The Crypt

Original post date: Sunday, March 16, 2008


The Crypt

Sunday - Day two

Our day was supposed to start early and well, we got up with good intentions, but didn’t leave the house until we were supposed to be there to pick up our rental car. Walk, tube, walk. We found Hertz and got the Ford focus. Let the fun begin. First, I wanted to drive, very glad that we didn’t want to spend the money to add me as a driver, it would have taken a while to get used to it. A few things about driving in the U.K. the lane markings are suggestive, all of the signs are confusing and they try to trick you, and the stop lights are way cool. The stop lights give you warning as to when they are going to turn green, very cool. So this is the cycle - Green means go, yellow means slow down it is about to be red, red means stop. Then red means stop, red and yellow means get ready, and green means go. If you are at a pedestrian crossing and the light is red and then starts blinking yellow you can go if there is no pedestrian but you must wait if there is one, you don’t want to hit any Londoners. Now, try navigating around London with a map that is not detailed at all, no side streets just main roads. Very difficult. Now imagine the main road you do have on the map really are about ten different roads that are supposed to be one road, with all kinds of turns and twists. Now imagine trying to navigate these roads without road signs and on roads with names like A202, M20, A2, A20, M25, B2163 (honestly, those were names, it was not easy). Yes, the road signs of these roads are few and far between. Needless to say it took us many loops around traffic circles, "Look kids Big Ben, Parliament. Look kids Big Ben, Parliament." Yeah it was that bad. But we had fun and found a pretty park with a public restroom to use the potty in, after we stopped at a gas station to get a proper map! We were headed to Leeds castle, did we get there? Read on to find out.

We got to Leeds castle and were hungry so we went up the street and ate at a pub. We had the standard Sunday fair, a Sunday roast, roast beef and mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots…hmmmm. And a few pints. We ate well and decided to get up and go to the castle. All in jest we said if it is closed we are going to be so mad. Well we drove to the entrance, it was 305p, they just put up the sign closed at 3p. We laughed and were upset at the same time. But from there we said lets just drive up to Canterbury and see that church and castle. More navigation through cities and towns, but we had a proper map and were well on our way. We made it to Canterbury with no problems and found the castle, which was a ruin of a castle instead of a castle. It was still really cool and imagining what went on in the castle was fun. From there we drove to the cathedral in Canterbury. This was a truly amazing experience. Words truly cannot describe what it felt like to walk around this church that has been in existence since medieval times. We walked through the crypt below the church and the history that was pouring out of the block walls was so emotionally charged it was crazy. You could just imagine the bishops and priests and such walking through the halls. It was as if you were walking through a fog of history, I can’t really find the words to describe it, it was just incredible and indescribable. We closed the church down and as we were leaving we could hear the choir rehearsing for the upcoming service, that was beautiful.

We walked the streets of Canterbury and enjoyed looking in the windows of shops, we were there on Sunday so all the stores were closed. We did find a local coffee shop and had a warm drink, and a very tasty hot chocolate and some yummy coffee and tea with a scone and clotted crème. We left the town of Canterbury and started driving home in the sordid weather of the day, typical United Kingdom rainy days and nights. Lets just say the drive home once we got back into London was just as exciting as when we left. Jason was driving and I was the navigator, and the road signs kept trying to route us in the wrong direction. I was literally following our route on the map with my finger and reading off the streets as we passed them. We made it into Victoria safely with only a few full loops on the traffic circles. Then it was -walk, tube, walk and we were home.