York

Today we went to York. York is a lovely city, bounded on two sides by the Ouse and the Foss rivers. We walked around in the old part of the city, which is walled. We had fun in spite of the fact that it was cold and rainy today. There were enormous crowds milling around. It must have been a field trip day for several schools, because we encountered a bunch of school groups.

We started things out by taking a 45 minute

 boat tour of the Ouse. We began the tour out on the deck, 

but soon had to go below to take refuge from the rain.

Next we went to York Minster. This is a beautiful old church building that was erected in the Gothic style, and we were informed that it has the largest expanse of stained glass in the world. We didn't pay to tour the minster, so the only interior pictures that I was able to take were from the entrance. 

Our last stop was at Jorvik Viking Center. This is a very interesting place that houses a replica of a Viking village as well as Viking artifacts. The sight of the Viking Center was originally a Saxon town that was conquered by the Vikings. Many of the artifacts that we saw today were dug up in York. I wasn't allowed to take pictures of very many of things that we saw, but I did get one (not very good) shot of Richmond trying on a helmet. I'm afraid that I'm not very skilled at taking pictures of people.

Here are some random pictures that I took while walking around York.

This is the entrance to the old fortified

part of the city.

Pictures of Cross Roads

This evening we went on a brief walk to explore Cross Roads (the village where we are staying) and its surrounding countryside. The rain soon drove us back to the shelter of our cottage, but I managed to get a few pictures!

Our cottage

A rainbow!

Skipton Castle

Today we went to nearby Skipton to investigate Skipton Castle. The castle is in excellent repair, and we really enjoyed going through it. We weren't able to tour the whole thing because part of it is lived in by the Clifford family, to which it belongs. As you will see from the pictures, the weather today is very changeable. It's raining one minute and sunny the next. I've noticed that the English don't react to the weather as much as Americans do. When the rain starts, they continue calmly with their business without any fuss, while we race for shelter. 

Monday is market day, so the streets of Skipton were lined with people selling everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to rugs and socks. I enjoyed walking along the streets and looking at all of the merchandise. Street merchants are one thing that you don't see much of in the States!

Clouds

In the castle's Chapel of St. John the Evangelist

The part of the castle that we were able to access

is laid out in such a way that all of the main rooms

have windows that look out on a central courtyard.

The purpose of this design was, of course, to enable light

to enter otherwise gloomy rooms, but it also afforded

several opportunities for interesting pictures.

The wording above the gate reads 'Henceforth'

in Norman French. This is the motto of the Cliffords.

Haworth on Holiday

Haworth had a 1940's weekend that took place today and yesterday. A lot of people dress up in more or less authentic WWII costumes and drive obsolete vehicles up and down the streets. The whole experience was interesting, but it would have been more so if there hadn't been such enormous crowds. Being in a place where I couldn't move five inches without bumping into someone cramped my picture-taking abilities somewhat, but I was able to get a few shots. Dad was in his element, discussing weaponry and throwing military terms around with the re-enactors. I, as usual, simply listened to the Yorkshire accents in wide-eyed wonder. 

Seeing so many beautifully refurbished antique

vehicles was a very nice experience.

By the way, there is an interesting Wikipedia article about the coin studded trees that we encountered yesterday; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wish_Tree . Thanks to both Laurel and Charissa for looking this up and sending me the link!

Back to the Abbey

Today we decided to go back to Bolton Abbey and hike some footpaths. The abbey is simply beautiful! We went inside of it today, and I took numerous pictures. The larger portion of the abbey is in ruins, but a part of it is still in use as a church. In fact, a wedding was in progress while we were there.  The footpaths are bordered with bluebells, and have the look of something enchanted. I kept expecting a little gnome to leer at us from behind a tree trunk. We were all feeling hungry after our hike, so we ate lunch at a little tea room that has been converted from an old tithe barn. From our table, we were able to obtain an excellent view of the valley, river, and abbey.

Pictures of our hike

We encountered several large dead trees that

had been studded with coins. I'm not sure of the

reason for this, but they made for interesting pictures.

A Bluebell

Some pretty white flowers which I

could not identify