YORK GAVE ME ALL THE FEELS
- It's Ashley
- Dec 9, 2020
- 2 min read
When we were in England, we didn't have many days to sightsee around the wedding, but we did take a day trip to York. When I was telling all the English folks at the wedding that I wanted to go there, I heard an unanimous "Oh It's Wonderful" so I was insistent on going.
We didn't really have a plan as to what we wanted to see other than finding a good bus stop from the park and ride to start our day. We stopped by Clifford's Tower, but wasn't really feeling it to actually go in. So we moved on.
My mom had mentioned some cool looking place called the York Shambles. It wasn't a far walk and holy cow it was easy to feel the deep history of the city just along that short walk over from Clifford's Tower to the Shambles.
Once we got to the Shambles, I felt like I was sent back in time. Cobblestones. Skinny streets. Shop after shop. They had a fair amount of Harry Potter shops that were so legit looking (for all you HP fans out there). Amelia also found herself window shopping.
We decided to walk over to York Minster, the cathedral in the city. The one thing I knew going into the tour was what my mom had told me about the church taking down all their stain glass windows during the war (there are A LOT) and burying them to keep them safe. What an undertaking!
Little did I know that this very spot was the home base of the Romans during the early part of the millennium. In July 306, not far from where we were standing, Emperor Constantius Chlorus died and the troops proclaimed his son, Constantine as his successor. I love that history stuff.
Constantine - the same guy that declared religious tolerance for Christians - had stood right there where there would eventually be a great Christian cathedral. Feels I tell you, feels!
While the museum in the cathedral pointed out that there was little evidence of Christianity in the Roman York (they were still being persecuted and lived secretive), there was a finding at York that proved the religion was in the area. A clay tile was discovered with the symbol of "chi-Rho" - the first two letters of Christ in Greek. Ahhh...feels!
The tour was definitely worth it and if we didn't have Amelia, we would have likely done more. Though Amelia was great and she even go into playing explorer with her Little Explorer backpack the museum provided to borrow through our tour. It contained binoculars so you could see the stain glass a little clearer and a magnifying glass. Such a great idea from the museum. I can't wait until she is older and will actually make it a game to discovery.
Our day trip ended with a great meal at Kennedy's Kitchen and Bar. Great service considering they don't really do service in Europe. I am not a great tourist (I hate lines and making decisions when it's with a group of people), but this day trip turned out perfect!
Looks like fun!