Eboracum (York) Part I

Good evening!

Saturday morning I packed my bags and left Edinburgh in the cold, dark, wet and wind to catch a train to York - about two and a half hours south of here. At six forty-five I settled into a nearly empty and gratefully quiet coach for the ride south, a steaming cup of coffee, warm pain au chocolate and textbook to hand. As we pulled out of Waverly, I realized that a) I love riding trains by about five hundred times more than airplanes and b) morning train rides are the best for reasons about to be mentioned. It's quiet - leave early enough and you might have two people in your coach, as equally sleepy as yourself. You get to experience the sunrise in a way you can't anywhere else - the sun comes up over a slowly-changing landscape, constantly changing your perspective and making it seem new all over again. You can sip your coffee, nibble your pastry and read in perfect peace and contemplation.

Ellen came on board in Newcastle (a round of applause to her for getting out of bed that early AND calling a cab when her bus didn't show up) and, as the seat next to me was unoccupied, we had the wonderful chance to chat all the way. And then we arrived in:

Out of the train station, we headed for our guest house to deposit our bags and became, shall I say, distracted?

Yes, that's York minster - one of the most stunning buildings, particularly churches, I've seen (this includes Notre Dame in Paris, so the competition is pretty stiff). And if you're wondering what the difference between a minster and a cathedral is? Well, according to the all-knowing Merriam Webster online, it's a "large or important church often having cathedral status". My opinion, however, is that it's a religious structure that has also served significantly as a state building. But really it's just a cathedral.

So here are some more pictures of this stunning edifice (which distracted us from our purpose for a good half hour):

(From this angle he looks a bit constipated, doesn't he? )

(But I like this one a lot; he's so cute! )

Okay, so we regained our focus and continued across what is one of the most adorable towns I've been to (rivaled only by Pont Aven, France - but this one is far older so it wins by a landslide):

Ohoh, well, you see, this morning I loaded all of my photos into several template posts (because it takes a while) to go back and narrate at my leisure, and it looks like I determined that's where this one should end, so I'm afraid you're going to have to stay tuned until tomorrow to hear the continuance of the story...