britain | Denisekathleen's Weblog

I spent from October 22 to 29 in the beautiful walled medieval city of Canterbury, Kent. I traveled by train, taking the slower two-hour route to see more of the countryside (London to Canterbury can be achieved in an hour on the high-speed train). I found it to be a delightful, vibrant and very walkable city.

One of the highlights for me was Canterbury Cathedral. The depth of history and the profundity of spiritual experience I found very moving. Read all about the Cathedral here.

Another gem of the city, tucked away right off the high street, is the Franciscan Gardens, which was the home to the first Franciscan settlement in England, established in 1224.

There was lots of great walking right in the city and all amenities within a few minutes walk, plus a great indoor farmer’s market called the Goods Shed. I was surprised tho by the numbers of tourists crowding the streets in late October!

Would visit again for sure, and perhaps take on part of the Old Way Pilgrim walk!

Today is October 29, and I am on the train back to London from Canterbury. Feeling quite sad to be leaving all the wonderful things I experienced there! More on that later.

For now, I am looking back on my second day in London, October 17. It was great to head out unencumbered by my ridiculous quantity of luggage. Brockley station has an infrequent service to London Bridge (I learned later it was much quicker to take the train to Canada Water and transfer to the tube there). Not far from the station at London Bridge is a little arcade called Hays Galleria. There I found White Mulberries cafe and had an excellent breakfast and tea. The Shard is right near this station.

I took the tube to King’s Cross and spent several hours exploring all the streets and squares. I stumbled on the Royal Watercolour Society which had a wonderful show on. I became a bit lost and quite by accident found myself in Trafalgar Square! Hooray, lunch at the Crypt Cafe at St Martin in the Fields and a visit to the beautiful church.