York Has A Sweet Wall (Day 12)

Well today was the first day of our week long trip to the North. I am so excited for this!! We pulled out of town pretty early (OK it was 7:45 am) but I slept basically the entire 4 hour coach ride to York, our first destination. The one part of the countryside I did see while we were driving was when we went through Robin Hood County and THE Forest of Nottingham. Yeah, that's a REAL PLACE. When we arrived we went straight to the York Minster Cathedral, which was massive and gorgeous. We had a guided tour and it was just SO cool to see all the different bits of history from different eras all coming together and the architecture from so many different times. The newest bit is from only 30 years ago when part of the roof burned down and they had to redo it. They actually had a competition where they let schoolchildren draw designs of notable things from the 20th century, and the top 6 now have their drawing sculpted into the ceiling. Which would probably be the coolest thing ever to brag about. One of the coolest things is that the cathedral (just like all the other ones we ever visit) is still in use today!

(pictures clearly cannot do this justice on any level)

So after that, our next stop was at the Jorvik Viking Centre. Not quite as impressive as a centuries old Cathedral, but pretty cool nonetheless. We even got to go on a RIDE (cue squealing and clapping).. there were even smells to give us the full viking village experience. Yep, that's a real thing. 

For the rest of the afternoon we got to just wander the city on our own. We found these Curl Cakes at a street vendor (my favorite way to get food) which were strange, but really good. There is a street called Shambles which is really neat, and is the olest preserved medieval street in the UK. Kind of like stepping back in time...except with lots of tourists. Also, after finding out that the Fairfax House is closed on Mondays, we thought we would go to Clifford's Tower, so we climbed the steepest staircase I have ever climbed in my whole life only to decide we didn't want to pay 4 pounds after all. So that was a grand adventure. Probably the best thing we found though was the most incredible Fish and Chips. Literally melted in my mouth. And Kim, who doesn't like fish at all, even liked it. So that tells you something about how good it is. 

(The stairs are steeper than they look, I promise)

(See?)

After we got all checked into the hotel, we went out and walked around the old city walls. I wish we had city walls to walk around in Provo. Seriously, one of the coolest things ever. I am in love with the city. It is so great. Plus the people up North really are much nicer than Londoners.. A nice change from big city life. 

We also missed le Tour de France by a day here, but just on the other end :p However, since it just barely went through, there are all these bicycles spray-painted yellow all over the city and it's just a really cool touch. Gina approves ;)