England - Sep18 - York

The National Railway Museum is outside of the old walled city of York.  So we left the Railway Museum, drove to our hotel, parked the car and then spent the rest of the afternoon walking around York.  The first thing we came to was Clifford's Tower, the remnants of a 13th century castle.

In AD 71, York was the northernmost Roman city in the empire and was known as Eboracum.  In the fifth century,the Romans left, and York -- now called Eoforwic -- was the capital of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.  Later the Vikings came, and then it became a Danish trading center called Jorvik.  The Normans came and built the Clifford's Tower castle and the city walls standing today.  Medieval York became England's second city.  York became the railway hub of northern England during the industrial revolution.
   
We checked out "The Shambles", the famous York medieval street that was once "the street of the butchers".
   
There were lots of people walking about, enjoying York.
   
Looking up the street, the York Cathedral is visible in the distance.
   
There was a fair in the Shambles Market.  I picked up this nifty cap so I could travel incognito.
   
York Cathedral is one of the largest Gothic churches and seat of a bishop.  It was built between 1280 and 1360.
   
 
   
Amazing.  I never get over the workmanship on these big cathedrals.
   
York Cathedral has one of the widest Gothic naves in Europe.
   
Which makes for a very spacious and bright interior.  I know my favorite cathedral is the the last one I visited but I really did like this one for being so bright and colorful.
   
 
   
In the transsept looking up at the central tower.  How did they build something like this in the 13th century?
   
York_20 needs resizing
     
 
   
This fancy room is called the "Chapter House" and is attached on the north side of the Cathedral.  This was the formal meeting room of the day -- Edward I convened the early Parliment here in 1295. It's impressive now; how impressive it must have seemed back then!
   
The ceiling of the Chapter House.
   
Around the perimeter of the Chapter House were these unique carved faces.
   
He must have been a giant back in his day; now, tourists like me wonder who he was.
   
You know me, I love these models.  This one shows how the high ceilings were constructed using wood.
   

Underneath the Cathedral was the "Undercroft Museum".  They needed to do some serious renovation work on the base of the cathedral -- the central tower nearly collapsed in 1967 -- and went they dug under it, they found the ruins of a Roman fort and basilica [a large oblong hall or building with double colonnades and a semicircular apse, used in ancient Rome as a court of law or for public assemblies].

Here is a patch of Roman frescoe from the basilica's anteroom (waiting room).
   
In addition to the Roman history, how they secured the Cathedral's foundation was nearly as interesting.  That white rectangle below is the side of a huge concrete slab and it has steel rods running through it with bolts on the end -- those black circles with silver bolts.   This was some serious engineering.
   

I was surprised to learn that Constantine was actually proclaimed -- "sworn in" by modern standards -- Emperor of Rome right here in York in AD 306.  Constantine happened to be here when his father died so the troops declared him the Roman emperor at this site.   As you know, Constantine was the Roman emperor who legalized Christianity.

I knew Rome occupied Britain, but I always thought of it as some far-off outpost.  Six Roman emperors visited Britain; clearly it was an active part of their empire.
   
One of the city wall gates.
   
A good look at the city wall and its corner, called Robin Hood's Tower.  The moat was originally the Roman ditch that surrounded the fortified garrison town.
   
Lynnette hanging out at the city wall gate.
   
One last look at the Cathedral against the pretty blue sky.
   
We stopped in at this pub for a couple of local brews.
   
The brew tasted pretty good after being on our feet all day.
   

Looking good in my new English cap!

We had a great dinner in a little Italian restaurant recommended by Rick Steves called Il Paradiso del Cibo Ristorante Pizzeria.  It was small, and we were lucky to get in without reservations.  They must have turned away 15 couples that didn't have reservations.

York was a great town.  We could easily have spent another day here.  Here are some of the things we missed:  Yorkshire Museum, Jorvik Viking Center, York Castle Museum, Ourse Rierside Walk.  Maybe someday we'll be back.
   
 
   
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