"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose." ~ Dr. Seuss

Today dawned sunny with a threat of rain by noon, but I decided to take a chance and wear the shorts and light sweater. Andrew was wiser and dressed according to forecast. We joined a voluntary tour guide for a 2 hour walking tour of York and I think this might be the best way to learn the history and highlights of the city you are in. She was a fount of knowledge and kept the pace brisk. We also lucked into a smaller group so it was easy to hear her speak and share the fascinating history of York. It was 3.5 hours later and spitting rain when she finished but she was so interesting to listen to that we didn't mind at all.

This is our little home in York - close to the city core, we were able to walk everywhere.

 Starting our day with something besides the full English breakfast. Paid dearly for a bowl of porridge with a few pecans and blueberries on top, but oh my, it was so yummy!

Depicting Constantine the Great 274-337, it was near this place that he was proclaimed Roman Emperor in 306. His recognition of the civil liberties of the Christian subjects, and his own conversion to the faith, established the religious foundations of Western Christendom. York was founded by the Romans in AD 71.

 It would take many months for me, being directionally challenged, to get used to the streets of York. I don't think there are any that go in a straight line.

Monk Bar is the largest and most ornate of the bars, dating from the early 14th century. It was a self-contained fortress, with each floor capable of being defended. The "crosses" are for shooting arrows. On the front of the bar is an arch supporting a gallery, including 'murder-holes' through which missiles and boiling water could be rained down on attackers. Several of these old city gates remain but some were removed more than a century ago to improve traffic flow.

 A very narrow doorway and staircase leading up to the top of the city gate. Note the different colour of oak on the bottom corner of the door. This was replaced recently, but will eventually age. The city is very precise when repairing or replacing any of the historical parts.

Sign advertising 'bile beans', a laxative and tonic first marketed in the 1890's. Our guide told us they continue to repaint this sign when necessary.

Photo of our wonderful guide explaining the levels where archeological evidence of different eras was found; the lower one being the Roman Bank 1st-4th century, next the Dark Ages Bank 5th-10th century, the Norman Bank 11th-12th century and at the top the Medieaval Bank 13th century. It's fantastic how York has managed to maintain it's history. She was especially knowledgable of the influences of  the invaders on the English language.

With York Minster in the background, you can see a beautiful walled garden where trading took place. These gardens were built to provide a warm environment where exotic plants would thrive, thus impressing those merchants you wanted to do business with.

If you read yesterday's post about 'The Shambles', we got more information about these buildings. These ledges in front of the shop would be for the purchasing of various meat. On one counter there was actually a lip built so the blood from the freshly slaughtered animals would not drip down on the customer's feet.

I don't think we would ever have found this hidden church if not for the tour. It's kind of like a maze getting around York. Holy Trinity Church dates chiefly from the 15th century. The box pews and the uneven floors and arcades are particularly charming. It was a quiet, secluded spot to get away from the busy shopping crowd outside.

A large altar stone at Holy Trinity Church, note the cross etched in the corner. There was a cross on each corner and one in the centre of the stone. In the 1500s, during the Reformation, this church was purged of virtually all its Catholic furnishings including these stones. A lot of them were recycled and used for steps and you can see the wear on some of them.

The east side of York Minster - this stained glass window, the rectangular part, is the size of a tennis court. Imagine trying to replace any damaged glass! During WW 2 it was removed and buried to prevent damage from bombs.

York Minster is also known as St. Peter's. In the previous picture, at the very top, is this depiction of St. Peter holding the keys to heaven's gate. 

Work continues daily on the Minster as stone masons carve, from magnesium limestone, some of the stones that are crumbling. Very expensive.

View from our window tonight. A fond farewell to York in the morning.

"Then sings my soul, my Saviour God to Thee. How great Thou art, how great Thou art."

Apologies for the delay. We were so very tired last night and didn't arrive back to our sleeping quarters until 10 pm.
York Minster ~ a magnificent church where we worshipped with 500+ like minded folks last night. This experience will be one I remember for a very long time. The beauty of voices raised in praise to our God set in a ~800 year old church. It was incredible to be present with fellow Christians so many miles away from home and yet feel so welcome.
'Thy Kingdom Come' was a 10 day prayer initiative launched by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. Words from Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu - "My sincere hope is that our 'Thy Kingdom Come' prayers will inspire us further to seek God's kingdom of justice, mercy and peace, in our communities here and throughout God's world. I pray that many in this Diocese may be given fresh boldness to share Christ with friends and neighbours."

York Minster, built over 250 years, between 1220 and 1472. This is a cathedral as well as a minster. A minster is a church that was established during Anglo-Saxon times as a missionary teaching church, or a church attached to a monastery.

A different angle of York Minster.

A banner they had hung for this event. It had to be very large to hug these pillars.

Gathering of 'Thy Kingdom Come' - we began with 'How Great Thou Art'. If you can imagine the chorus being sung by a 500+ congregation and the sound reverberating off these ancient stone pillars. Certainly one of the highlights of this trip thus far. 

Just before the service started - the ceiling was very far away!!

York City Walls - since Roman times, York has been defended by walls of one form or another. To this day, substantial portions of the walls remain and York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England. The walls are generally 13 feet high and 6 feet wide.

Another shot of the walls - we are hoping to walk the full length of them today.

A shop completely dedicated to selling hats. Perusing which fascinator I should purchase to wear in Kentville. Just kidding!

Ancient walls still standing in a lovely green space in this city.

How would you like to write this street name on all forms? It's the shortest street in York (I believe with the longest name?). In 1505 it was known as Whitnourwhatnourgate, meaning "what a street!" but was changed later to this. 

This one is for all the Harry Potter fans out there. Parts of the filming of this movie were located here in York.

