York

We finished off our road trip with a few days in York, England. Highly recommended by my colleagues and fellow exchange teachers, York has rich history and beautiful architecture for the adults, and fun attractions for the kids.

York is home to the Jorvik Viking Center. Here you can learn all about the Viking capture of York in the 9th century and study their daily lives. Jorvik is an ongoing archeological project with a dig currently underway.  What is uncovered through the excavation is studied and brought to the museum for display.  We took a ride through a replica Viking village and saw artifacts from this era. Will says "I thought it smelled horrible in the first room, but I liked the Viking guy on the old toilet". Needless to say we all have our own unique memories of Jorvik. 

York is a maze of quirky, medieval streets that you can happily wander for hours.

Farmers market!

Gateway (or "bar"), leading into the city.

One of the nice aspects of York is the City Wall. Parts of the wall date back to the time of 2nd-century Roman occupation.  There are also Viking, Norman, Georgian, and Victorian-era additions to the wall. This roughly two-mile walk gives you a scenic overview of the city and allows you to explore the gateways and towers.

View from the City Wall with the York Minster in back

Tower overlooking the River Ouse

Time for a picnic lunch at the Museum Gardens, compliments of Pizza Express.

Roman Multangular Tower at the Museum Gardens. The Roman section is at the bottom, and the tower was subsequently built up during the Middle Ages.

The Ruins of St. Mary's Abbey. The Abbey dates back to 1055 but fell under disrepair under the reign of Henry VIII. When King Henry dissolved the Catholic Church, the monks were no longer there to look after the Abbey.  King Henry would stay there when passing through York, but he didn't stay there often and in turn the locals looted the finished stones for other building projects.

York Minster, one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe.

York Minster from the Castle Wall

Before leaving York we went out for breakfast at the Little Shambles Tea Room. The Shambles is an old street in York which goes back about 700 years. The street was originally filled with butchers stalls and the buildings that jut out at crazy angles, defying modern building codes at all turns. Best of all for us was the tiny tea room by Newgate Market. Will and I had a delicious traditional English breakfast with sausages, eggs, beans, and toast. Christa had cream tea with scone, clotted cream and jam. "Heaven on a plate". Will was fascinated by the butcher shop across the street and went back a number of times visit. I think he might have found a future career path there.

The Shambles (sorry so dark)