York. Not the New one, the old school one. The one with the peppermint
patties.
We drove back to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, and I was trying to make the GPS
go. The road in front of the train station is one way, and there are
limited ways to get there. The GPS lied to us a bit and we wound up
going over the Tyne Bridge. But we were able to turn around, get back
and make it to the Enterprise (pronounced "Alamo") rental
office. I took care of the car return and Stephanie went to get the
tickets. When I rented the car, they told me to just put as much gas
in it as it had when I rented it, which was less than ⅛, so he
said "as long as there's anything in it, that'll be fine."
So I had to get gas (or petrol or rather diesel, as I found out when
trying to fill it up...I was concerned I was about to put disel in a
car that took gasoline, despite the sticker suggesting I should use
only diesel, and then wreck it). But it's in pounds (sterling) per
liters (or litres), and I didn't know how far we'd be driving or what
the car's mileage was or how big the tank was. I was thinking that
I could assume at worst the car got 20 miles/gallon, then convert
miles per hour to kilometers per hour, then figure the distance we
might travel, converted to kilometers, and then figure out how many
liters that would be, divide by the current conversion rate of pounds
to cubic dollars per hecto-fortnight, to figure out how much gas
(fuck, diesel, I think) it needed. Then I decided 10 gallons is a
nice number. There's 4 quarts to a gallon. A liter is about a quart,
actually a bit more. So just put in 40 liters, put it on my credit
card and try not to think about how much it's costing.
Since we didn't go to Hadrian's Wall and didn't do that much driving,
it had significantly more gas (whatever, just call it fuel!) in it
than when I got it. They noticed that when they checked in the car.
Now here's the weird part (for someone from the US). In the US they
might have told me to say, essentially, "thanks for the
donation," but here they said that clearly I overpaid. Since I
wasn't going to be back anytime soon, coupons and discounts wouldn't
be of use. But since I had put the rental on a credit card and I had
it with me, they credited £20 back to my credit card. I was
pretty (pleasantly) surprised. While I still spent more money than
needed, it was still beyond what I was expecting.
I should mention that the train was scheduled to leave in about 6 minutes,
so I was getting a little edgy about finishing up all the paperwork
(and they were having trouble with their printer and such). Anyway,
with that complete, I thanked them and left. The train station was
30 feet away, and Stephanie told me that the train was going to be
10 minutes late, she had the tickets, and we didn't have to run. We
got on the train and headed to York.
In York, I left my suitcase at a place called Left Luggage so
I wouldn't have to cart it around all day. Then we explored the old
town, the wall around the town, the Shambles (narrow street area with
lots of shops), ruins of various things, and more. Pictures of York
activies are below.
At the end of the day, we retrieved my bag and met Stephanie's aunt
and uncle at the train station.
Part 9: Backyard
Blacksmith Workshop Part 10: Bagby Airfield Part 11: Byland Abbey Part 12: National Railway
Museum Part 13: Cambridge (Part
2) Part 14: Cambridge
Botanical Gardens Part 15: The Departure
000-DSC_1015: Newcastle train station.
001-DSC_1016:
002-DSC_1017: Not our train.
003-DSC_1018: More rustic English countryside by train, this time with sheep!
004-DSC_1019: The York train station. A rather grand old palce.
005-DSC_1020: We're in York!
005-york_station_Panorama: Panoramic shot of the pedestrian bridge across
the tracks at the York train station.
006-DSC_1025: Looking south from the pedestrian bridge at York Station.
007-DSC_1026: Looking north from the pedestrian bridge at York Station.
008-DSC_1027: The place where I checked my suitcase for the day.
Well worth the £7 (about $10) to avoid lugging my big suitcase
around for the day.
009-DSC_1028: The old city of York with the York Minster cathedral
in the distance.
009-york_church_Panorama: Hey, another church, the Catholic Church of St.
Wilfrid. It was built in 1864. It's kind of overshadowed by York Minster,
but it does what it can.
010-DSC_1031: On Stonegate Street in York, with York Minster in the distance.
011-DSC_1032: Statue of Minerva, where High Petergate becomes Low Petergate.
012-DSC_1033: The plaque on the Roman Column.
013-DSC_1034: The Roman Column, dating from the 4th century A.D. (or C.E.
if you prefer). It was found during an excavation in 1969, and given to
the city in 1971 to commemorate the 1900th anniversary of when
the Romans founded the city.
014-DSC_1035: Status of Constantine the Great.
