Day 9 - York

Back to the summary of my family's trip to the UK...

On day 9 we left Edinburgh, driving south toward England. We crossed over the border late morning, and began looking for signs to Hadrian's Wall, one attraction that Dad really wanted to see. Apparently Hadrian's Wall is an old Roman wall (built in the 2nd century AD) that was used defensively to separate the Romans from the Barbarians. The wall spans most of the way across England, so we certainly didn't drive all of it. Unfortunately, on the part of the drive that we went on, we couldn't tell whether we were seeing Hadrian's Wall or just stone walls separating various farms and fields. It was rather disappointing.

The drive south to York took a great deal longer than we anticipated, but we arrived in York in mid-afternoon, and promptly drove to the York Cathedral, or Minster. Wow! It was spectacular! The building is huge, and looks a lot like Westminster Abbey on the outside, with its twin spires. Inside, it is bright and airy for the most part, with phenomenal stained glass windows, an enormous organ, and more to see than we possibly could have noticed in one afternoon. There was an orchestra and soloists rehearsing for an evening performance of the Messiah while we were there (it was Palm Sunday), so it was nice to hear that glorious music as we walked through such a beautiful house of God.

After we left the Minster, Mom, Dad and I were ready to keep exploring. Ben and Papa had apparently not had enough of the car for one day, so they sat in the car while we walked around parts of the city, including up on top of the wall which surrounds it. York is really a quaint little city, with all sorts of nooks and crannies that we didn't have the opportunity to explore.

Finally we were ready to get something for dinner, since we hadn't eaten since breakfast. We decided to brave The Hole in the Wall, a pub that was recommended in one of the tourist books and which looked really neat. We waited about an hour for our food (they warned us ahead of time), but it was worth it. In my opinion, it was the best food we ate on the whole trip. I had a delicious chicken dish with barbeque chicken topped with bacon and pineapple, and Mom and Dad both tried Yorkshire pudding (roast meat in a pancake batter bowl - see below). I could tell Mom wasn't too sure about hers when it was first delivered, but I think in the end we all really enjoyed that meal.