30. York Minster

Where: York, England
When: September 8, 2013
With: Emma & Gemma

As stated in my last post, the main reason we were up in this northern part of England was to explore the city of York on one last girl's weekend. One of England's oldest cities, it is still surrounded by the walls the Romans built when they founded the city in 71 AD. Within these walls, there are a ton of things to see, the main attraction being England's largest Gothic cathedral, York Minster. But more on that later.

On Friday night, we arrived in York following a 2-hour train ride from London. We checked into our little hotel and headed out for a girl's night on the town because...well, how else would a girl's weekend start? Dancing, drinking, and general good times lasted us well into the night as we hopped along to different Yorkish bars. The area to go out is fairly small, but only because the city itself is pretty small, and we had a lovely night out.

The next day, we headed out early for our day in the county of Yorkshire to visit Castle Howard and the moors. When we got back into town, Gemma was such a rock star. She left us to head home, about 3 hours south by train, to participate in a midnight walk for cancer with her family, only to turn back around in the wee hours of the morning and come back to join us Sunday. Commitment for a girl's weekend!! Thank you, Gem!!

Sunday was our day to really explore the city. On our walk to the train station to pick up Gemma, Emma and I decided to explore the walls and get the lay of the land. Over 3 miles of these walls are preserved, providing a lovely way to wander around the city. 

The wall varies in height and width. At some points, there feels like there should be a guardrail to prevent you from toppling over...but no, we're in Europe, the land of "just don't be an idiot" when it comes to personal safety. 

Most of the wall provides scenery that is green and scenic, with the chimneys of homes peeking out over the tops of trees. As you make the final turn, you finally get to see the main center of the town, complete with a ferris wheel and the first view of the spires of York Minster. 

After picking up a sleepy, but ready-to-go Gemma from the train station, we had some brunch and headed out to explore the inside the walls. A river runs right through the middle of the town and several beautiful bridges provide pathways over it, creating many idyllic scenes. 

Just beyond the entrance to the city gate is a beautiful park where locals sit and picnic among ruins of the city. 

Once Sunday prayers were over later in the afternoon, we headed over to York Minster to see the main attraction of the city. Construction was begun on this building in 1220, taking almost 250 years to complete. 

Inside the cathedral, we got to see the largest nave in England, 500 feet end-to-end!

I guided us through the church using a free Spanish pamphlet (the English version cost GBP 5!) I think I gave a beautiful tour.  

The impressive part of this, my final cathedral visit in England, was the high arching ceilings in the center of the cathedral. It felt like they stretched on miles above our heads. Even the stained glass windows were incredible and impressive, just for their sheer height. In fact, York Minster is home to the largest single medieval stained glass window in the world, larger than a tennis court! Sadly, it was closed for renovation, so we had to just to settle for the "smaller" windows in the church. 

The other big draw of this cathedral is the ability to climb up 275 steps through its spires to explore the roof. At this point in the climb, we're still feeling good. 

After climbing the steps, you need to shimmy along this small walkway with the steep roof on one side and the drop to the street on the other. There was this one guy that went up at the same time as us who apparently had a deathly fear of heights, and was totally freaking out at this point. 

While waiting to get to the top viewing point, you get the opportunity to view the many buttresses that hold this structure up. 

Finally at the top, we got stunning views of York, the moors, and beyond (including a random chalk horse etched into the side of a hill?)

After coming down the stairs and catching our breath, it was time to explore one more neighborhood of York before heading back to London. The Shambles, as they're called, are a collection of half-timbered houses lining tight, cobblestoned streets. The buildings seem to be falling over each other, tumbling out into the street. And as you'd expect, their filled with fun handmade craft shops and delicious snacks and are really fun to explore.

But like most things British, even the most classic of things are underlined with a bit of humor.

York proved to be the perfect getaway for a last weekend with my girls. As we lugged our suitcases along the wall back to the train station, we got to take one last look at the city and the beautiful cathedral that marks its skyline.