Rain, Rides and Religion

Day Thirty-one – York

I've just done a quick count – over 2,800 photos so far. Certain individuals are going to regret insisting on a photo night I suspect, not pointing any fingers Nicole...

Today was amongst the worst so far weather-wise. Someone must have broken a mirror in London becasue the weather has been absolutely appalling ever since. All that aside, it was still one of the best days of the trip.

We started out by visiting the Jorvik Viking Centre, right in the centre of York at Coppergate. The centre is a kind museum / theme park around the Viking settlement of York (called Jorvik by the Vikings). The major exhibit is a kind of "Viking Ghost Train" which runs through a reconstructed Viking age representation of York, complete with sights, sounds and smells. The kids thoroughly enjoyed it and from an objective point of view it was kind of cool but it felt a bit cheesy to me, even if it was very well done for something of it's kind.

Next up was possibly the absolute hightlight of the trip – York Minster. Even if you are a complete atheist, bored by history and uninterested in art it would be hard not to be impressed by the Minster. It is an amazing building. Simply breathtaking. There are no words to describe it really. The size, scale and complexity are something else. When you add to that the immense number and size of stained glass windows, you get a building that is hard to absorb. Every time you look up you see something spectaular, be it windows, vaulted ceilings or massive buttressed columns.

We spent the first hour or so wandering up and down the nave, transcepts and other central areas of the church. I personally spent a good 20 minutes on my own sitting the The Chapter House which in inself is quite an amazing space. The kids were doing a "treasure hunt" and Jenni was helping.

After that I convinced everyone to climb the tower with me. There really should be a warning about the effort required. 265 steps, nearly all of them narrow spirals is hard work and even I was blowing a bit by the time I reached the top. The view is well worth it though. Despite the ugly weather you can see for miles and we got a good look at lots of things we've only seen from ground level so far inlcuding Clifford's Tower, the town walls, Stonegate and more.

To finish off we climbed all the way back down and the went one step further into the Undercroft. You can almost FEEL the weight of hundreds and hundreds of tonnes of stone over your head. Much of the stabilisation work carried out in the last half of last century is on display, almost an exhibit in itself. There is also a good showing of the Roman and Norman structures that preceeded the Minster on the same site.

I could go on for hours about how good it is but I will say just this. If you go to Britain and you DON'T see York Minster then you should not bother coming at all.

We spent the afternoon at home out of the rain, napping in my case and playing games or doing a bit of craft in everyone else's. The weather looks equally grim tomorrow <sigh>.

Cheers,

Millsy