York

The next day we packed ourselves up to spend traveling for the next 10 days. We then headed off to the London King’s Cross station. We then boarded the national rail train to York. Becky heard about York when some of our children visited here when they did the DH program years ago. Since then, she has wanted to come to York and not just spend a day or two, but have time really walk around and enjoy all that she heard York had to experience.

Becky settled into a train car that allowed her to put her ankle up and I found a table that I could set up on to do some writing on. The ride was a relaxing 2.5-hour train ride. I really am enjoying the train rides. Sitting and just being able to watch the landscape pass by, it is so gorgeous. We arrived late afternoon and got ourselves an Uber to get to our rental. It turned out our rental is on a amazing road in the city center called Goodramgate. We could not believe that the place was so perfect. We were on the second floor looking over the one lane road as people hustled by. We had restaurants and coffee shops up and down the road we were on. The flat had two wonderful bathrooms, a sitting room, kitchen with clothes washer, and all decorated so well. We just felt the whole place wrap around us and make us feel right at home. It even had a walking cane in the umbrella stand that Becky could use, how amazing is that.

Becky relaxed and I ran out and inspected the area around us and could not believe the location we were in. I then stopped in an Italian Pizza parlor and got us some delicious fired cooked Italian pizza. We decided to start watching a show Becky had heard about called “Wolf Hall”. It is about Thomas Cromwell and King Henery VIII. Turns out is very historically accurate and it is shot on locations all around the UK. We love the show and are enjoying adding it to our historical knowledge we are developing.

York is a city known for being started in the early first century by the Romans. It is hard to believe how far north the Romans got. There are ruins all over York showing the many and varied different time periods throughout the city of York including the very narrow roads. So many roads in the city center are single lane as they were originally built for foot and animal traffic, and all the buildings were built close to the roads. This has left no room for widening them. Much of the city center is closed to car traffic during the day so that people can have more room to wander through the area.

The first day out we just headed off and found Monk Bar, which is not an alcoholic drinking establishment, but what is a gatehouse. The allowed us entry onto one of the sections of the Roman Wall. When the Romans setup in this area near the Ouse and Foss Rivers they eventually built dirt mounds and then wooden walls and finally stone walls for defensive purposes. Originally about 6,000 Roman soldiers in the area and soon economic establishments built up around the area to accommodate the soldiers. Through many hundreds of years, the leaving of the Romans, wars between Scotts and English, civil wars, and other British events, York still stands, and all of that history is on show. From the buildings, museums, shops, walls and the magnificent Minister Cathedral.

This day was a gorgeous spring day with temperatures in the 60-degree range. The walk along the wall afforded wonderful views and we got to see the Minister Cathedral from all angles. We then found a corner of the old Roman wall that showed parts for the Roman era, the time period of William the Conqueror, Middle Ages, up to the present.

We eventually found a little cafe to grab some lunch. While at lunch we saw a car drive by that had a ton of smoke coming out of it. It eventually caught fire a few blocks away and closed the bridge we planned to walk over to continue our walk along the wall. This forced us to go down by the river where there was a tour boat about to leave to go up and down the Ouse River. We decided to pay and join. It was wonderful even though it got a bit chilly as the sun was beginning to set. The river was crowded with so many people on this gorgeous spring Saturday afternoon. People were everywhere.

We weaved our way back to a market area and stopped to have a sweet treat and hot drink so that we could use their toilet. Not many public toilets here in the UK. Toilets is the proper word here and not bathroom. We then wandered through an open market area that was starting to pack up for the day and then found the area known as the “Shambles”. This area is very Tutor style in the look of the buildings. The streets are very narrow and was the area where most of the shops were butcher shops and they displayed their goods in shambles or display cases on the street. The overhanging buildings helped protect the meat from sun and rain. We also found the Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, it is a very short street. It may mean “neither-one-thing-nor-the-other street”.

We finally made our way back to our flat and rested a bit before heading out for dinner. We just walked about a block and half down the street to a fish and chip place. It was very good and relaxing after a bunch of walking. We then came back the flat and finished the day with a bit of “Wolf Hall”. So much British history filling our brains we can’t even keep it straight. To say that we spend a great deal of time on Wikipedia these days would be an understatement.