York Minster

Hola!  This one is going to be short and sweet.  That's for several reasons.

I'm in Ronda, Spain on holiday. 

I'm in the hotel lobby using a hotspot that is not extremely reliable.

I had wine with lunch.

I'm typing on a teeny tiny ipad keyboard.

I left my reading glasses in the room upstairs.  

But... I have on flip flops and the sun is shining!!!

We are on day two of our Explore! trip and I've taken almost 1,000 photos. 

So far?  Spoken like a true American... It's awesome!!!

But, I have to go in order, so you will have to wait to hear more about Spain.

For now, here are the photos from a few weeks ago from York Mister.

I was going to tell you why it's called York Minster instead of York Cathedral,

as it's clearly a cathedral.   But, I'm going to have to let you Google 

that instead as battery power is now waining.

.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

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The City of York

We didn't plan nearly enough time in York.  

This just means that we will have to return some time soon!

As you can imagine, this two thousand year old city has quite a bit to offer. 

We checked into our hotel after a

four hour drive from London.  

The hotel wasn't horrible, but I won't mention its name as I wouldn't recommend it.

Then we took a long walk through Micklegate Bar to get to the city center.

York has more miles of intact Roman walls surrounding it than any other English city.

The city is much larger and busier than I had imagined. 

At one point I felt that I was back in London as I dodged the shoppers and tourists. 

We popped into a local pub for a late lunch.

The Golden Fleece claims to be the "most haunted pub" in York. 

Did you know that York is the most haunted city in England?

We didn't encounter any ghosts, but we were served a Yorkshire Pudding and Fish & Chips as big as your head.  No, seriously!  And they say the portions in the US are too big.

I think England is catching on pretty quickly.

After our huge lunch, we ambled along the shambles, Britain's most picturesque street.

This famous street was mentioned in the Doomsday Book and is York's oldest.

Historically, it was a street of butcher shops, blood and offal running down the center of the cobblestones. 

Today you will find quaint shops and restaurants. 

The medieval buildings lean towards each other overhead.

We also visited the York Minster which I'll post about next.

When you visit York, be sure to give yourself enough time.

I want to go back and visit the Jorvik Viking Centre. 

Oh, and be on the look out for cats.

You never know when one might cross your path.

  

 

 

Have you experienced any cats, hauntings or puddings in York?

What would you add to the list of Must Experience in York?

I still have several more posts from our trip to York.

And we just returned from an weekend trip to Belgium, Luxembourg and France.

I can't wait to tell you about the Champagne District.

We are leaving Thursday for a 10 day trip to Spain and Morocco.

 I expect to be caught up on my blog posts by September.

So many photos, so little time!

I hope you will bear with me until I get back to a regular blogging schedule.

I would love it if you'd follow along on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Just click on the links below or in the side bar.

I hope you had a wonderful Easter!

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God's Own County - Yorkshire

Did you know that no matter where you are in England,

you are never more than 75 miles from the coast?

Did you know that England is about the same size as Alabama?

I've mentioned before how much I love to travel by train, 

but there is really no better way to see England than by car.

Of course, I'm not the one driving so that's easy for me to say.

But, Matt loves it, too.

A few weeks ago, we took a weekend trip up to Yorkshire for a look see.  Yorkshire is the largest county in England and is in The North.  As soon as we got out of London we began seeing signs pointing the way to The NORTH!  I love that.  I think we should adopt this in the US.  I'd love to see signs leading the way to The South.  

The highways motorways in the UK are great.   Road signage is plentiful and very detailed.  I'm still figuring out some of them, but most are pretty clear.  There are plenty of well-marked emergency refuge areas.  You will also notice quite a few Speed Cameras.  And obviously everything is reversed.  You drive in the far left lane and pass only on the right. 

Gas stations are familiar looking with just a few differences.  First, it's called petrol not gas.  You will also notice it's sold by the litre rather than the gallon.  This works out to about $8.50 per gallon and diesel is a little more.  Diesel cars are very popular in the UK and they get great mileage.  We have one and can go forever on a tank.  I'm also in love with the Motorway Service Centers.  They are large, clean centers with fast food, cafes, coffee shops, bookstores, grocers, etc.  They are open and safe with huge clean bathrooms with showers.  Like a truck stop in the US but much nicer. 

Once we got into Yorkshire and off of the Motorway, everything changed; narrow lanes, hedgerows, roundabouts, dry stone walls, villages, markets, moors, sheep and pubs.  I turned on the radio and snuggled into the heated seat.  Then with Matt and Helga (our GPS) leading the way, I sit back and soak up England and the Yorkshire countryside.   

Several days later, we left Yorkshire with me declaring that I wanted to live there.  

(This usually happens wherever we go, mind you.)

I've broken our trip into the following posts which I'll be publishing over the next week or so.

York

York Minster

Harrogate

Skipton Castle

The Wheatley Arms

Bolton Abbey

I hope you enjoy the Yorkshire Road Trip!

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