Our last destination in England was snowy Yorkshire. We had our first airbnb stay, in a share house in Leeds. From Leeds we ventured out to York and Beverley to get an idea of the area Ally's grandmother is from. Leeds Market provided everything from bobbins (in one of the multiple haberdasheries) and bananas to basketballs and baklava. We found some quality coffee and gave in to buying a football (soccer) to use at the grounds at the end of our street! It was great to have a run around and we got plenty muddy as we shouted about ManUnited players in the afternoon light. In our house it was great to have a kitchen and eat some vegetables again!
 |
| Leeds Market |
Oh the grand old Duke of York... York is one of our favourite places so far: the mix of old and new buildings with tiny cobbled walkways and walls with the stuffing coming out of them gave the town so much character. After a bacon butty we went to the Jorvik Center where we ran into Juha's triplet brothers, aka the vikings that used to fill York. The center was impressive, with a recreated village with the sounds and SMELLS of the city during that era. Instead of walking around and reading, you sat in a motorized car that took you around the scenes and told you stories - a really interesting way to learn about the local history! We walked some of the walls, ate fish and chips and after having our faces freeze off in the wind while we looked at the Minster we enjoyed a sneaky chocolate fondue :D The Minster was very impressive in size and decoration and we spent a long time laughing at its history (you'll see why below ;) ).
 |
| York |
A brief (and selective) history of York Minster:
... The kingdom was built up from nothing...
740 AD: The church is destroyed by fire. And rebuilt.
1137: The new church is damaged by fire. But soon repaired.
1829: An arson attack resulted in the church being partially burnt. Before they could fix it..
1840: An accidental fire caused much of the church to fall down.
1984: After many years of good luck, a fire believed to be caused by a lightening strike destoryed part of the structure.
1988: The sixth one stayed up.
 |
| A (very) old hospital. |
Via Hull, our last stop in Yorkshire was Beverley. For those who don't know, Ally's mum Beverley is called Beverley. We visited the Friary which has been converted into a youth hostel (unfortunately closed for winter). After sneaking into the back of the Friary court yard an automatic gate locked shut behind us... but a leap over the wall left us in the perfect spot for a (somewhat painful) snowball fight! We looked inside Beverley Minster, walked through the small town center and escaped from the drizzle in a warm pub with a good hot lunch.
 |
| Toad Hall |
Beverley seemed in too much of a rush to get on with adventure than to sit around and get pretty, whilst York thought he'd step it up and show his sister an impressive thing or too. Wait, are we talking about the place or the people...?
We left Yorkshire understanding that we had a few too many teeth and not enough children to fit in here for now... So it's North to Scotland!
No comments:
Post a Comment