A few of my favorite things

Yesterday went to York to see both the cathedral and the city itself.  We arrived at about 11,  and were given the option of paying to get into York Minster or getting in for evensong for free and having a limited time to tour.  My group (Mr. F, Howard, Francesca, Haley, Rebekah, Mike, Jocelyn, and Sara) all decided it was worth the money to explore the cathedral, and I'm so glad we did.

York Minster was very different from Durham; it is a couple of hundred years younger, but it was really the feel of the place rather than the style that made me like it better.  It seemed so much grander, more deeply spiritual, more pensive than Durham to me. The stained glass windows were gorgeous, especially since the sun would come out at times during our visit.  I think it's so strange the way stained glass makes sunlight brighter than it is outside, like it is somehow transformed and intensified on its way into God's house.  The architecture in general was so expansive and uplifting, whereas Durham felt heavy.

      

Our first endeavor once inside was to climb the 275 steps up the cathedral's tallest tower, on probably the narrowest and darkest (and creepiest!) staircase I've ever been on.

 

The stairs were actually divided into two flights, and in between you actually walk along the edge of the roof of the cathedral, which was a really neat feeling.  Here is a view of the tower and the flying buttresses from the roof.

 

The stairs were surprisingly not too hard on the legs, but the fresh air at the top of the tower felt wonderful, and the view wasn't bad either. 

After walking down the same staircase, we explored the rest of the minster.  My favorite part was called the Chapter Room, which is a round room that was used for meetings and prayers.  Stained glass covers the walls and all around the edges are carved stone seats. When you walk in it absolutely knocks your socks off (as Mr. C would say) -- you can literally feel your spirit soar right up into the beautifully painted ceiling. 

Here is the best I could do to capture some of the stained glass.  The carved stone was even more interesting, as every face and every animal carved along the top edge was different.  Howie and I agreed it was probably the most beautiful room we'd ever been in.

After leaving the cathedral with only the consolation that we would be back later for evensong, we took a walk around the city of York, which is about the same size as Fort Wayne (I think I remember Mr. C saying the population was about 300,000).  The inner part of the city, which is surrounded by the old city walls, is divided into the more modern shopping district and the Shambles, which is the oldest part of the city with older, narrower streets and old-fashioned shops.  We had lunch at The Punch Bowl, and I had my first (wonderful) experience with bangers and mash, which is Cumberland sausage and mashed potatoes. 

After lunch we strolled around the shops, and Mr. F, Francesca, Sara, Mike and I lost Howie and Haley in a record store as we wandered to the old Shambles.  There was an open-air market and some really neat little fudge and sweet shops, and we stopped in for some toffee ice cream.

     

In the photo on the left, you can barely tell there's a street running across because the roads are so narrow.

We still had a little more time to kill before evensong, so we poked into Crabtree & Evelyn and some smaller novelty shops before heading back up to the minster.

Evensong at York Minster was just as beautiful as it was at Durham, though this time we had the girls' and mens' choirs.  I'm really glad I was able to go to these services, especially in such beautiful churches, because it's such an old tradition that you don't see very often anymore.

After evensong, we got back on the coach and went to the Craven Heifer for dinner, where I was still too full for a meal but tried a bite of Francesca's sticky toffee pudding.  This "pudding" is actually a cake that you douse in thick toffee sauce and serve with vanilla ice cream.  I don't really need to tell you how delightful it was.

We got back to the cottages around 10 p.m., and than a group of us gathered in the boys' cottage for tea and "The Full Monty" before bed.

Today our plan was to go to Ripon, Fountains Abbey, and Skipton for the street market.  We left the cottages at 9 after having a lovely breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and strawberries compliments of Francesca's parents.

Ripon is a smaller town, and this is actually the first time Mr. C has taken a tour group there.  It has a small but really pretty cathedral and a street market in the square, so we were able to poke around the church a bit and wander around town.  The cathedral's crypt was especially neat, but I didn't get a chance to take any pictures of it.  Here are some other images, anyway:

     

Howie, Francesca, Rebekah, Haley, Jocelyn and I ate at the Hornblower Tavern (nothing like a pitcher of Woo Woo at 12:30 to start the day off right!) and glanced around the market for a bit before getting back on the coach, eager to see Fountains Abbey after hearing a lot about it.  The ride was a little long, so we got everyone in the back of the bus to sing about the entire score of "The Sound of Music" full blast.  It felt so wonderful to sing after a week of what felt like silence relatively speaking, and now we know our entire crew can sing (not to mention harmonize)!

When we got to Fountains, we had to walk along a winding footpath before we finally saw the abbey through a break in the trees.  The ruins reminded me a lot of Bolton, but they were larger by far and more spread out.  It's crazy to think all these enormous structures used to make up one huge building... jeez, thanks a bloody lot, Henry VIII!  I walked around the abbey with Howie, Haley, and Rebekah and got some pretty neat shots of the ruins.

     
     

After exploring the old towers and destroyed rooms, we hiked around the loop of the water gardens (not as impressive, especially once the day turned gray) and met up with Ginny, Frank, and Kendra.  The paths went through the woods, and when we started on the way back there were some really cool sites to see by clambering up the face of the hill.  One was the Serpentine Cave, which was really more of a tunnel that was long enough to be pitch black in the middle.  After York Minster tower and the Ripon cathedral's crypt, my claustrophobia was starting to get the best of me, but I bit the bullet and it really was neat.  On the way out we had some fun with silhouettes:

     

At that point, it was time to head back, but we couldn't remember whether the meet-up time was 4 or 4:30.  We erred on the side of caution and booked it back to the visitor's center, only to have 20 extra minutes to catch our breath.  We then found out the Skipton market wasn't open today, so we stopped by the grocery for dinner and got back to the cottages early.  Us young'uns ate our pizza (we were all yearning for a taste of the States) and dozed while watching Three Amigos, then chatted, watched YouTube videos, and played cards 'til we we were too exhausted to talk anymore.  Oh, the joys of youth.

I am officially having the time of my life  -- just in case there was any doubt.  I love this place, I love these people, and life is good.  Amen.

I hope everyone back home is doing well, and I send my love!