Day 5 in the UK!

DAY 5- March 11, 2013

We woke up feeling pretty well rested (finally) and after breakfast, we bundled up to do another free walking tour of the city, this time led by a woman named Vera.  She was a bit older than our last guide, but had a wealth of knowledge--even if it did take some time for her to spit it out :)

I quite enjoyed the addition of baked beans to the traditional breakfast, actually.

Everything had a frosting of snow on it!

The market.

Bootham Bar.  In York, "bar" means gate, and "gate" means street.  We were told to blame the Vikings.

Exhibition Square, Bootham Bar, and the Minster in the distance.  This is where our tour started.

The inside of that tower we saw the day before.  The red band of bricks separate the Roman wall (below) and the Medieval Wall (above).  And, yes, it was snowing.

The medieval wall surrounding the city.

The levels of wall on the right represent the many different times York was conquered--Roman,  Norman, Saxon, Viking....

Vera, telling us about this courtyard inside the King's Manor, which is part of the University of York.

We passed York Minster again, by way of the Dean's Park snickelway.

Couldn't agree more....

A look through a gate at a snickelway leading to the Holy Trinity Church with the Minster in the distance.  This courtyard is called Tonge's Court.

Following Vera to entering the above courtyard by another snickelway called  Hornpot Lane.

Jordan in front of the small Holy Trinity Church.

The Holy Trinity Church.

Box pews--that would keep your kids sitting still, eh?

Looking out on Tonge's Court.

See, I am not making that word up.

After a quick and forgettable (hey they can't all be winners) lunch, we headed out to the Jorvik Viking Centre, where we got to see how the Vikings lived.  Between 1976 and 1981, over 40,000 Viking artifacts were dug up right in downtown York.  We also learned that because they couldn't figure out how to keep their water from being contaminated (something about having a latrine right next to their well), they only drank beer, starting at the age of three.

Fine-toothed combs.

Beads and pottery.

Replica of a Viking helmet.

Really tiny work instruments and tools.

Largest piece of petrified human feces.  The kids in our group loved this part.

After the Viking center, we headed out to the York Castle Museum.  The North building was basically a Victorian home show, displaying how people lived and worked in Victorian York.  The South building had exhibits on Britain in WWII, a toy gallery, an exhibit on the 60s, and finally the York Castle Prison, with stories on all its prisoners.

A typical Victorian sitting room.

Part of the Wedding dress exhibit during the Victorian era.

Jordan in the museum's recreated Kirkgate- a street from the Victorian era.  

Display of "scientific instruments" in Victorian times.

The Millinery shop.

Stables.

This is the way they measured things.  Number 11 is a "Bushel" and number 7 is a "peck" :)

Inside the toy exhibit :)

Entrance to the military exhibit in the South Building.

We were pretty famished after all these museums, so we stopped in to the York Cocoa House for some hot chocolate and treats.   It was a welcome break for our cold hands and tired feet.

See how steamy and warm it looks in there?!

MMMM.  My chocolate was HUGE.  Jordan got a caramel hot chocolate and we both got some more sweets to go with it.

This is my perfect shop.  It even has Christmas lights in it.

And I'll have you know I almost finished that whole bowl cup of hot chocolate.

 Then, we grabbed more of Drake's delicious fish and chips and ate back in our room to give our feet a break.  That evening, we headed back out to go on a ghost hunt!!  According to the Guinness Book of World Records, York is the world's most haunted city, so we had to take a ghost tour of the city!!  It was wonderful.  We chose the "Ghost Hunt" and met our guide at the Shambles.  He took our small group through all sorts of snickelways to the most haunted sites in the city, telling us of ghost sightings and entertaining us the whole way.  He even got me to participate when he started cutting off his own hand by having me wipe the blood off of his wrist.  Jordan was another participant in the evening and it turned out to be some of the most fun we had all trip!  It was funny, scary, and thoroughly enjoyable!!!

Jordan and our guide, Andy Dextrous.

Where a full battalion of Roman soldiers have been seen.

Spooky.... 

 We returned to our hotel exhausted and excited by our visit to the wonderful city of York!!