This was our only full day in York. We woke a tad slowly, having read that it was raining out. I finally looked out the window and saw that everything looked quite dry. Go figure!

When we were ready we went back to the gate we entered yesterday. We knew that the scone shop we wanted to visit (a memory from our first time here) opened at 10:00, so we had a bit of time to wander first.

The scones were, as remembered, quite delicious! Finger licking good, in fact. I’m so glad we were able to return!

We did walk through (in?) the Shambles. As charming as I’m sure it used to be, it’s primarily about Harry Potter and ghosts now and I fear it’s become the Disneyland of York. I wonder if that will eventually change.

Then more walking. We noticed some interestingly dressed people. We stopped to see what was going on. Turned out some Morris dancers were about to begin. There were a number of groups and I did videos of most. I think for now I’ll just attempt to get one to post. Maybe I’ll add others when I have a decent connection.

We walked back to York Minster to see if we could figure out where we were to enter for evensong and to ask someone there how early to arrive (last time we were here we arrived to late and sat in a different space where we could not see the choir and really couldn’t hear well either). The guide said 5:15 for the 5:30 service would work, but I did think that might be a bit incorrect. We decided we’d get there no later than 5:00.

From there we intended to try and get to the Train Museum so I plugged that in to my map. Turned out it was further than expected, but we still started out.

We reached a park and saw that something was going on. Turned out to be a 21 gun salute (with very loud canons — many people had earplugs in and, thankfully, Dan had some I could use and he plugged his ears) to celebrate the king’s birthday. Not that he was born now, mind you, but a man explained that while he had a winter birthday the weather was better now so this is when it is celebrated. It was quite the spectacle. Military were there, as well as a woman who might have been mayor, but the man said she could easily have been in some other position. Dan was mentioning that the woman and man looking militarily important went from group to group of soldiers and whatnot and chatted, and the man suggested they do that and he was a bit sarcastic about them all thinking very highly of themselves. It was pretty funny. He mentioned “all pomp and circumstance”. But hey, it was fun and he made a 30 minute drive to see it with his daughter! The park grounds were lovely, too.

Prior to chatting with him the band played a non-military piece you might recognize (or not) and that man and his young daughter danced along. It was quite cute!

From there we continued on the train museum trek, but again were sidetracked, thinking that perhaps going up and walking the Roman wall might be a better way to get there. Before going up that there were some lovely wildflowers. The sign explained that it was their small bit in trying to deal with global warming. Then up to walk the wall. And no, I really wasn’t scared. Amazing! (But there never was a huge drop off.)

When it was time to take stairs down we realized we were even further from the museum. Oops! At that point we decided we’d have to skip that after all and we went another direction.

Because I’d had something sweet for breakfast I felt a need for something savory. (My sugar levels go a bit crazy if I have something sweet in the morning.) We headed to the Blue Belle Pub, a place I’d read about and we’d looked at yesterday. They only serve pork pies, so that was what we had: when on trips like this I sometimes just have to give up my desire to not eat certain things. The pub was small and I enjoyed sitting there and resting my feet, having a half pint and a pie. We also cheered the Kennedy Center, having seen that it was finally back to what it should be called.

We then walked more and looked around for possible dinner spots (yes, right after our pies!). Our B&B owner had said we might have difficult finding a place to eat if we didn’t make reservations.

We started to really run out of steam. We had to get a cookie and coffee. Now please understand I didn’t want a cookie. It was a need. One must always pay attention to needs. I couldn’t even eat half of the cookie we were sharing. Dan helped with that.

Walking some more, I took a few more photos, including of some “cowboys”. Just sort of funny to see in York.

On our way back to the B&B we I saw some pink hatted women … most likely a hen party. We’ve seen a number of these as well as stag party groups. York must be the place to go.

When we got to the B&B I started this blog entry and then took a 5 minute snooze before we had to get back to York Minster. On the way there I felt something hit my head. Hm. Did someone throw something at me? I reach up to feel it … and … OH NO! It was a bird. Well, a “bird blessing”, if you will. And now my hand was blessed as well. I had tissues so Dan helped clean me up and said you couldn’t really see it any longer, Still, I went into a bathroom and got my hair wet and washed my hands thoroughly. I knew what I’d be doing when we got back to the B&B!

As we walked we saw another interesting group of people. No clue what it was all about.

We arrived a York Minster in plenty of time, and after waiting a bit we were let in. Eventually we were seated and we had great seats! The service was really wonderful, although I sometimes couldn’t understand what was being said and they don’t tell us who the composers of the works are, nor do we get the words in print, which I would have loved. No photography is allowed, so we could only look at the place and admire it. After the service a few people stuck around to hear the organ postlude, including us, which was fabulous as well. I’m so glad we could go this time. (Earlier today we had decided to skip the £20 per person fee to tour the place: we’ve seen so many cathedrals and I figured we might save the final tour for Westminster Cathedral — we have been there for evensong, but Dan has never seen the entire place.)

After evensong we went to dinner at Ye Olde Starre Inne. A tasty meal was enjoyed! Oh … and another napkin drop was recorded.

Finally it was back to the B&B.

First thing for me? A shower! I could finally stop worrying about my hair (I had avoided touching it at all, as you might imagine.) Then it was time to finish this entry. That always takes a long time due to slow loading photos and videos.

Tomorrow is our final moving day before we head back to the states. I’m sorry to see the trip end, but we can’t continue forever.

G’night!