EC London English Language School

Last Saturday we went to the beautiful city of Canterbury, in Kent the garden of England.

An hour journey from London and then a five minute stroll from the train station and we arrived at the 600 year old west gate entrance, a gatehouse that gives access to the city over a river from west.

On walking through the city, we saw many old buildings some dating back as far as the 1400’s and as we headed down the high street we caught a glimpse of the spires of the Canterbury cathedral.

We headed towards the cathedral which is Canterbury most famous building, one of English most spectacular churches as well as the home of protestant Christianity in the United Kingdom.

The group spent about an hour discovering what lay in and around the cathedral.

The cathedral is part of a UNESCO world heritage site, along with St. Martins Church and St Dunstan’s Abbey.

Other things to do in Canterbury include going to a Chorcer museum and having a sensory experience going back to the sights and smells of medival Canterbury with Chorcer’s Canterbury Tales.

Furthermore there is the Roman museum which has roman artefacts and history about Canterbury during the Roman times.

The Italians in the group however were not interested and we spent so time enjoying what could be the last of the summer sun… having a beer or coffee, whilst others shopped and watched the street performers.

We reconvened in the Cricketers pub where some students were learning English words such as ‘tipsy’.

From here we walked to the canals that run through the centre of Canterbury for one of its famous guided tours.

We heard lots of interesting stories about the history of buildings and people who have lived and worked alongside the canals of the centuries.

After the trip there was time for a coffee to warm ourselves up a bit then off back to London.

On arrival at the carnival there was definitely a lot of people but no sign of the carnival procession.

We followed the signs into the central area where there were to be lots of banging sounds systems later that day and evening.

People were already drinking, dancing and having a good time, however the students wanted to see the procession, they were starting to believe there wasn’t one.

So I found a carnival map and we were in business, we headed down to Ladbroke Grove to wait for the procession as it came past.

Standing on the corner we could then see all the trucks as the came past blaring out bashment at ridiculous levels each with their own colour coordinated dance troupes some in costumes and some covered in chocolate.

Having watched them pass for some while, some people headed home, whilst we walked along side the procession dancing and watching the people as we went.

Then came a short heavy downpour but that didn’t dampen the party vibe just a few umbrellas went up and everyone kept on going.

Next I wanted to show the students some of the dance stages and their sound systems.

We visited the extremely busy but extremely fun Good Vibes stage, wondered past the salsa stage with the couples dancing in the street and of course sampled a bit of the reggae.

After walking and dancing for the whole morning we took a seat a few beers and some Carribean food and relaxed, enjoying the good times where the party went on till dark.

Have you ever wanted to drive a tube train or a bus?

Well, now’s your chance! The museum has 4 driving simulators which give you a driver’s eye view of the tunnels and stations.

It’s not as easy as you might think – especially trying to stop the train at the right point and not go past the end of the platforms!

In addition, you can discover many fascinating facts about London’s transport history that not even Londoners know!

For example, did you know that the London has the oldest Underground in the world and that it was operated by Steam trains? Must have been hot and smokey down there!

This September is the 70th anniversary of the Blitz when London was bombed for 76 consecutive nights.

There is a special exhibition called ‘Under Attack’ all about this.

Many Londoners slept in tube stations night after night to shelter from the bombings. Most trains continued to run and a special ‘Tea Train’ delivered food and drink to the people sheltering on the platforms!

If you would like to experience sheltering yourself, the Museum is organising a special Blitz experience to be held in a disused ‘ghost’ station at Aldwych at the end of September.

Tickets are fast selling out but check out the Museum website www.ltmuseum.co.uk for details.

The event is called ‘Under London’