Detour in York

So this is a little detour from my entries chronicling my winter trip on the continent (which I promise I will get to Mom). Over the weekend the Dickinson crew traveled via train to York, otherwise referred to as Jorvik by the Vikings (Thor!). And like all good travelers - we took a free tour! Here's what we found along the way...

Ruins from a Roman/Medieval tower. Below is a picture of it from the outside.

You can see a little bit of the park it looks over. England does a really nice job of maintaining its parks and gardens.On the other side of the green are the ruins of a Medieval abbey - one of my personal favorites.

 The guy wearing a hat like Grandpa's was our blue badge tour guide.

Next on our tour we walked along the Roman/Medieval wall

 This is the entrance to the wall.

The tower comes complete with a portcullis, however it is no longer functional (much to my disappointment) and cars travel through the tunnel. The wall surrounds the entire center of the city, breaking at only two points. We only walked along two sides of it.

We also went to York Minster - the York Cathedral. Included in the admission ticket is the climb up to the top. Several people in our group are afraid of heights so props to them for being brave enough to do this. Halfway up you walk out on the gallery. The view from there is spectacular.

 Here are a few of my fellow Dickinsonians at the top. The entire space was fenced in except for these small holes large enough to stick your head through.

 I have come to believe that every house in England looks the same. Brick or white. No exceptions.