Day 9 - York to Birmingham

Today was another day driving from one part of the country to another with a few stops in between. The first stop was Fountains Abbey. This is a very old ruin of an abbey that is a site to see. The site is simply amazing. We could have spent the entire day here yet we had plenty to do so we had to hurry.

There is a secret to one of these pictures here. The top picture has been modified rather heavily using a technique called HDR. It stands for High Dynamic Range and it brings out the colors in a photo. Our goal was to do this with a bunch of the pictures but time and the color settings on this little laptop have prevented it. You'll have to wait till we get home and we'll play then.

After Fountains Abbey we headed to Hardwick Hall. A home built in the 1500's. Pictures were not allowed inside the home so as to help preserve the large number of beautiful and original tapestries that were hung all over almost every single wall in the home. These were not ordinary tapestries; they were actually cut to fit exactly around the doors and windows and the designs are extremely elaborate. The National Trust does a really good job of trying to preserve the original state of a house. And if they can't do that, then they recreate it. So in keeping with the 16th century, they purchased woven rush flooring just as would have been in the home back then. It makes it feel like you've gone back in time.

Today also included a rather quick stop in the center of Leeds. On Cheri's mother's side she is related to the Black Prince. There is a huge statue of him in front of the town hall in Leeds. Drew drove around the block a few times while Cheri jumped out and snapped a few pictures. And, just as a side note, Cheri has resurected the Black Prince as one of the characters in her sequel to Fateful.

Today it actually rained! Cheri took pictures of the back of Drew’s jeans, which were a little bit muddy, and another picture of him walking amongst puddles. Luckily for us, it only rained while we drove, and while we were inside Hardwick Hall. But when we went through the gardens there, it had stopped.

Bet you don’t know what a “bap” is. How about a floured bap? It’s just a hamburger bun.

One additional note, we are staying at a Marriott in Birmingham. They asked why we were here, we explained, and so they upgraded our room. Since we were already using points to stay - this was an extra bonus. Now for something cool, our bathroom has this metal towel rack - it's actually a towel warmer with warm water running through the pipes. Very nice.