Sunday, July 27, 2014

York Minster

After our morning visit to York Minster we booked ourselves into an afternoon tour that allowed us to climb to the top and be on the roof.


The towers were very tight and I was followed by some creepy guy !!
 
Level 1, first open door.
 
I loved being up high on the outside. Very different view of the building.

Lots of restoration work going on.


Made it to the top and what a view.
 

 
It was great being able to climb to the top although it was very small and made you quite dizzy going up and down the towers. People were obviously a lot smaller in size and height way back when.
 
Thanks York for such a great day. The town is also surrounded by a large wall which I will be walking on next time round.
 
 
 
Enjoyed a little rest after such a great day and preparing ourselves for the horror bus ride home. Lucky for us the bus stayed intact and the drivers knew how to get home !! Onto the next adventure.
 
 

York

Uncle Jim and I embarked on some day trips on our own during our stay in Yorkshire. Our first trip was to York.

Getting there was a night mare. When the mini bus pulled up we were wondering if it would even get us there. We were a little hesitant to get on the bus but we didn't need to worry about the bus, it was the driver that was the problem !!!

The interior of the bus was coming apart and the back doors were very rusted. The driver had no idea where on earth he was going and we ended up being over 40 minutes from our destination in the wrong direction. We were wondering where we were going when the driver pulled over and asked if anyone knew where we were going !!! When we said no he was not very happy at all !! How were we supposed to know where we were, we're not from these parts !!!

Thank goodness for smart phones with GPS !! and thank goodness there were some younger people on the bus that had one and knew how to use it !!! Finally an hour after we were to due to arrive we made it ! Heaven help us on the way home !!

Places like this have so much history that we just don't have here in Australia.



So beautiful and calm and so much detail.

It looks like I'm praying !!




The detail was incredible.


 
 
Interesting but a little creepy to be seeing the resting place of so many people.
After our walk around the Minster it was time for a spot of lunch since it took us so long to get here !! We came upon the Story of Chocolate. There was a tour that you could take of the place but the line was to long so we just had lunch instead. OMG it was to die for !!! It has to be my all time favourite lunch ever !!! Freshly made waffles with melted chocolate, cream and ice cream and all washed down with a mint chocolate milkshake. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Did I mention that it was YUMMY !!1


Looking forward to this lunch !!
After lunch was walked (but we should have run to make up for lunch !!) through the shops. Beautiful little streets with cobblestone lanes. Man people were short back in the day. Even I had to duck to get into some of the shops.


Next stop was the Jorvik Viking Centre, a trip back in time to when the Vikings were in charge. Uncle Jim had been here before and really enjoyed it all. Inside you get into a cart that takes you around a set up of what it was like during those days and you get a great sense of what it was like with all the sights, sounds and even smells of the time !! And there were some funky smells !!!

Me and some of my new Viking friends !!!
Next stop was Clifford's Tower. The main fort and protection for York.



View from the top of the Tower inside.


See Uncle Jim was with me !!

Looking back to York Minster.

Downstairs there was a set up for the kids to play dress ups and be a King or Queen while they were there. There were no kids around and the lady was looking bored so I decided that I would become Queen for a day !!! A little bit of fun. The lady was great to talk to but it did seem strange that she was American in an old English town. Funny.

All hail Queen Donna. Uncle Jim wouldn't be in for being a King :(
We then headed back to the Minster for our tour and climb to the top. The pictures for that will be in another post. After our tour it was time to make our way back to the bus, heaven help us, and head home.


 
Can't wait to get back here and explore some more. Check out the next post where we climb to the top of York Minster !!!

Friday, June 27, 2014

Happy 8th Birthday

Hip Hip Hooray it's E's 8th Birthday !!





E's best friend Imogen came for a surprise visit
And got straight to work getting the camper van opened and set up !!!
First stop was Grandma's for cake 1.


Next day at Nanny's for cake 2 !!

E loves Aunty Terri doing her hair, plus she is much better at it than me!!!
Happy Birthday princess. I can't wait for you to turn 9 when we are in America. It is going to be an awesome birthday !!!