July 23 Edinburgh and York

We left Edinburgh around 10:30 this morning on a train bound for York, England. The ride was relaxing with some beautiful views of the English and Scottish North Sea coast. We arrived in York about 1:30 and got to our hotel about 2:00.

Our room wasn't ready yet, so we put our luggage in a locker and headed into the city. We grabbed a quick lunch from Tesco Express and went straight to the York Minster. The York Minster is a big imposing gothic cathedrals that dominates the city. It seems out of place for such a smaller town. With our admission price we got tickets to climb the tower, but could not climb it until 4:00. We spent an hour just walking around the building and taking it all in. An organist was playing so it added to the atmosphere. At 4:00 we climbed up 245 narrow (claustrophobic at times) steps to the top of the tower. (245 steps today, 143 steps yesterday at the Nelson tower... we sure got our "steps" in these last two days [pause for laughter]) The view from the tower was impressive. All of Yorkshire laid before us. We climbed back down the stairs and hung around the Minster until it closed. Evensong was going on (that's for you Lorna) and it was nice to just sit and listen.

After the Minster we walked down to the Museum Gardens by the river Ouse. We got some ice cream and checked out the various ruins that dot the gardens. The highlight was the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey. It had started raining as we left the Gardens so we decided to ease our way back to the hotel. On the way we walked through the Shambles, York's famous alley-like street that looks like it has not changed for 500 years (except for all the tacky shops that line the street). Ellie likened the Shambles to Diagon Alley in Harry Potter. Our final

stop was Clifford's tower near the wall that surrounds York. The tower is the last remnants of the old York castle.

We made it back to our hotel and checked in to our room. Ellie got

a microwave dinner (we have a microwave in our room) and I got fish and chips from a local chippy joint. Tomorrow we tour the University of York and then we are off to London.