They do a ghost walk every evening through York - this fellow was promoting it and I caught Andrew in the photo as well - right outside 'The Shop That Must Not Be Named'.

This is where you park your broom! The shop had a wonderful assortment of wands.

There is a wonky part of this city called 'The Shambles'. It is a very old street with overhanging timber buildings, some dating back as far as the 14th century. This is the side entry to the street. The 

Harry Potter film designers studied this street to create Diagon Alley.

A long view of 'The Shambles'. It was once known as The Great Flesh Shambles, probably from the Anglo-Saxon Fleshammels, the word for the shelves that butchers used to display their meat. Shambles is an obsolete term for an open-air slaughterhouse and meat market.

Another of the wonky buildings.

At the end of the street is this shop. I'm not sure why it hasn't caved completely in on itself.

"Laughter is sunshine, it chases winter from the human face." ~ Victor Hugo from Les Miserables

It's been an odd sort of day. Started out raining so Andrew spent some time sorting out train tickets for the rest of our trip. We then ventured back to the market square and took a self guided tour of the town hall. This building has been central to life in Durham for more than 650 years.  Then we heard some interesting music coming from St. Nicholas Church and popped in to find Morris dancers doing their thing which was quite fun. We then did a walk about and were starting to get hungry, so uncharacteristically we stopped at a Lebanese restaurant (tasty). We were getting pretty tired so tucked back to our hotel for a break. The many pubs here were overflowing with men, often wearing Hawaiian shirts. Seems excessive drinking is problematic here.
Andrew had read online about a concert being held at the Durham Cathedral this evening, so we decided to check it out to see if there were any tickets left. They actually still had seats in the back nave, so we bought them and what a concert! From Harry Potter and Jurassic Park theme songs to Agnus Dei and Beethoven Symphony No. 7 to a Sound of Music medley with operatic baritone Sir Thomas Allen finishing off the evening with a selection from Les Mis. These pieces were all performed by the Durham University music society and what a talented group of young people. Durham University has the top rated music department in the UK. I wish our musical daughters could have been with us to hear it.

This has been our home - not high on our recommendation list. It's called the Bridge Hotel for a reason. See those arches? That's where the trains run through. It's on a very busy road and over the top of a pub - need I say more? On the upside the staff are very friendly.

Andrew at the Mayor's desk in town hall. William of Orange hangs to his left.

This little guy was only 12 when he was arrested for housebreaking. He was in prison for 2 months. Punishment was pretty harsh in 1872.

A great room in the town hall.

 A front view of Durham Cathedral. So very beautiful.

 Me trying to get into the castle without authorization.

 It is hard to capture the height of the cathedral. Pictures just don't do it justice.

This was our program for this evening - quite the variety of music and a very well done production.

 They also had interesting lighting for the show.

Lovely shot of the River Wear with the cathedral and castle on the hill.

"It has ever been my delight to learn or to teach or to write." ~ Venerable Bede

Well, here we are in Durham, England. For some reason we are staying in a hotel over a pub on a Friday night!!! Not very good planning. Oh well, here's hoping the crowd isn't rowdy tonight and things settle out early and sleep will happen. We arrived via train around 11 am and we didn't realize there were reserved seats on the train, so had to move twice!! So, we learned something and have reserved seats for our trip to York on Sunday!
We dropped our bags at the hotel and made our way to Durham Cathedral for the afternoon. This is the final resting place of St. Cuthbert, so we feel like we have completed our pilgrimage.
Legend has it that as the monks were travelling with St. Cuthbert's body, the wagon became stuck and would not move. Apparently, they called a 3 day fast and prayers for the saint during which time St. Cuthbert told one of the monks his coffin must be taken to "DunHolm". After the revelation, the wagon was able to be be moved but none of the monks had heard of this place or knew where to find it. But, by chance, they met a milkmaid on Mount Joy who was wandering, searching for her lost Dun cow which she had last seen at DunHolm. Taking this as a sign, the monks followed the milkmaid who guided them to a "wooded hill-island formed by a tight gorge-like meander of the River Wear". When they arrived they built first a wooden and then a stone structure of Durham Cathedral and then the settlement of Durham grew.

 So this happened on our train ride. Assuming a stag party on their way to a golf course starting their weekend drinking at 10 am on a Friday. 

 A sign on the way into Durham Cathedral asking for donations as it costs 150,000 pounds per week (in Canadian dollars about 13,000,000 a year) to keep it in good repair. Yikes!!

 Site of our picnic lunch today. Andrew getting his bearings for Durham.

 The height of this cathedral was truly impressive. This was once the main entry point - the doors were massive but looked small compared to the inside of the sanctuary.

 The very front of the church - I am always fascinated by the stained glass in a church and there was so much of it here and so very beautiful.

 View from the back of the cathedral.

 Durham Cathedral's Rose Window is known as one of the most stunning stained glass windows in England.

 Here lies St. Cuthbert. At the other end of the cathedral lies the tomb of the Venerable Bede (AD 672-735) a monk and scholar who chronicled the early history of England.

 The inner courtyard.

 David, our tour guide. I'm pretty sure he's a retired history teacher. 

 Breathtaking. Construction began in AD 1093. The pointed arches in the ceiling were a first for Britain and allowed for the distribution of the weight  into the solid columns.

 They have memorialized the story of the milkmaids and her lost Dun Cow in a statue outside on the cathedral wall.

Hoping to explore more of this city tomorrow and do the river walk. Keeping fingers crossed that the rain lets up that is falling tonight.

Andrew looks pretty serious here. We attended Evensong at the cathedral tonight. It was wonderful - feeling like my soul just calmed listening to the choir's voices in this vast space with incredible acoustics. There is a choir school here and the students participated in the choir.