Canterbury Cathedral | Day 208 of my 2023 Journal

We have seen a lot of European Cathedrals, as in very many. It is one of my passions to visit them, as I find them all astoundingly beautiful, overwhelming accomplishments, all different, all impressive. I am not too nerdy about it; I just very much appreciate a good cathedral.

The one in Canterbury is what they call a ruin. It has a tower, and a lot of the walls and window constructions are still standing, but it is not as such a building anymore.

When I arrived with my daughter Silke, the sun shone, and a steel drum orchestra was set up. We liked how the familiar constructions of the cathedral presented themselves in a new way. Now, the wholeness of the building was gone. We also very much liked the sculpture inside with a message of love and hope in the context of crisis.

After visiting the ruins, we realized there was a new cathedral right next to it. Now, new cathedrals would normally not be my first choice, but of course: A cathedral is a cathedral and as such, always worth checking out.

We loved everything about the new Canterbury Cathedral.

We loved the welcoming sign outside it, with humor and care talking to everyone, and reminding me of a song in Danish I very much appreciate (it goes: No matter who you are, no matter where you are, you are welcome here - but in Danish obviously) and made us smile. We liked the modern mosaic inside. We liked the painting of Jesus on the back wall; enormous, modern, and beautiful. We liked the choir singing, the big engravings of quotes on stone on the walls, and the smile we got from the lady in the doorway.

A lot happened the day we went to Canterbury.

And as it goes, the little things unfolding between things are setting the tone for the lives we live.

Here are the little things for the record. Silke has an ear infection. The boys went to the waterpark in Canterbury, the worst place of its sort ever. Silke and I spend slow time in the van talking, having lunch and tea. It was not easy to find parking in Canterbury. Storm and Silke started binge-watching “Wednesday” on Netflix.

Big and small mixed. As life goes on. 

Love and light

Cecilie Conrad

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