10.8.12 - Pilgrimage to Canterbury

10.8.12 - Pilgrimage to Canterbury

I'm sure that the people who live in Canterbury have absolutely no interest in the Canterbury Tales. Such is the curse of the local. Those who live in New York could give two shits about the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. People who live in London probably wish they could blink to make The Eye disappear.

This Church is where Christopher Marlowe was baptized.
That's what a plaque on the outside says anyway.

Chaucer, as with the aforementioned landmarks, shows no likelihood of going anywhere. I end up in a pub (really, Chris, another one?) and have bangers and mash, an ale and a Guinness. I head down St. George's and look for YHA Canterbury (the hostel I'm staying at). I spend about an hour looking for the correct place, and calling Ahron to get some help, and even calling the YHA central hotline to get some help. Ahron was the most helpful, and after a while I finally find it. It isn't anywhere near where Google Maps says it is.

I check-in, make my bed, get into small talk with some of the room mates, and then go to the common room to watch the Olympics and write.

The hostel is one of the nicer ones I've seen so far. Sure, the couches are sunken and the walls look like they hardly support the paint, but it's clean, and there's a quality staff.

At about quarter to six, I run into two guys from Victoria, BC, who are in the UK doing some serious by-rail sightseeing and who have a one-night-stay in Canterbury “to see the Cathedral and then get the hell back on the train” according to one of them. Their names are Chris and Nathan and they're amiable guys. We talk for a long time about what they've seen. They've been to Ireland, Scotland, and basically most of England, in search of awesome castles and churches. Basically, they like what I like, so we get into a pretty good conversation about the old churches, places to see and to avoid.

Nathan, left, Chris, right.

  

Bed.

Window, adjacent to bed.

 After they have some food at a cheap pub, we decide to go walking around Canterbury to try to find the Cathedral. 

A couple of lost Canadians. ;)

Askew?

We don't get to see the grounds at night, although we walk all the way around the cathedral. After a while, we head back to the hostel and call it a day.

This photo is solely for Diana. She knows why.