Day 11 - York

We had a nice, relaxed day in York. After a great breakfast, we walked into the city to tour the minster. The sun was out and the sky was bright blue; another great day in England. I love York Minster. It's the granddaddy of cathedrals to me. The pillars, ceiling, central tower, and choir screen are still amazing and the chapter house ceiling continues to give me goosebumps when I see it. I loved being able to experience this with a different set of travel companions this trip! A bonus is that the Undercroft and Treasury were open this time. Both are located under the minster where there are exhibits and artifacts. 50 years ago, it was discovered that the central tower was in grave danger of collapsing. The Normans were limited in how deep they could dig when they were first building their church. Bedrock in York is 70 feet down and the Normans could only get down about 30 feet. They had to make due and so they dug, filled the hole with trees and stone, then laid their foundation. After 900 years, the trees had rotted and the tower was collapsing upon itself. New concrete piers and stainless steel nuts and bolts were installed and both can be viewed in the Undercroft. Since their installation, the tower hasn't even moved a millimeter.

After our tour of the minster, we went to Pizza Express for lunch. If we had these in America, I would be a frequent customer, which would probably be detrimental to my waistline. Next up was a stop at Clifford's Towerwhich was part of the York Castle. I affords great views of York and includes tiny spiral staircases to climb and descend.

The rest of the day we wandered through and around the varied shops of the town and ended up getting a pint in a pub I the Shambles. The Shambles is an area where the butchers of York used to work. The buildings are very close to each other and lean out over the street. At 7:30, we took a ghost walking tour which was outstanding, a late dinner, then we hit the bed. A very fun, relaxing day in one of my favorite towns.