The sun came out today! It’s the first day of the entire trip we didn’t need a jacket all day. Doing the happy dance! Hubby and I are off on our own today to explore York. We got on the train and couldn’t find a seat anywhere so we sat in what we thought were extra seats and later found out that we were sitting in the seats reserved for people with bikes and strollers.
To make matters worse two cyclists came on board and didn’t say anything to us that they had paid for and reserved these seats. Then one bicycle fell over on my left hand, hitting my baby finger. That’s okay I hardly use that finger, it’s only black and blue and probably not broken and I’ve got nine others. As long as I keep all of those fingers in good working order, I’m okay. I did take the rings off my ring finger though because it swelled up too and I didn’t want to have the rings cut off at some point if the swelling didn’t go down. The cyclist felt bad but it was really my fault for sitting in the seat he reserved, but I didn’t see any reserved thingy (technical term). Well, by the time we get the trains figured out we’ll be moving to a new country.
Off the train, we are let loose in York which is a picturesque town as you might imagine in a Harry Potter film before going through the train station platform 9 ¾ (for non Harry Potter fans that’s that area where Harry Potter magically goes through to get to Hogwarts school). At the train station, one of the conductor type persons said they had to remove a plaque they had in the station indicating tract 9 3/4 because children kept running into the pillar as they do in the movie and banging their head (because they couldn’t magically get through it like in the movie). They had to bandage up too many youngsters. Funny, but not.
On our way into the walled city, we walked into a park where we found the old ruins of one of the richest abbeys in Northern England, St. Mary’s Abbey. The original church on the site was founded in 1055. This is all that remains today. It still amazes us both how people could have built such magnificent structures so long ago with the primitive tools and knowledge they had.
As we rounded a corner in the city streets we could hear the sound of a Simon and Garfunkel song. I don’t know if they were having an outdoor musical thing going or what because that day in the period of just a few hours we ran into two other singers on the streets as well. It was really nice to experience live music as walked around. And they were good singers too!
At one point we ended up at the crossroad of “toilets” and “information”. We were puzzled as to which way to go. Actually, the street signs in York were fairly well marked and it did help to get around. Omar (Louise’s husband) Google mapped out for us the popular points to visit in the city and it was perfect! I mentioned if he ever wanted to fall back on tourism as an occupation, he had a built-in talent.
Moving on, we walked down to the “shambles” which is a small craggy street with lots of restaurants and shops to look at. Again very Harry Potter looking type street. And in an off-shoot of this street, we found an outdoor market (similar to what you find in Italy on certain days or like the pig market in Florence. Oh, hold me back. I jetted for the first booth and began taking in the scene of tented booths. It’s the sport of it all you know.
The t-shirt booth alone had us rolling in laughter.
It was time to stop for lunch and Dick hadn’t had his bangers and mash yet, nor had we tried Yorkshire pudding, so we found a small pub that served them both – where the bangers and mash are served IN the Yorkshire pudding. I’ve never seen one so big. It was as big as a platter. Dick and I shared it for lunch and still didn’t finish it. And it was oh so very tasty too!
Although I felt a nap would be nice after this big lunch Dick pressed on because he saw a Gin shop next door. Oh, the trouble he could get into there. Even though there was strong encouragement, even some pleading by Dick, I would not leave him alone in this store, go shopping and come back to pick him up later. First, the sales girls were too young and too cute; second, I know what too much gin does to him; and third, I don’t know how I would get him out of jail, should he get thrown out of a store or pub in England from drinking too much gin. After a quick look around the shop, we headed for the castle museum (with much less enthusiasm by hubby).
Our day in York doesn’t end here, however, there will be a separate post on the castle museum as there was an exhibit on food that I got a little carried away with. Too many pictures and too much to say. Stay tuned!
P.S. At the end of the day, the baby finger seems okay, swelling and discoloration not too bad. Other than it hurts, nothing to worry about.
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