Day 2 11 Dec (Thurs) - York

Paul & Chelsea at ruins of St. Mary's Abbey, York, England (11 Dec 2008)

After a somewhat fitfull night (read previous entry) I woke up to a dark and frosty morning. At 7:30a it was still pitch black outside. Enjoyed a nice conversation with a man from Edinburgh at breakfast (at The Red House B&B) that works for a charity organization that promotes cycling as a renewable resource!  Interesting conversation as we chatted about cycling the health-related crisis that we seem to be mired in.

I caught a cab to the Grantham train station and met up with Chelsea and we caught the train to York via a quick change at Doncaster.  It was only 11 GBP for both train tickets! Much discounted when bought in "advance" (prior to 6:00p the evening before) and via the internet.

We arrived at York around 10:30a and stowed our luggage at the left luggage area in the York train station. I found it odd that the attendant had to physically search only one of our bags before scanning the bag. Chelsea had been to York before so she knew the area well and led us on a quick tour of the York highlights including the old Roman wall and original fortress, the St. Mary's abbey ruins, and the Minster cathedral.  We walked thru the central shopping area and the Shambles (old medieval street) grabbed a quick sandwich (1 GBP sandwiches at Mr Sandwich) and headed to Clifford's Tower.

We spent a couple of hours going thru the Castle Museum that shows a lot of restored period rooms and local history with big sections from WWII and the Sixties.

We got an afternoon coffee pick-me-up at Starbucks (yes, they are everywhere) and then spent some more time around the Minster. I had hoped to catch a nice photo of the moonrise (nearly full) with the well lit cathedral, but luck wasn't on my side tonight.  Might get a good shot tomorrow night of the Edinburgh Castle.

We walked back to the train station, retrieved our luggage and then walked back to our B&B - the Blossoms on Clifton Street near the Bootham Bar (gate of the Roman wall).  After a quick rest in the room we ventured back to the city center and enjoyed a nice Italian dinner at Caesars.

It's great spending time with Chelsea and I'm enjoying our conversations. I'm really proud of how independent she has become and how she did the leading thru the sights at York.

Tomorrow morning we're off to Edinburgh, Scotland and are planning on staying there for two nights. Looking forward to some good whiskey!!!