning was bright and sunny and they day turned out to be as nice as the one before at Dover castle. It was still cold but clear skies and sunny. Can't complain with that!

We had seen great reviews online about an audio tour in Canterbury so we reserved and paid online for the day we were spending there. After breakfast I marched off with the kids to find the place and get the audio sets while Jim went to re-park the car for the day. We found the spot where the audio tours were and were quite shocked to see a CLOSED sign and note saying they were closed for the season and would open again in the spring. Whaaaat??? We had paid for these things! At any rate we had to come up with a plan B so luckily there was a tourism shop and when I went to ask them the guide for a walking tour was standing there and said he was starting a tour in 20 minutes. We decided that was as good as anything and it turned out to be really fun and interesting. Here is a picture of him - not a great one - but the kids kept calling him Xenophilius Lovegood from the Harry Potter books. He was a great tour guide - quirky but fun and interesting.

The Cathedral is so impressive and you can see it from all over town.
Here Patrick was trying to do one of the "make me look like I am leaning against the building" shots.

Just a cute street we walked by.

No need for caption here.... this shop was built with this kid in mind.

Funny little crooked house.

Canterbury is of course famous for the Canterbury Tales. We didn't have enough time to check out the museum but we did find this building with the sign on it. Not even sure if this was the museum or not but here it is anyway....

The ceiling inside the cathedral

Jack in the cathedral. The pictures from inside didn't turn out very well so I can't share the one we took of the "snitch". While on our walking tour "Xenophilius Lovedgood" was telling us that JK Rowling got the idea for the snitch from something she saw inside the cathedral. He said where it was located and to go and see if we could find it. If not we should ask any one of the volunteers in yellow vests and they would be happy to point it out. Well, when the kids went in, they couldn't figure out where it was so they asked a volunteer who had NO IDEA what they were talking about. One asked another, who asked another and before we knew half a dozen volunteers where trying to figure out what this thing that looked like a snitch was and where. They seemed to be enjoying it as much as the kids and we finally found something that we think he was talking about. We all decided he was most likely pulling all of our legs but the volunteers said it was the most fun they had had in a while and were happy to be on the wild goose chase. It was a pretty entertaining thing to watch and they (the kids) probably learned more about the cathedral and looked around more than they would have otherwise!

It was pretty cold out and Jack needed a new hat so we found the perfect one at a stall on the street! He loved it and was so cute in it. Enjoy the picture as the adorable hat stuck around for a grand total of 4 days before it was left on the bus or at school and has never been seen again.... I guess someone else thought it was pretty cute too. boo hoo.

Jack tried on Patrick's hat and we couldn't resist some cute puppy face shots :)