Heading North...First Stop, York

No rest for the weary! Mom had Ireland and Scotland on her list so we spent less than 24 hours turning around the laundry from Ireland before heading out again for York and Scotland. Mike joined us for the trip to York and also spent a day in Edinburgh with us before heading back to work - someone has to do it!

York was on my list of 'must-see' English cities and I was not disappointed. We were there on Sunday so we got up and went to the morning service in the York Minster. The choir sounded beautiful in the incredible cathedral and the service was very similar to ours at home. I must admit, it felt good to spend some time refocusing on Him.

From there we wandered the cobbled streets looking in the shops and various other churches before heading to the city wall to take a walk. Through an arched passageway covered with vines, we spied an old church, Holy Trinity Goodramgate, hidden among the surrounding buildings. It still contained the old box pews fitted into the sanctuary. The docent inside showed us old tombs and tombstones, explained the significance of the stained glass windows and pointed out that the patron of the church was included in the design of the central window. Nice find! Now on to the wall. You can climb the steps to walk along the top of the old medieval wall surrounding the city. From there you get views of both the newer areas outside the walls and the old town inside the city walls. We came down from the wall and walked through the museum garden with its picturesque ruins before setting off to find some lunch.

After lunch, we visited the Castle Museum housing displays of life in York from medieval times through the 1960s. It was pretty funny to see some of the toys and games we grew up playing in a museum - should I feel like a relic now? As is our new custom, we came out of the museum and looked around for our afternoon snack. I ended up with an ice cream cone and Mike actually passed altogether on the snack. I am going to have to consider that next time. Oh well, time to head to the train station to go to Edinburgh.