Day 7 - York

(be patient - pictures are still uploading - we'll paste them in when they are up)

This morning it was cold and it looked like it was going to rain, but aside from a tiny, and I mean tiny bit of sprinkling, it never did much more than be windy. Then, oddly enough, the sun came out in the evening and it was much warmer, with no wind.

Today we visited Castle Howard...which was huge, beautiful and impressive. And we did see Mr. Howard, the owner of the estate who still lives there with his family. He was busy resetting a clock, we think. While there we tried the hot buttered crumpets and hot chocolate. They were just square, fancy English muffins, but we were curious.

On the way back to the city, we stopped at The Four Alls for lunch. It was a small establishment filled with locals and served the traditional British fair we were interested in trying. In the corner next to the bar was a real fire, crackling within a blue and white tiled hearth. The cushion I sat on swallowed me when I sat down, so I moved around to one of the little chairs on the other side.

We ordered a burger with chips (fries) and the traditional steak pie with "veg" and potatoes. When I ordered my water, I forgot to specify whether I wanted still, sparkling or tap, and the man behind the bar asked. I asked for tap. And I don't think I got ice, because I forgot to ask for that too.

About refills...well, you generally have to ask for that as well. There have only been a couple of places really on top of topping off your drink. Another interesting thing, we haven't seen anyplace that had soda on tap. It's generally served in the glass bottle, and don't expect to get a refill unless you ask for it.

York Minster Abby had these monster stairs...narrow, steep, spiral ones which were hair raising enough for them to give a warning. They said don't climb if you have ever had: claustrophobia, vertigo, high blood pressure, angina, breathing trouble, poor mobility, or are pregnant. We did the climb. It was just a longer version of the Bodiam Castle ones. So another SERIOUSE medieval stair workout. And a bit more unnerving since it felt like they didn't end. Out of the 197 feet of 275 stairs there was only one break about halfway and another at the top. A bit scary coming down too. But you could purchase this nifty pin that said "I made it to the top." Drew was happy to get the pin because when he came to England as a kid his mom and dad wouldn't let him do it.

An interesting bit of history info. The abbey was built in the 600's. Plus, under it is preserved parts of other churches built from roman times in the same spot. So pretty darn old.

Pretty good dinner at Zizzi...

And lastly (in the pictures anyway) is the shambles and the city of York. Earlier in the day it was very crowded, then when the shops close around 5:00pm it became deserted except for in the restaurants and pubs. It seemed sort of strange to see the shambles so empty after it had been so busy.