York and Whitby

Our trip to York began in Worcester at 8:A.M. Too early for a pensioner (retiree). However, after a 2-1/2 hour bus ride, our first stop was at Yorkshire Sculpture Garden. This a large outdoor area with huge and interesting sculptures would be very wonderful on a nice sunny day. We visited on perhaps the coldest day since we arrived in England with a strong, icy wind tearing through the land. Anne and I looked at the photographs of the sculptures in the tea room and cruised the gift shop. I would love to go back but the biting wind was just too much this time since I had left my down parka and hard core long undies back in Duluth. We did enjoy watching their sheep keep the park grass in good order, as much of the snow had melted.

After a short ride, we arrived at our Youth Hostel in York. Other than not having a toilet or shower in our room, it was quite nice. We were on the first floor (not the ground floor) (would be 2nd floor for you Yanks.) and so we could leave our window shades open at night and actually see the sky, moon and trees. So different than in our flat. There was also a very nice pub downstairs in the hostel which served fine Yorkshire Ale.

York is a very, very old city and is quite interesting in terms of political, religious and cultural history. It was originally founded as a city by the Romans in 71 A.D. on land occupied by others (of course). It became in turn the capital of the Roman province of Britannia Inferior and of the kingdoms of Northumbria and Jorvik. In the Middle Ages it became the capital of the northern ecclesiastical province of the Church of England which it still is today.


After we were settled, we took a walk along the river where we again discovered how very cold it was. It had snowed recently and the sidewalks were very icy. We visited the Yorkshire Museum which exhibited a great overview of of the history of the past 2,000 years in York. Located next to the ruins of the medieval St. Mary's Abby, it even included some pre-Roman invasion artifacts as well as an almost intact 4th century statue of the Roman's God, Mars. The Viking exhibits were also interesting - combs and other tools made of deer antlers, and an 8th century helmet. We had to laugh at the mention they made of the helmet design improvements over the years. Apparently, the earlier helmets caused the soldiers to go blind and deaf. Glad they figured THAT out. After the museum we found a lovely little tea shop where we could warm up and shared a cream tea. That is tea, scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam. De-lish!


The next day was awkwardly scheduled and so we did a lot of walking so we could see what we wanted and also what was required for the students/faculty. It was again quite cold but all of the walking helped keep us warmer. We went through the well known Shambles on our way to the York Castle Museum in the morning.


Most of the old towns we've visited have a section called City Center that is closed off to traffic and holds their 400 - 500 year old buildings which are still being used. They house many shops, tea rooms, pubs, and churches. This is where the Shambles are located as well. My further research about these streets revealed that the over hanging second floors and narrow streets provided shade for the meat, poultry and vegetables that were sold in the shops on the street level.


The York Castle Museum once housed the castle prison and so there is an intriguing exhibit of the small cells and some of the more notorious prisoners including, the last woman burned at the stake in Yorkshire, Elizabeth Bordingham, and highwayman Dick Turpin. We also enjoyed the Victorian Street but were unfortunately too rushed to see all of the wonderful toys they have on exhibit.


Our next stop, after some hot apple pie and custard and a cream tea was The Jorvik Viking Center. Upon approaching the building housing this exhibit, we were greeted by men dressed in furs and coarse clothing who were behaving as Vikings may have acted. That is, lunging around and grunting. (I know this is confusing but just for clarity, I'm talking about the Vikings from Scandinavia, not Minneapolis.) The center itself includes Disneyland type cars in which we rode through a re-constructed Viking village. The village is constructed on an actual site of a a Viking village called, Jorvik. The designers of this exhibit decided that the visitors not only needed to see the way the people lived in that time but also needed to smell it. Hence, they have depicted an interesting exhibit that stinks of garbage, human waste, rotting animal waste, cooking, burning wood, etc. It made me wonder if the wind ever blew in those times.


The story of the discoveries that are on exhibit is quite interesting. Archaeologists have dug nearly 30 feet into layers of moist and peaty soil and found an amazing trove of timbers, tools, cloth, jewelry, etc.; things that really showed where and how people lived there 1,000 years ago. Too bad about the odor.


Shortly after our visit to Jorvik, we all gathered at the York Minster for a tour of this largest Anglican Cathedral in the UK. It is a huge, old, cold building with much history, stained glass and statuary. The chapter house is quite fun because it has many carved figures of people and animals. I've posted photos of some of them. The stained glass windows were all quite beautiful but also held some oddities. One contains a scene with a monkey doctor taking care of another monkey. No one knows what that is all about but, we enjoyed the oddities. We were given a tour by a volunteer church member and so the tyranny and discrimination practiced by the Anglicans was omitted in her story of the Minster and the church's history.


As it was very, very cold we stopped at a pub for some beef and ale pie and a drought of beer before heading back for our last night at the hostel.


On Sunday, we were back on the bus for a long ride over the moors and down into the little seaside town of Whitby, North Yorkshire. Located on the North Sea, we were warned of more cold weather but, it was actually a bit warmer.


Whitby is known as a sea port where Captain Cook learned his seamanship in the 18th century and for the 199 step stairway to the parish church of St. Mary which inspired portions of Bram Stoker's Dracula. Our visit to Whitby also included viewing the ruins of a St. Hilda's Abby which was built in 657 by the Saxon King of Northumbria, Oswy. Over the centuries it has fallen into ruin but is now an English Heritage site.

When we arrived in Whitby, our coach driver, Marc dropped us off at the top of the bluff where the Abbey is located. There, we saw a few shaggy, blue eyed horses and since we, as well as some of the students are pet-deprived we went to say hello to them and rub their noses. When we turned around the rest of the group had vanished. We walked around the stone walls and couldn't find a way into the grounds of the Abbey so eventually we had to climb the walls. (Much to the entertainment of the students.) After we toured the ruins, the rest of the group showed up. I guess there was some sort of visitor center, gift shop and entrance that we missed entirely. Oh well.

Of course, we had to go down the 199 steps and explore the shops of the village. Whitby is also known for the Whitby Jet; the black stone that is the petrified wood of a Monkey Puzzle tree. Amber also comes from this tree but it is the petrified sap. The jet was highly regarded by Queen Victoria - who had it fashioned into mourning jewelry.


After a bit of village wandering, we found a small pub named the White Horse and Griffin that advertised a flaming hearth and good food. My oh my. We weren't disappointed. The cozy dim pub played wonderful soft jazz background music, was warmed by a fire in an open fireplace, excellent service and most of all, excellent food. Anne ordered some delicious leek and potato soup and, since it was my birthday, I had a plate of fresh steamed mussels poached in cream and served with shaved poached shallots. There couldn't have been a better way to top off the trip.


I just won't mention the details of our 6 hour bus ride back to Worcester. Suffice to say that for a couple of country dwelling introverts, we were happy to be back in our flat with just the two of us.

Don't forget to check out the photos of this northern weekend adventure.