Y is for YORK

Yesterday, I had dental surgery and I was trying to figure out a way to incorporate it with the letter Y.  All I could come up with was "yucky."  Luckily for you, that was all I could think of.  So I resorted to my other plan to tell you about York, England and to show you just a few shots I took there last summer.  I stayed with my dear friend Jill Ellis Marshall, to whom I dedicate this post.

York is a historic walled city founded by the Romans in 71AD.  It lies between the Ouse and Foss Rivers and one of the biggest attractions is York Minster.  I won't bore you with details of its history, etc., because if you're interested, just go and check it out on Wikipedia.  The Shambles is an ancient area in York with overhanging timber-framed buildings that date back to the 14th Century. This area was renowned for its open-air slaughterhouse and meat market. My shot below.

As we entered the Shambles at one end, we were greeted with a wonderful flower market and entertained by the local Town Crier.

After purchasing a few tea towels as an easy-to-pack souvenir at a tea towel stand, we began wandering down the main street of the Shambles to search for somewhere to have lunch. We decided on the Café Rouge where we were greeted with great welcomes and seated right at the center front window where we had a wonderful view of tourists passing by.

A street entertainer happened to come by to entertain the tourists even before our lunch arrived. The above shot is from Mr. Google but the one below is mine, taken from our table through the window.

I photographed the above busker right through the window from my seat at the table.  I also shot the frontage of L'Occitane shop directly opposite of us.

 When we left the café, I took a photo of the area above the restaurant, which was lined with absolutely gorgeous flower boxes.

We wandered over to see York Minster, but the lines were horrendous. As I'd been inside before, we just walked to the garden next door where there was a Remembrance Ceremony going on to celebrate the Battle of Kohima in 1944.  It is an annual event and just happened to be that day, so we felt quite honoured to be a small part of it.

However, I did get a good shot at the front façade of the Minster and one of it peeking through the trees when we were in the park next door.  It really is quite impressive!

Then we headed over to the Medieval Guild Hall and poked around there to see the ancient wood beamed ceiling, the dining hall, and the stained glass windows.

Finally, here are a few shots of some gardens thatI couldn't resist photographing.  After all, I'm sure you've heard of the splendid English country gardens....well, these were right in a big city. The first two are the rose gardens in front of the Manor House located in front of the Guildhall.

You often see flowers growing up a rock or brick wall in England and York was no exception.

So there you have it.  We did have some other adventures that I may write about in future posts, but I think you're probably tired of me raving on about England and Wales and my wonderfully memorable trip last year.

Don't forget that next week, the letter Z, is our last ABC Wednesday at this location.  So do come back next week for a final farewell and more details on where to find it starting July 12!!!