Today, we drove for a pretty long time. We got to York at around noon and had 45 minutes to find something to eat before we went on a walking tour of York. Mary and I found a cute little sandwich shop and decided to stop there. After we ordered, the tiny restaurant was overrun by tons of private-schooled, middle school boys. I actually though it was really cute that they all had to wear brown blazers and ties and slacks and really pointy shoes as their uniform, so maybe they saw me looking at them? I’m not sure. Either way, when we had our food and we were leaving the shop, Mary kind of looked at me weird and then pointedly looked back to the boys. I turned around and about three of the boys were very obviously looking me up and down. Needless to say, I was thoroughly creeped out that I had been checked out by a group of middle school boys. It ended up happening again to Mindy, another girl in our group. What creepers.
After we ate, we met up with our walking tour guide, Warwick, who took us through York Minster. The old church was really beautiful, and there was stained glass everywhere. It had been built over two or three times, and in consequence was several feet off of the ground level. There were full body statues of several of the kings of England, and my favorites were King Edward I and King Edward II. These were the kings portrayed in Braveheart, and if you’ve watched that movie you know that they play up to Prince Edward’s…sexuality. In real life, he was bisexual. So, while the statue of his father looks mean and intimidating, his statue is of him looking at his nails. I found it hilarious. We also got to go to the crypt underneath the church and see the Doomstone, a stone carving of what it might be like in hell. The Doomstone really freaked me out. The faces that were carved onto the demons were grotesque and slightly terrifying. It was one of those things that I had a hard time looking away from…fascination of the abomination as Mrs. Jay would say.
We started the real walking tour after we were finished with the church. Our guide took us to a street in the middle of the city that looked like Diagon Alley and on top of the city wall that had been there for hundreds of years. We learned that William Wallace and his group of rebels did not actually “sack York,” and that is why many people from York (Yorkans? Yorkers? Yorkies?) don’t like Braveheart.
After the tour, a group of us decided to go to Evensong, and singing service at York Minster. They had a choir of boys and men, and it was fantastic. I was in heaven the whole time I was there. I think a lot of other people got bored, but I was enthralled by how good they sounded together and their blending techniques and other nerdy choir things. It felt slightly bizarre, just because this church service was different than anything I had ever been too. Nevertheless, it was very pretty and I enjoyed it. I did decide though that I wouldn’t ever be able to be Catholic or Anglican because I wouldn’t be able to sing during worship service. Since that is my main outlet of worship, I don’t think I would take it very well.
That night we ate at the hotel, and then watched Prince of Persia, which I had never seen before. It was good, but I was so tired that I didn’t really take much of it in. Tomorrow we’re going to be in London! I’m so excited. I can’t wait to unpack and even be able to do laundry. I think that might be a first for me.
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