Last Saturday, I went to Canterbury. The cathedral is breathtaking. It's difficult to put in writing how big it is, but the portion between the towers is called the nave, and that is only half the length of the cathedral. The choir sits in another section called the quire, and the sound carries through to the congregation seated in the nave. Since I got to hear the boy's choir practicing, let's just say that the acoustics in the cathedral are spectacular, as one would expect. Seeing the spot where Becket was murdered (pointed to by three swords) was, for me, a humbling experience. He got the position of archbishop as a political favor, but then began taking his duties seriously after a while. Henry II wished out loud that he could be rid of Becket, and the four knights took these words to the extreme. The other thing that was disturbing, although not surprising, is that Henry VIII destroyed the original shrine in the cathedral during his maniacal campaign to do away with the Catholic Church in England. The spot of the original shrine, which lasted for about 500 years, is now marked by a single, lit candle. The photos from Canterbury aren't labeled or commented, but I'll do that next week.

The next day, I went to the Cabinet War Rooms. This underground complex, near Parliament, is quite large, as it had accomodations for Churchill, his personal assistants, military officials, map rooms, and critical communications equipment. Churchill spent only 3 nights in the bunker, and often watched the bombing raids from the roof, much to the chagrin of those close to him. In one large room, there is a museums detaling Churchill's life and military career, in addition to his enormous influence over the people of the UK and his handling of the war. I'll upload the photos I took in the CWR sometime in the next week.

Here, again, is the link to my photo page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22316703@N05/

Tomorrow I'm off to another destination outside of London. Look for details and photos next week.