York
July 31 – August 1, 2023
We explored the area around the Minster and saw things from a variety of periods. This tower is all that remains from the York Castle of the Norman period.
The Bootham Bar. (Remember streets are gates, and gates are bars.) It is on the site of the Porta Principalis Dextra. The current arch is from Norman times, and the rest of the stone work is from the fourteenth century. It was a bar to the booths of the market.
Just outside the Bootham Bar are the York Art Gallery and Exhibition Square, where we boarded the hop-on-hop-off tour bus. Just to our left is the university, and beyond that the Yorkshire Museum.
St. Michael’s Church
The Multiangular Tower
Just outside the Yorkshire Museum was a box where you could have your picture made as Barbie.
Inside the museum you are greeted by a fourth century statue of Mars, the god of war.
This mosaic was on the floor. Obviously I didn't fly over it to get this shot. I took the picture from an angle and straightened it out in Photoshop. So parts of the floor didn't turn out sharp, but this gives you and idea of what it looked like.
The ruins of St. Mary’s Abbey are near the museum entrance.
We rode a hop-on-hop-off bus tour and saw other parts of town. Apparently I didn’t take any pictures. We still had some time left on that ticket, so we rode back to the stop at the train station, so at our hotel. The next morning we had a lovely breakfast at the restaurant’s buffet. We checked out of the hotel and took the back exit, which put us right on a train platform. Lee headed off to wait for his train to Blackpool. I went to the First Class Lounge, which was near the track for my train to London. It was very comfortable and had snacks and beverages. The Yorkshire Council had a display for us to get a free box of Yorkshire Tea bags. Their website gives instructions on how to make a “proper brew,” so I have followed their directions and got good results.
The diagrams at the track were easy to understand, so I waited right near where the car with my reserved seat would be. It was on the side of the car with a line of single seats. Across the aisle were two seats. An attendant came by to give me a beverage. Then another brought a cart to get my breafast order, which was included in the ticket. Having had the buffet at the hotel and a snack in the lounge, I got just some fruit. The guy said, “Are you sure you don’t want a full breakfast?” The English are big on breakfasts. So I ate my fruit, drank my coffee, and enjoyed the two-hour non-stop trip to London’s Kings Cross station. I would recommend riding first class on British Rail.