York, More Than a Pattie or a Dog

York

Why York?  Well, we wanted to see another city in England.  Geographically it is located halfway between London and Edinburgh, so it was a perfectly placed.  We spent only 1½ days there, and could have easily stayed another.  It was a delightful place with so much to see and do.  I would definitely return!

Micklegate Bar, the entrance to York.

     
     York's Minster, or cathedral, is the largest Gothic church in Britain. Henry VIII, in his self-serving religious fervor, destroyed nearly everything that was Catholic — except the great York Minster, which was not attached to a monastery. 

     The minster is a brilliant example of how the High Middle Ages were far from dark. The east window, the largest medieval glass window in existence, is just one of the art treasures in this church.  Beautiful!

      A thousand years ago, York was a thriving Viking settlement called Jorvik. While only traces are left of most Viking settlements, Jorvik is an archaeologist's bonanza, the best-preserved Viking city ever excavated.

Yes, Will is wearing an arctic fox and LOVING it!

     The Jorvik Viking Centre takes you back in time more than 1,000 years.  More a ride than a museum, it shows the abundant harvest of this dig. A brief movie showing two people going back in time until it's A.D. 975 is viewed, and then we climbed into a car and slowly rode through the reconstructed village of Jorvik. 

My very own viking.  Watch out Ryan!

      Everything — sights, sounds, even SMELLS — has been carefully recreated. We experienced a Viking village!  Then the time-traveling car rolled into the excavation site, and past the actual remains of the reconstructed village.  It was full of all types of artifacts, charred wood, broken pottery, jewelry, and weapons.  A fun experience, somewhat akin to an educational Disney ride.

Ellie:        “York was charming. I wish we could have stayed longer, as there was much more we could have explored, including a festival that seemed to be going on at that time.

The Viking exhibits were cool. It was fun to look into the life of a different culture, although the whole building smelled really awful. The Viking guy let me blow his horn. Guess if I’m running into battle my French horn skills will come in handy.

       Church was really fun. The people there were amazed by our American accent. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to a lesson in a British accent. It made it so much more interesting.” 

John:        “York was a way fun town! We got to go to a Viking center and learn all about the Viking way of life. It was very interesting, especially the interactive ride that showed how a Viking town looked, sounded, and even SMELLED! It was very fun. Also, we went to church in York, which was definitely an experience. They wanted to hear “an American prayer”. Strange. Plus they couldn’t do American accents. York was very fun and pretty.”

Leah:        “York was really pretty and it was also really small. I liked walking on the wall. It was really cool!  The Viking exhibits were fun to see. The first exhibit had a really creepy ride with talking and blinking robots. It also smelled really bad. I got super cute Viking ship earrings at the gift shop.

       At the second exhibit, we got to dig up old pieces of pottery, animal bones, human bones, and parts of Victorian houses.  At the final exhibit, we got to try on clothes from different time periods.  Overall, York was so much and I’m glad we went.”

Help!  Our mom needed a break and locked us up!

Will:        “The Viking exhibit was quite cool.  I saw real artifacts and exact replicas of Viking weapons.  The skeletons were kind of creepy, and I saw how they lived many years ago.  I loved holding a real axe and wearing a real arctic fox fur around my neck.  It was very soft.  I got to dig up some things that the Vikings actually used.

       We got to walk on one of the walls they used for defense long ago.  We attended church, and some of the kids asked us if we had an American accent.  We thought that was funny!”