August 5, 2015: Visit to York

Mike and I (and a very large group of other symposium attendees) boarded chartered buses to York, a historic walled city in northern Yorkshire. We were on the fourth bus, and it was too full for us to find seats together. I sat next to a man from Moscow who reeked of perspiration odor all the way to York! We had a nice chat, and I enjoyed viewing the countless farms, brick houses, and town homes through our window along the way. Mike sat next to a younger man from France, and I could hear him chatting with the guy all the way to York!

When we got off the bus, it was fun to have a few hours of free time to get lost around the small country town. Our first stop was at Clifford's Tower, the remains of an old castle. We climbed the steep stairs to the entrance, paid the fee, then walked along the lower and upper floors of the tower. That was fun!

Afterwards, we walked past beautiful old buildings, including York Minster Cathedral, which is HUGE and has more than half of all the stained glass windows in Northern Europe! The coolest part of our journey in York was walking along the amazingly old and medieval wall of the city. The views are awesome, and we saw some lavishly gorgeous estates with huge lawns and gardens. You can even see the tall spires of York Minster Cathedral behind these lavish homes.

Our evening ended with dinner catered at the museum. We had lamb stew (my first time tasting lamb--baaaa!), cooked kale, hard rolls, and a custard tart. The food in England is sure interesting.

Leeds City Museum

Pretty flowers everywhere on and off the Leeds University campus

Clifford's Tower

Looking out one of the windows of the upper floor/chamber

A truly incredible part of the old medieval castle

Views from the tower 

In one of the narrow stairwells going down

Some of the old buildings in York

Just a tiny portion of the York Minster Cathedral 

This building boasts half of all the stained glass in Northern Europe

This Cathedral is seriously HUGE!!!

Love these cobblestone streets

Ruins of the old castle

Pretty copper rooftops

The old wall is extensive and has some of the best views!

York Minster seen above the rooftops

Stairway to the wall

These lavish homes and gardens were magnificent to see from the wall

More homes of the rich and famous

 What most of the houses look like in England--attached one or two-story homes

 York Cathedral rises above the trees in the city

I'll take this one!

 Crossing the River Ouse on our way to the National Railway Museum

One of the many retired trains in the National Railway Museum

 An old stage coach that carried the royal mail

 The fastest steam train in the world was called the Mallard, in York, and built in 1938
It reached speeds of over 168 miles per hour!

Tyler would LOVE this train!

 The evening ended with a lovely banquet at the museum

This train wheel is over 6 feet in diameter!