To England: Old York, Feels like Home

York was the town which I could most clearly see myself living in.

There was a lovely ruined abbey, which used to rival York Minster in size.

So many lovely intricate details.

York had city walls, and I walked around a good portion of the walls that are left.

Also, York Minster of course.

The sweet pyramid dome thing is the chapel house, iirc.

idk my bff roof?

I took the York Minster tower tour, but enjoyed the Bath one more. This one was straight up and down with less inner workings/information. It also made me feel more claustrophobic. The good news is that my legs had adjusted by now and hurt a lot less, although I did have some blister issues in York.

Not that there was anything WRONG with the view. Note the tiny abbey ruins in the background.

One evening, I ventured to sit outside the Minster and listen to bell practice which was incredible. Sat on a bench eating cherries. Another night, I went to Evensong. I just managed to snag a single seat in the quire. It felt more Catholic than I was expecting.

Amazing stained glass. I'd love to go back after they finish their big one.

After Evensong, I went on a ghost walk/terror trail. Lots of stories of torture. My favorite creepy tale was the girl who they locked up because they thought she had the plague, but she ended up dying of starvation, crying out for food. Eek!

I went to Clifford's Tower which wouldn't have been worth the price of admission but was free with my English Heritage Pass. Quite plain but very interesting motte of a motte and bailey set up, which didn't commonly survive in their original form. It never made sense to me but now it does--such a steep hill, might as well plant yourself on top with a tiny fortress like "just try and get at me, bro".

I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get a straight picture of the dumb thing--until I went inside it and it was all completely tippy. Oh.

I visited the Yorkshire museum which was small but totally jampacked with things that would make or break a collection in other parts of the world. Haphazard like "oh some random old crap we dug up" exCUSE you, amazing Roman, Viking, and medieval artifacts.

Just gonna casually leave our Roman sarcophagi outside because why not.

Railway museum, which had been recommended to me but was a bit boring except the royal carriages. I was hoping they had the Hogwarts express, per the recommender, but they did not any longer.

York was a good place to study layers of history all jumbled on top of each other.

I had kind of a lazy time in York. Settled in and made it like home, coming back in the afternoons to watch Wimbledon or Netflix and nap!