England Day 5: Sunday in Yorkshire

Another wonderful day and very special to us!  We had a delightful breakfast at the Golden Fleece and caught a taxi to the train station and got a train for York.  As we pulled into the station, I said I wonder how we'll  find her? (A family going to the Sunday morning fellowship meeting nearest Thirsk had volunteered to drive to York to pick us up as the train didn't  go any closer and there were no buses on Sunday mornings.)  The station wasn't  too busy and we spotted Ruth right away.  We thanked her and hopped in her car and off to their home in the village of Ricall, where we met the rest of the family, husband Stuart, daughter Marisa (I think she is 21) and son Keith (17), had a nice cuppa before driving to Cawood, the village where the meeting is, in the home of Joan Liddle.  There were two not there, so they were glad of visitors in their little meeting.   We then went back to Dalgleish's for lunch and a really nice chat.   Then they took us to York for a walking tour - so kind of them.  We hopped on a return train to Thirsk in late afternoon.

Breakfast

Joan, the Dalgleish's and Megan in Joan's garden

After lunch chat in their living room.

Marisa, Megan and Keith in York.

York Minster (cathedral)

A snack while waiting for our train... we really felt obliged to, just in the interest of scientific research mind you, not because we wanted to, have regular samplings of local desserts.  Here we made the discovery that Yorkshire milkshakes are not quite as sweet as American, and a little light on flavorings, but still quite delicious of course!

England Day 4: Yorkshire!

We got up bright and early, took the tube to the train station, got a train for Thirsk and got in about 10:15 after a two and a quarter hour ride.  A man offered to share his taxi into town and we were at the Golden Fleece ten minutes later.  Here's  where the plan I had hatched back home really got crazy.  We quickly dropped our bags, got a taxi back to the train station, caught a train with five minutes to spare, took a 16 minute train ride to Northallerton, got directions from a lady, hoofed it through town, down a lane that turned into a track, jogged the last two minutes (shocking I know) and just -- just caught the steam train excursion run into a corner of the Yorkshire Dales area.  We were on that train for 80 minutes or so and saw some beautiful country.  The reason we needed to catch that train was so we'd  have a couple hours  in Redmire, the town that's  currently at the end of the line for the steam train.  So glad we made it.  We walked into town and had a delicious lunch at the Bolton Arms.

 Some passing scenery.

 One of the stations on the way.

 House by the Bolton Arms.

 Ploughman's lunch.

 

It says 1874 on the building between the two upper windows.

After lunch we asked the way to the footpath to the Castle Bolton view.  For a long time we were pretty sure we were going the wrong way...

Behind properties, through stiles (quite narrow and they got narrower),

Past the trolls,

Narrower... (can't  have those sheep getting out!)

Over the bridge..

Some wonderful stone walls.

The Castle Bolton!

And back to the train station we went.  We left plenty of time because we were warned not to miss that last train!  So thrilled to be in Yorkshire!

The Tour de France came through here last year.  This 

year  it came not too far from Amsterdam, but a week or so before we'll  get there.

 The incredibly nice steam train folks walked us back to the regular rail station on the other side of Northallerton, we got a ticket back to Thirsk, took a taxi into town (I had already adjusted my previous delusional thinking about walking to and from the train station into town) and we arrived at the wonderful Golden Fleece hotel.  The oldest carriage house in England I read somewhere.   It was delightful!

We found a delicious Chinese restaurant on thesquare for dinner.  Just as we were settling down for some much needed rest the annual fireworks show started!  I had read about it, but had forgotten.   Fireworks are great, but I was glad it was a short show!

England Day 3

This was the day we tried to do everything - it didn't quite work, but we saw a fair bit.   I'll  back up a bit though because I forgot to mention in the last post that when we got back into London that evening, we were able to go on the London Eye!  It looks like a huge ferris wheel, but each car holds 20 people or so without being crowded at all, and the cars offer a wonderful view of London!  We also saw Big Ben by night as we walked a bit to get to a bus stop as the tube strike was  still on.

Our third day started with a trip to Tower of London.  It was so interesting - lots of history!  Then we went over the Tower Bridge, which had displays too.  I love that bridge - it's  really a nice bridge to look at.  After that we had a bit of difficulty trying to find Shakespeare'S Globe Theatre.  We kept asking people and consulting our map.  Twice we ended up in the middle of Burroughs Market, and it was amazingly crowded but really neat to see.  Tried to eat lunch there as the scents were mouthwatering, but oh how the lines were long!  We ate lunch at a nearby restaurant, and thus fortified, finally found The Globe.   That was a fun tour, and we got to watch a tech rehearsal for Richard the.... 3rd? 2nd?  which was opening the next night.  They were having a bit of trouble with the dying scene and it was fun to watch.  Not so different really than GHS rehearsals.   After the Globe, we found St Pauls Cathedral where Megan climbed all those 528 steps to the top to get that view!  I did it in 1977 and remembered the view perfectly well, so saw no need to climb them again!

After that we saw part of the city from a different vantage point - by taking a Thames River boat cruise.  Very fun!

 Close up of one of many carvings done by prisoners in the tower.  The guy in the picture is there because of a reflexion off the plexiglass.

Megan with a Beefeater.

See through portion on the bridge with view of below.

Burroughs Market.

The Globe.

Sam Wanamaker was the driving force behind  the rebuilding of the Theatre.  His daughter, if I have this right, was in the Harry Potter movies.  Sam passed away before the Globe was finished.

The Shard.  Looks like a piece of broken glass at the top.

A delicious finish!

England Day 2

Our first full day in England was also the first full day od the tube (subway) strike.  So that was the perfect day to do castles and palaces a bit outside of town.  All the train connections worked very well, but I had left my oyster (transport card wit money on it) at the hotel.  I'd  forgotten that I would need to show it at the train station even tho we bought train tickets.  The nice conductor waved me through and we were off!  We went to Windsor first, weekend home of the queen and a beautiful old castle!

Next we went to Hampton Court Palace, Henry the 8th'S  home (among others).  It's  famous for its maze.  I found the kitchens fascinating.   Very large scale!  We actually made it through to the center and back out!  Got lucky!

 Megan hanging out with the court beggars in the palace courtyard.

 Chocolate kitchen!  Imagine that, a whole kitchen just for chocolate!

 Serving dishes were rare.  The solution?  Put everything in a piecrust, eat the contents and throw away the "bowl"!

 Snack at the Tilting Yard Cafe!

 Ta da!  Center of the maze!