014-york_minster_Panorama:
015-DSC_1039: The Shambles—a narrow street with a wide variety
of shops.
015-tudor_house_Panorama: A restaurant in a typical Tudor-style house.
Old enough that the beams supporting the second floor (which is the
first floor in England) is bowing under the load.
016a-DSC_1042: A view from the second floor of Phranakhon Thai Tapas
looking down Swinegate. We passed the restaurant and it looked interesting.
The food was good, and Thai tapas is a cool concept.
016b-tudor_house1_Panorama: Another Tudor-style house that's some sort
of gift shop.
016c-york_ruins1_Panorama: Ruins of St. Leonard's Hospital, from
around 1137-1539. At the time it was one of the largest medieval
hospitals in north England.
016d-york_ruins_Panorama: Ruins of
St. Leonard's Hospital.
017-DSC_1059: Tunnel by St. Leonard's Hosptial leading to the park.
018-DSC_1060: Birds of prey for kids to hold in the York Museum Gardens.
019-DSC_1061: The
Multangular Tower, remains from the Roman era. The bottom, smaller
stones are from the Roman era, the larger ones on the top half are part
of a reconstruction from the medieval era.
019-york_abbey_ruins_Panorama: The ruins of
St.
Mary's Abbey. It was built in 1088 by William the Conqueror and
decommissioned when Henry VIII banned all monasteries in the 1530s.
The building was converted into a palace for the King and eventually
fell into ruins. It was excavated in the 1820s.
020-DSC_1066: More ruins! I think it's still St. Leonard's Hospital
though it could be St. Mary's Abbey.
020-york_abbey_ruins1_Panorama: The ruins of St. Mary's Abbey.
The next picture has information on it.
021-DSC_1070: Information on St. Mary's Abbey.
021-york_abbey_ruins2_Panorama: The Hospitium was thought to be the guest
house for visitors (think "hospitality" more than
"hospital") to the abbey...or it might have been a barn.
The oldest parts date to around 1300.
022-river_ouse_Panorama: The bridge over the Rover Ouse.
York Minster is visible on the top left.
024-DSC_1075: The York wall, looking southwest, with the Grand Hotel
on the left.
025-DSC_1076: The York Wall.
026-DSC_1078: Looking northeast on the York wall towards York Minster
Cathedral.
027-DSC_1079: The York wall with York Minster Cathedral in the distance.
027-york_grand_hotel_Panorama: The Grand Hotel in York, seen from the wall.
028-DSC_1082: Daffodils growing on the hillside outside of the York wall.
029-DSC_1083: Stephanie hydrates and looks to the southeast on the York wall.
030-DSC_1085: The wall around York (inside is to the right) with
York Minster in the distance.
031-DSC_1087: Frank on the York wall, looks out to York Minster
and the old city.
032-DSC_1089: Micklegate bar on the west side of York.
033-DSC_1090: Inside the gatehouse is an office to buy tickets for guided
tours.
034-DSC_1092: Another information sign, this one on Micklegate Bar.
034-york_micklegate_ba1r_Panorama: Micklegate Bar from the street.
Mickle = Great, Gate = Street, Bar = Gatehouse.
035-DSC_1096: The York wall just beyond Micklegate Bar.
036-DSC_1097: Micklegate Bar in York.
036-york_micklegate_bar_Panorama: One more of Micklegate Bar in York.
037-DSC_1100: House rooftops seen from the wall near Micklegate in York.
038-DSC_1101: The southern part of the York wall.
039-DSC_1102: Row houses inside of the York wall.
040-DSC_1103: The southern part of the York wall.
041-DSC_1104: The southern part of the York wall.
042-DSC_1105: Houses inside the southern area of the York wall.
043-DSC_1106: A map of the old York city area and the wall.
044-DSC_1107: Clifford's Tower in York
045-DSC_1108: Stephanie oggles geese near the River Ouse.
045-york_castle_Panorama: The York Castle area, where the castle
once was and the museum is now.
046-DSC_1114: Clifford's Tower was keep of the castle. Its history
is longer than I can easily summarize but includes harboring 150 Jews
in 1190 who were seeking protection from mobs. They eventually committed
suicide and set fire to the castle (which was then rebuilt).
Bottom:
Part 9: Backyard
Blacksmith Workshop Part 10: Bagby Airfield Part 11: Byland Abbey Part 12: National Railway
Museum Part 13: Cambridge (Part
2) Part 14: Cambridge
Botanical Gardens Part 15: The Departure