A&E Abroad: York. May 18

Day one in York was so cold. We braved the weather to explore the streets although there was on and off rain, which made exploring the shambles and medieval streets a little difficult. We found the shambles first, a medieval street that used to be the butchers street, with the second level of the buildings often jutting out over the street. They also had hooks from the outside below the second level to hang the meat and then shelves outside the first level window to sit the meat on. It was pretty cool to see streets like this maintained in their original form but with new shops inside selling things like jewellery and fudge.

The Shambles

Escaping the rain we went into the York Minster, an incredible gothic cathedral that was built initially on a roman fortress as a Norman style cathedral then as the current gothic style. It was huge and so impressive. It had the biggest expanse of stained glass window in the world, which was pretty amazing considering most of the stain glass windows found in churches were destroyed during the reformation in the 16th century by Thomas Cromwell and his regime. The window was also taken down during WWII to save them from being damaged, however it left the windows in poor condition, and they are currently being repaired, so we couldn't actually see them!

The Minster, we both agreed, was more impressive than Westminster Abbey, even though it is not as well regarded. We were lucky enough to catch a guided tour of the building with a man who had the quietest voice in existence. We both had to basically stand directly in front of him, pushing through all the other people to make sure we had a prime spot to hear him. He was very knowledgable though and had this iPad he kept whipping out for close up pictures and images to help his explanations. The Minster was also much more accessible than any others we'd been to and you could take photos anywhere. The preservation of it too was impeccable. They have been working to restore the giant stained glass window for 8 years and expect it to be completed next year. Also, there are stone masons who work in the Minster yard carving stone to replace the facade with. Their skill is amazing and very cool that this workmanship and technique is still continued even now.

V wet. V cold.

Much wind

York Minster

Sadly our Minster visit was cut short and we dashed off after the tour was finished, intending to return tomorrow as we still hadn't been to the undercroft, a kind of museum under the Minster.

We had to go find the meeting point for our free walking tour of York, which began just outside the walls. We've been really enjoying jumping on a walking tour in some of the cities we go to, it's pretty handy to get a feel for the city and where everything is and also the guides are always so knowledgable and interesting, often providing fun stories and facts along the way. Our guide and tour was no exception this time. The guide changed at the last minute to this cute old man who pointed out all the finer details about different sights and points of interest. We went around the walls, walking and seeing parts of the wall often missed by tourists. He explained the history of the Romans, then the Vikings (the name York came from the Viking name Jorvik) and then the progression to York today. Mainly the York walls are very cool. So cool. And amazing that they still remain pretty intact. Although our guide did point out how the Victorians attempted to restore them but did an awful job and kind of just redid them without maintaining the historical state (as he put it- it looked like they went down to the beach and got some pebbles and paved them in). He also led us through the city and again to the shambles and main areas within the walls.