2000 Years in A Day

The second day of our mini-break found us in York and after having a bit of a disappointing start to the trip, we were hoping to have a better day. (Spoiler: We had a very successful day!)

We started by walking the mile from our hostel into town where we purchased York Passes. For 34 pounds, we could spend up to 60 pounds going into a bunch of sites in town. It seemed to be the cheapest way to see everything in town and we definitely made it count.

First stop: The York Minster. It's probably the coolest and biggest spot in the city. It's absolutely gorgeous. Built in the 13th century, it has some of the most beautiful stained glass I've ever seen. The organist was practicing while we were there so that made it even more amazing. It's almost too hard to explain in words so I'll just post lots of photos for your viewing pleasure.

Then we went to the Roman Baths (after a short Starbucks visit) and they were also awesome. You see, York was the major Roman city in the Roman province of Britannia and when Diocletian restructured the Empire in the late 3rd century, York became the capitol of Britannia. It was closer to the raiding armies of Britons and Scots and the military could better handle them from that position. That's when London (or Londinium) lost its prominence in the province. And this ends my random historical lesson of the day.

Then we went to Jorvik. This can only be explained at Disney World for the Vikings. There was a major Viking settlement in York and the York Archaeological Society has spent a lot of time uncovering it. They then recreated an entire village which you can ride through, complete with sounds and smells. It's awesome. They also have people who explain the objects and they were super helpful. I could go into a lot more detail, but it was one of the better museums I've ever visited and I would recommend going there if you find yourself in York.

We jumped ahead several centuries to the Georgian Period and visited the Fairfax House. It was quite pretty but we just took a quick look through. Nothing too enthralling. Then we climbed Clifford's Tower, which overlooks the city. It was part of the castle that stood there during the time of the War of the Roses but only the tower remains.

We stopped for a short lunch before heading back out on our adventure. We headed to the York Castle Museum, which has some really interesting and different exhibits. They recreated a Victorian town that you could walk through and actually go into shops to purchase goods. It was so cool! Lots of creepy alleys but totally awesome. And all of this in York. Who knew? Then we walked to Middlegate Bar, where we toured a small museum connected to this gatehouse on the Medieval walls of the city. Then we walked along these walls to get to the rail station to print out our tickets. We had one more stop: Barley Hall, which took forever to find but was discovered tucked away. It was a cool little museum that also had costumes from movies on display. And I got to see one of Colin Firth's outfits from the A&E Pride and Prejudice. I about died.

Alas, that ended our time in York...but we still had to get to Nottingham. It started off well, as most trips do. We arrived at the rail station on time and boarded our train just fine. We needed to change at Grantham for a new train to Nottingham but when we arrived, we were told that all trains to Nottingham were cancelled. I very unceremoniously dropped my bag in annoyance, tired and not in the mood to find another way to get to Nottingham. But they were running buses! So we boarded one (even though I thought I was done with buses for the remainder of this trip. I was wrong) and headed to Nottingham. Much to our chagrin, a stag party was behind us and they were all drunk. One gentleman (if I can call him that) opened the emergency door while the bus was moving to relieve himself out the back of the bus. The bus driver was not happy after that. Then there were some odd people filming the people on the bus with their phone, as if to remember this trip for posterity. I would like to black it out from my memory forever, so there are no photos of it.

We finally arrived at Nottingham and said stag party man ran off the bus and relieved himself in public. Does this still make him a gentleman? I'm not so sure. We got to the hostel, which was very nice but in a rather dodgy part of town. Since we hadn't eaten since lunch, I dragged Melissa from her warm bed to get food at a not too sketchy Chinese place just down the road. Thus ended our long day in York and travels to Nottingham.

- Kate (P.S. The formatting was screwy this evening so the photos are below)

The York Minster

What Lovely Ceilings

Stunning Stained Glass

More Stained Glass

Roman Baths

Clifford's Tower

Fairfax House

Ah, Mr. Darcy.

The Day We Almost Saw Hadrian's Wall

St. James Park - where Newcastle United play.

Well the mini break started out quite swimmingly. Melissa and I embarked on our 8 a.m. train to Newcastle, all prepared to see Hadrian's Wall. We arrived to the station, found a place to hold our bags for the day, and boarded a bus that would take us along the route to Carlisle. According to the map, we could get off at several different stops and the wall would be nearby.

The closest we got to Rome

We chose Corbridge! It was a quaint little town that was also home to a Roman Fort. We walked the mile from the stop to the fort first, believing we could then just walk to the wall. The fort was really awesome, and we were able to walk all over the ruins. It was here that we were informed that the wall was about two miles away. But hey there were buses that ran there! We looked for these buses and saw a sign but it wasn't clear regarding where it would be going and where was the best place to stop to see the wall. So we decided to walk there! And then we realized that it was two miles of highways.....yeah, not doing that.

We did see some sheep, though.

Thus, we went back into Corbridge, determined to take a bus to another stop and see if there was a better place to see the wall. We stopped into a church in town, the Saxon Church of St. Andrews, and visited there for a bit. We were still determined to find the wall, but our will was beginning to diminish. It only took about 20 minutes of sitting for us to give up entirely, realizing the futility of our endeavor to find the wall. The signage was poor, the website useless. It was if they really didn't want visitors. Strange.

Pretty Saxon Church

Thus, we found ourselves back in Newcastle around 2 and had lunch. We believed we had about three hours to kill so we walked through the mall and people watched in a Starbucks. The number one thing we learned: Newcastle is kind of crappy. Maybe it was just the people there and the part that we were in but we felt that the whole city was populated by drug addicts. We watched a train wreck of a relationship go up in smoke in Starbucks, as two people yelled at each other in public and then the man went back to playing with the baby as the girl cried silently on the couch. It was quite an experience.

The River Tyne

It was about 4 when we realized that our train left at 7, and not 6. Thus, we had an extra hour in this city. It was painful. However, as we were walking towards the rail station at 630, we happened upon a showing of Anchorman in a large town square. I had to give the city points for that, although it was also a bit strange to show an extremely sexually suggestive movie in such a public venue. Maybe this explains Newcastle? The jury is still out. I am more than willing to be proved wrong by someone who loves the city but I am currently of the belief that it isn't the best place in the world and I would be okay never to return.

We boarded our train to York and arrived there around 830 p.m. It was only a short cab ride to our hostel, where we shared a room with one other girl. She was Asian and didn't speak much English so words were not passed. The long day had taken it's toll and we quickly took to our beds. York tomorrow!

- Kate