York 2023

We visited the city of York, formerly known as Jorvik when the Vikings were in charge, previously known as Eboracum to the Romans. We'd been to the city many times when we lived in England so we took the kids back to see some of the highlights.

We used a new park and ride to get into downtown. The River Ouse runs right through the middle and is near the bus drop off point.

The River Ouse

Walking down the street, we saw two churches: York Oratory and York Minster. The Minster is the more famous one, having been built in the middle ages and still in use and under seemingly perpetual repair. The Minster was originally Roman Catholic but was switched over to Church of England. The Oratory is Roman Catholic.

York Oratory and Minster

The minster is an amazing example of medieval architecture. The West Window, over the entrance, features dozens of saints. I took a picture of a side window that was also nice.

One of the many stained glass windows

Statues of saints above the west door/below the west window

A playful addition is a row of headless figures using semaphore to spell out "Christ is here."

Semaphore saints?

Epic nave

Another famous bit of the Minster is the rood screen that separates the main body of the church from the quire (where the clergy worships). Dozens of statues of saints and kings are on display.

Rood fellows

We discovered a side altar to Saint Nicholas, so our youngest posed there.

St. Nicholas altar

The east window was being restored last time I was here. It is glorious, with many scenes from the Bible depicted.

No way to do the east window justice, just go see it

In the crypt, we saw the Doomstone, a depiction of the entrance to Hell, along with sinners being dragged down. It's a little hard to see the details, even in real life. Maybe that's a good thing?

Doomstone

Just outside of the Minster is a Roman column that was reconstructed in the 1970s when its parts were discovered below the crypt in the 1960s.

Roman column

A picture with the column for a geocache

A statue of Constantine the Great, the Roman emperor, is also on the street. Constantine was declared emperor by this troops here in York, so naturally they want to remember.

Also a geocache picture

We went to lunch at the oldest continuously-running pub in York, Ye Olde Starre Inne. I had fish and chips with a nice ale.

Sign over the street

Classic pub grub

More of the pub

We took the kids to Jorvik Viking Centre, which features a long ride through a recreation of York in its days as a Viking settlement. One of the characters on the ride is an old woman trying to cross the street. The character is based on a skeleton found in the area! She is on display in the museum part of the center.

Old lady skeleton

Visitors can have a Viking coin struck for the small cost of two pounds. My youngest wanted one as a souvenir, so we watched the guy make change.

One coin at a time seems really slow

Our final treat was to walk along the city walls. York was a walled town in medieval times, though the walls fell into disrepair over the centuries. The Victorians had a craze for all things medieval, so the locals decided to restore the walls to their former glory. It also gave them a nice way to show off, parading around town to be seen.

Walking south from the train station

No railing to hold you in!

Looking back at the Minster and York

We have many fond old memories of York and now some new ones.

Random Bits of Quebec City 2023

Quebec City has a lot of charm. The old town is laid out like an ancient European city with twisty streets and old buildings. The city has developed, so there are new buildings and lights. Old shops and homes are blended with new architecture, giving surprises around every corner.

One corner in the city

Le Chateau Frontenac is the most famous building there, possible the most famous in all of Canada. We went for a quick visit. The amazing view of the St. Lawrence River was not so amazing since it started snowing with a strong wind. We approached from the side.

Le Chateau Frontenac

While named after New France's seventeenth-century governor Louis de Baud, Count of Frontenac, the building was constructed in 1893 as a luxury hotel on the Canadian Pacific Railroad. 

The courtyard of the castle

The inside is as fabulously appointed as the outside, with beautiful staircases and many fine restaurants and shops (and also a Starbucks).

Ready for spring

Downstairs are several exhibits about the history of the area, including items from previous buildings discovered at the site.

Tea time info

An old silver service set

The square nearby has one of the monuments to one of the many Quebecois.

Not sure who this is

The snow started to pick up during our visit.

Getting a little worse

An important warning

The city is the only city in North America north of Mexico that still has its walls. In the old days, a city could have a wall and keep out the undesirables, human or otherwise. The snow and ice made it too treacherous to walk on the wall.

Old-style city gate, part of the wall

The snow getting worse

We had lunch at Cochon Dingue, a restaurant specializing in French and Quebec dishes. I ordered the breakfast poutine. Poutine is a famous dish, usually french fries covered in cheese and gravy. This version had hash browns instead of french fries, cheese curds, gravy, sausages, eggs, and some other delightful bits. It was delicious but very filling.

