Today started out to be a slow day. It has been cloudy all day, and it rained in the better part of the afternoon. I had breakfast at the b&b and then slowly made my way to Exhibition Square to do the free walking tour of York. It's the same concept of the walking tour in Bath. It started at 10:15 and it didn't end until 13:00. It was a big group of over 40 people and two guides. We were divided into two groups, and I was the only Canadian in the group.
The guide first told us the history of the Wall and then took us to the museum gardens to see the remains of the hospital and then the remains of St Mary's abbey. We also saw the different level if walls bring built as the water rose during the centuries. After that, we walked through King's Manor which is the the depth of medical studies and archeology are held. Next, we walked up the wall of Bootham Bar. What's interesting is that most roads end with 'gate' (I forgot why...it's totally slipped my mind), and all the gates into the city are called bars (short for barriers). In Bootham Bar, it had a portcullis pulled up inside. Its the original except they have to replace the middle. Apparently, during the second World War, Canadian bomber pilots would cut a piece of the portcullis away and keep it with them as good luck so then the city ended up replacing the wood beams on the parts that had been cut away.
After that, we walked along the wall to the next bar, Monk's bar. And learned some little history there. Then we slowly made our says to the Shambles, which was really busy and then to Minster Abbey. After he lead us to York's smallest street where the tour was over. Overall, we saw and learned at lot. I won't bored you with the history...yet. (I'm probably will edit this to put more stuff later).
After, I slowly made my way back to Exhibition Square and had lunch at the cafe at the York Art Gallery. Later, I decided to do the hop off and on bus tours. By this time, it started to rain. I wanted to do the Terrible Tales tours where they run commentaries about the ghosts and gruesome tales of York, but the bus was in the garage being repairs. So, I did a historical heritage tour with live commentaries. It was a good tour. I didn't hop off this bus until I got back to my original destination. After, I went for a quick visit to the York Art Gallery as it was free. It's not a really big gallery so it took me about 15 minutes to look around. Then, I decided to hop back on the tour bus and do the loop again but this time with a pre recorded commentary. I wanted to see if I (and my sister would appreciate this) the cats that were put up throughout the city. Sadly I only saw two. There are suppose to be lots around the city like 23 of them.
After the second tour, I was beginning to get cold so I grab some dinner, a nice pork sandwich, and headed back to the B&B to warm up and look up train schedules for tomorrow. I hope it's not too busy on the train being it's the middle of the holidays. I wanted to go to have a look in the Minster, but it was too crowded as everyone retreated to the inside because of the rain, but all well.
Tomorrow's agenda: Going to Keswick (the Lake District North).
"I wanted to see if I (and my sister would appreciate this) the cats that were put up throughout the city."
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean here? What cats?
Oh, have. I wanted to see if I could find more cats around the city. There's cat statues all around the city. They are usually on walls or roof tops.
ReplyDelete