Canterbury

My last two days in England were spent in Canterbury.  I didn't do too much other than wedding-related stuff.  But I did get to Canterbury Cathedral.

Built in the 11th century, visited by Jim in the 21st century

Canterbury Cathedral is an Anglican church, but it was where St. Thomas Becket was martyred by King Henry II's knights in 1170.  More evidence of how terrible the English monarchy has been.  Thomas Becket is considered a saint by both Catholics and Anglicans.  Apparently Anglicans don't see the very obvious parallels between Thomas Becket/Henry II and Thomas More/Henry VIII.

This is where St. Thomas Becket was martyred.

There was a shrine for Thomas Becket in the cathedral until 1538.  What happened to it?  Henry VIII ordered it to be destroyed.  The lesson, as always:  Henry VIII was terrible.  While the Thomases are just two of many Catholics martyred at the hands of the English monarchy, the Catholic Church is surprisingly strong in England.  Because of Henry VIII, all the old churches in England are now Anglican (also why St. Patrick's in Dublin is Anglican), but it's nice to see the Catholic Church doing well.  I was able to find Catholic churches easily in both London and Canterbury and get to masses on the Sunday I arrived in England and the Sunday I left England.

The candle marks where the shrine of St. Thomas Becket was until Henry VIII had it destroyed.

Rehearsal dinners apparently aren't a thing in England, but Pete's parents hosted something the night before the wedding.  I met Katie's parents there.  Katie's father insisted on being called by his first name and said that Americans are so formal.  I definitely didn't think of Americans as being more formal than the Brits, but whatever.  Katie's father was a big soccer fan so we talked about that a little bit.

That's Katie's father's hand between Pete and me.

I'm not going to go into all the details of the wedding, but it was amazing.  The reception was at a castle overlooking the English Channel.  When we got there, they were serving Pimms.  So I missed out on Pimms at Wimbledon, but I got to drink some at the reception.  It was pretty good.  Katie's father had arranged for fireworks when it got dark around 10:00.  It was two days after the Fourth of July and it was awesome.  The Americans sang the Star Spangled Banner.  As I said when I went to the Notre Dame game in Dublin, there's nothing quite like belting out your national anthem in a foreign country.  Between the fireworks and the Star Spangled Banner, I teared up a little bit.  And after that we came back inside and there were hot dogs and hamburgers.  There were lots of awesome things about the wedding, but the fireworks and American cuisine were two of my favorite things.

Fireworks at the wedding were an awesome touch.

The next day I got up early, went to mass, and then I came home.  It was good to be back in the United States.  England and Ireland are the only foreign countries I've visited so far.  Both were great.  I don't rule out going back someday, but I won't be disappointed if I don't.  There are rumors that Notre Dame will be playing in Ireland again soon.  If it was in the 20s (weird to say the 20s and not be talking about the 1920s), I'd probably want to go.  But it sounds like it's going to be in the next five years, so I probably won't be going.  So what's the next country I'll get to?  The overwhelming favorite is Canada to get to the SkyDome (you most likely know it as Rogers Centre, but it will always be SkyDome to me).  The only other countries I really want to get to are Australia, Italy, and the Vatican City.  Whenever I get to those countries, I'll make sure it won't be on the Fourth of July.  God Bless America!