By the cozy high speed train service from St. Pancras Station in London, within one hour, I was wandering in the ancient town of Canterbury, admiring its surprisingly well preserved but lively old town with many shops and restaurants around its famous cathedral. It was quite strange that at first, I could not find the cathedral since it was well hidden behind the row of shops until I noticed the impressive cathedral gate by the group of tourists waiting to pay entrance ticket! When I entered the Cathedral precinct, I was welcomed by the sheer size of the cathedral and the cheer voice from hundreds of students on the field trip! To avoid the crowd, I had to see the cloister first which brought me a chance to admire the cathedral's front entrance which adorned by statues of many famous historical figures including Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria. I was quite disappointed with the cloister; however, the chapter house was very beautiful with intricate ceiling and stained-glass windows of many well-known religious men including the famous King Henry VIII!

Then I entered into the cathedral, it was quite overwhelmed by the size of the place and countless of arches of Trinity Chapel, which was the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket. My top interest was the tomb of the Black Prince which I read from the newspaper that the tomb was a victim of stronger UV ray so that the cathedral has to install the blind at the window to protect the tomb. Interestingly I asked many volunteer guides about this matter, but nobody knew, and one guide even surprised when I pointed to the blind as he did not know the existence of that blind! Another beautiful piece of art is the gothic choirs together with it screen that is so large that making the Trinity Chapel separated from the other part of the cathedral. The nave of Canterbury Cathedral is very high, and the ceiling is very interesting for the vey intricate vaulting.

Before I enter into the crypt, I was recommended by a guard to see somewhere else as currently the crypt was full of hundreds of noisy students! I had no choice, so I had to change plan to visit the city of Canterbury instead. At first, I planned to see the St. Martin Church, but found out to be closed, after had lunch and some more city sightseeing, I decided to go back to London. In my opinion, Canterbury is a nice place to visit, and the cathedral which is the center of Anglican Church is far better than my expectation. During my two and a half week vacation in England I saw three English World Heritage listed religious buildings, Durham, Westminster and Canterbury, while I preferred Durham for its right architectural proportion and impressive surrounding, Canterbury is equally impressive with interesting mix from Romanesque to late Gothic together with many legends and background history making Canterbury Cathedral to be not just another cathedral, but a must place to visit in England.