Day 168-driving to York

   June 20-Today was mostly a travel day.  Shan happened to be awake around 5am and hung out the last load of clothes from the washing machine.  Unfortunately, they still weren’t all dry by the time we left the apartment five hours later.

This plaque was a few houses from our flat.

The entrance to our basement flat.

           We carried our bags across the Thames to the Europcar rental location and picked up out car. Right-hand drive; OK, take a deep breath: everything will be fine.  Each time he drove through an intersection, Shan had to repeat to himself, “drive on the left side of the road,” to convince himself everything was in order as we drove through the streets of London.  It was rather tense as first, but after a few hours of driving, the left-side driving and the roundabouts became less daunting, although it still seemed unnatural. 

   We arrived in York and spent a while figuring out the streets, finding our destination, and then trying to find a parking place.  We had hoped to get to the Jórvík Viking Center but it did not work out.  This was not particularly problematic, since we intended to see it the next day anyhow.  We wandered the streets of York in the late afternoon and evening, exploring the narrow streets and old buildings in it.  We finally had supper at a pub where we all had traditional British meals, such as bangers and mash, Shepherds pie, and beef rib pie.

The line of small statues tells the story of the Book of Genesis very concisely.



This Roman column was found under
the cathedral during a renovation.



York Cathedral.

      While walking back to the car, we came across some ladies doing some traditional English dances and they invited us and other spectators to take part.  We did so and had a great time.  Afterwards they stood around talking to us for a short while and told us the location we were standing in was the site of the Viking fortress.

Getting back to our English roots.  Oh, yeah, we've got rhythm!

   We talked a short bit longer and then we headed on to our car and drove north of town where we had a “cottage” rented.  “Cottage” was the term used to describe it, but the fact that buildings are built cheek to jowl here does not make the structure seem much like a “cottage.”  Nonetheless, it had two stories and three bedrooms, so it felt like a mansion after the one-bedroom efficiency apartments in Brussels and London!  The kids went to bed.  Before we hit the sack, we adults shared a couple British beers they had found at a beer store in York.