York

Friday 13th

Despite the patches of fairly steady rain we managed to put in a full day and cover quite a few things. We started with a two-hour guided walking tour of the walled city (a free service offered by volunteer guides) which gave us a good insight into the history of York. Our guide had a dry sense of humour which was a bonus but it was about the only thing that was dry during the morning!! We then spent quite a bit of time at York Minster Cathedral and David braved the 257 steep stone stairs to the top of the Tower. I, instead, opted to reflect on the more philosophical aspects of life from the safety of the ground floor.

We then walked around a bit more of the city and headed to Cliffords Tower (a stone tower dating from 13th century) for a brief visit. We then returned to York Minster for Evensong and in UK's foremost example of a Gothic cathedral we listened to the St John Choir from Albuquerque, New Mexico (who were on a week's performance tour). Regardless of where they came from, they sounded great.

We finished the day off at the ruins of St Mary's Abbey and got to see our first squirrels!! I wonder if people watching us taking photos would be as bemused by this as we might be by someone taking photos of possums or rats in NZ. I somehow get the feeling that they are not a loved and treasured animal here. Either way, they looked comical to me.

Overall impressions of the city and area - the people have been very friendly and tolerant of visitors and everywhere we have gone from Durham to York there has been a consistent feeling of being welcomed and assistance readily offered. (Even the squirrels were friendly enough....)

It was still very busy around the town (despite the rain) but didn't really encounter too much in the way of queues or waiting (just lots of people to get in the way of photos you want to take).

Lots of places seem to advertise as being the "Most haunted ..... in Britain" so thought it was probably apt that we were here on Friday the 13th. Just hope we are not staying in "The Most Haunted B&B in York"!!!!

This was just some guy painted purple pretending to be a statue and then freaking people out by moving when they walked past. Not sure why I added him except he was fun to watch!