Canterbury

May 16 Day 9

We had a very different sabbath from what we are accustomed to, but is was wonderful. We couldn't find an LDS chapel, so we decided to attend Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral. We wanted to tour the cathedral anyway. THis cathedral is amazing. It is one of the largest in England and has great historical value. IT was here that Christianity was introduced to England in about 597 AD. THe cathedral was built soon after the Normal invasion in the 11th century, replacing a Saxon church on the same spot. We had the service in what it called the quire, the foresection of the cathedral that in most cathedral is rather small, made only for the choir, but in this cathedral, large enough to hold hundreds of people. The cathedral choir, which consists of boys and men, sang some beautiful music, and as they were singing, I looked up at the ceiling and the arches and the stained glass and couldn't believe I was experiencing this. THis type of music was made to be sung in these grand cathedrals. After the service we toured the rest of the cathedral and were amazed at how large it was. The Nave in front of the quire doubles the size of the cathedral, and is used for serviced only on such occasions as Easter or other religious holidays. THere are many shrines and tombs in the cathedral, and beautiful artifacts.The Nave

View from the lecturne looking back towards the quire, beyond which is the nave

Stained-glass scene depicting a pilgrimage to Canterbury

The Cloister

After seeing the cathedral, we were famished and sat down for a little refreshment. I had a Cornish pasty, which is minced meat, potatoe, carrots and onions, cooked in a pastry. THe cornish miners developed this to they could take their meal with them to work without a mess. While we ate, an Anglican priest sat down and ate with us and explained to us a lot of the history of Christianity in England and was very pleasant to talk to. He has a son in San Francisco and is going to visit him soon, so we were able to fill him in on that great city. All in all, we have found that the people in England are extremely friendly and polite, and we just enjoy listening to them speak with their different dialects. The priest spoke a very refined, easy to understand English, like many of the British actors we know or the royal family. Most of the people on the streets, though, have a more rougher-sounding accent that is commonly spoken by many people in the cities.