Breakfast poutine

Later, after wandering around in the snow, we stopped at Baguette & Chocolat for some hot chocolate to keep us going. I could not resist the Chocolate Brownie Cake with White Chocolate. It was very delicious and even more filling. I shared with the rest of the family.

Best dessert ever?

Warwick Castle Wall Walk, England

A fun and slightly scary thing to do at Warwick Castle is to go on their wall walk. Starting at one tower, visitors can climb up to the top and walk from tower to tower on the curtain walls of the castle. J and I did this on our visit.

We climbed the first tower and were able to look down on the moat and see the next tower, Guy's Tower.

View from tower of the exterior walls

Guy's Tower is named after Guy de Beauchamp, a medieval earl who fought alongside Edward I in Scotland.

Entering Guy's Tower

Tight stairs, scarier for me than J

The narrow winding staircases were made in the late 1300s. People must have been shorter then! J had no trouble on the stairs but my big feet made me want to walk on the widest part of each step. The view from the top is worth the effort!

J looks into the castle's interior

The castle courtyard

View of Warwick from the castle

A happily unmanned ballista

J's unflappableness became more flappable after he had a view of the next leg of our journey.

J nervously looks out because...

...the main gate is our next stop!

We had to go down another staircase to cross the curtain wall to the barbican and gate house. As we crossed we smelt the yummy food cooking in the courtyard.

Smoky tents with sweet smelling meats

Approaching the main gate

The entrance to the castle was completed in the 1370s. Since it was the only point in the wall where a hole was intentionally left, defenses for the area are numerous. In addition to the two portcullises (the iron gates that drop down to block the castle's entrance), many murder holes were made in the ceiling of the entrance. These holes allowed defenders to drop boiling oil or water and many other unpleasant projectiles (like the contents of their chamber pots) on attackers. Just beyond, a small passage known as the "killing zone" let defenders from above shoot arrows and bolts (and anything else they had to drop) on the narrow file of attackers entering the castle.

We continued to the next tower, which had nice views of the Warwickshire countryside and the castle's mill, where grains were ground into flour.
 

Rural Warwickshire

The castle's mill

Next up, the birds of prey exhibit!

Random Bits of York Walls

The medieval walls of York are a favorite of mine. I walked them every chance I had, especially the north route from Bootham Bar to Monk Bar. On one trip, I traveled past Monk Bar and saw some of the more dramatic bits of the wall, including the toilet they used to use!
 

Walls beyond Monk Bar

Toilet not available for visitors

The walls angle back and forth in part to provide protection for the towers and also to force invaders into a crossfire position (as if attacking a wall wasn't bad enough).

Tower with walls coming out of it at a most inconvenient angle for attackers

View from the other side

Defenses in the tower

The walls give interesting views into town. Back in the Victorian times (when the walls were rebuilt) people walked the walls as much to see as to be seen. For me, it's mostly to see the fascinating stuff of the city.

Odd architectural mixture inside the walls

Looking into a garden

Pretty flowers

Okay, I can't resist throwing in a picture with the Minster in it!

For a change of pace, on another day I walked the walls south of the River Ouse on my way to Micklegate Bar. A few items of note are on the way.

First is a massive hotel, the Cedar Court Grand Hotel and Spa. Sounds like a pretty nice place to stay.

Cedar Court Grand Hotel and Spa

Further down the street from the hotel is the Railway War Memorial.

Railway War Memorial

The walls after the memorial look over some uninteresting buildings and follow the general European pattern of being not entirely safe. A long stretch had no railing on the inside, with a grassy slope leading down to a drop into parking lots!

Wall walking without a safety rail

Just outside the walls is the Railway Station, which I blogged about here.

Railway station seen from the walls

After turning a corner on the wall I found some new rails to keep me safe on my way to Micklegate Bar.

A safer stretch

The path to the bar

The view back into town was nice. The yellow bikes over the shop door were decorations for the Tour de France.

Inside town seen from the bar

I walked outside town one block to see Bar Convent and had a nice view from there back to the medieval gate.

Just outside town looking at Micklegate Bar

Just inside the medieval gate is Holy Trinity, Micklegate. The church was part of a priory, so naturally a nearby pub is named The Priory. Around the corner from the church is a medieval building that they use as a parish hall, which wasn't open when I visited.

The Priory

Parish hall