May 22 2012

Today was a beautiful day, sunny and hot. We all met up at our usual place, early in the morning, around 7am and got on the tube to catch a train to York, England. Arriving at York, England at 9:30am, we walked through the scenic part of York and took a Tour bus to experience the city from a different perspective and to learn more about the history York, through our tour guide.

As we were waiting for our bus tour, there were many photographic opportunities to take advantage of, so I did. As we boarded the bus, I learned about the history of York. 

York was founded by the Romans. They invaded this part of England in 71 AD and quickly subdued it. The Romans built a fort between the rivers Ouse and Foss. At first northern England was a rough and uncivilized area but gradually it was 'Romanised'. By the mid-2nd century a little town had appeared by the fort. Craftsmen and merchants came to live there because the garrison of the fort provided a market for the townspeople's goods and ships could sail up the Ouse with merchandise.

The Romans called York Eboracum, which may be derived from Celtic words meaning "the place with yew trees". By the early 3rd century Roman York had a stone wall to protect it. Inside there were public buildings such as "baths:". Rich people lived in grand houses with mosaic floors.
However in the 4th century Roman civilization began to break down. The last Roman soldiers left Britain in 407 AD, then soon afterwards Roman towns were abandoned and fell into ruins.

     I learned that this castle was built after the Norman Conquest. William the Conqueror built this wooden castle in York. However in 1069 the north of England rose in revolt. The Norman garrison of the castle was massacred. William then captured and conquered York. William then also built a second wooden castle to guard the town.

In 1190 an infamous event occurred when Jews were massacred in York. They took refuge in the main castle. Some Jews unfortunately committed suicide. The townspeople set fire to the castle and the rest were persuaded to surrender but they were murdered anyway. Cliffords Tower was built in the mid-13th century to replace the keep of the main castle which had been burned in 1190.

NOT the original London Eye, this structure is a duplicate of the London Eye in London. 

This is us in front of York Minster. Through our travels through this cathedral, I learned that

York's first Minster was built for the baptism of the Anglo Saxon King during the seventh to the eleventh century, Edwin of Northumbria. Edwin was christened in a small wooden church that had been built for the occasion, this event occurred on Easter Sunday in the year 627. Almost immediately Edwin ordered that this small wooden church should be rebuilt in stone. Edwin was killed in battle in 633 and the task of completing the stone Minster fell to Oswald.

This small stone church built on the same site as the original wooden one was enlarged over time. It survived through the Viking age in York but was badly damaged by fire in the year 1069 when the Normans finally took control of the city of York. While we know something of the history of these early versions of York Minster, to date no archaeological evidence of them has been uncovered.

After our trip through the York Cathedral, we stopped for lunch at a delicious eatery called The Golden Slipper. While dining at The Golden Slipper, we had their famous Yorkshire Pudding. It was simply an extraordinary example of amazing culinary pleasure! :)

After lunch, we visited the York  Castle Museum to learn a little more about what it was like back before the many inventions we have today, that make life easier for us.

One example is that back in the 19th century they had to pump water, whereas today we have faucets and plumbing that enable us to not have to go out into extreme weather conditions (or at all) to get water for our basic essential needs.

The next thing that was observed was the fact of how heavy and how much of labour intensive it was before the many inventions we have today, like plumbing. These are what one would carry their water in, all the way back to their house. Sometimes one would have to carry these from a mile or away. Can you imagine that? That is amazing! A positive side to this, is that one would be very strong after carrying these water jugs for so long and for many times a day. I'm very grateful for the plumbing system that we have in the 21st century, and it keeps expanding and getting more useful, efficient, and less extravagant with the water that is used.

The day is York, England was much fun. It was beautiful, hot, sunny and a very nice day for a walk. Though many of us were adjusting to the heat, we still were very happy to be in York, England and to experience all that we did!

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~Lucky :) <3