Beautiful York, the UK - the Lands of my Ancestors and Freezing Cold Toilet Seats

We flew on Westjet over the pond on a direct flight from Calgary to Gatwick.  But before the flight, we took advantage of the Aspire Lounge in Calgary.  The Westjet Lounge had too stringent of entry times so we opted for the Aspire.  I would not do that again as the food in the Aspire was awful but at least the drinks were self-serve.  The Dreamliner plane is a nice bird to fly on, granted Business Class would have been kinder to my body but the Economy seat wasn't all that bad.  There was more recline than I thought there would be which enabled some fitful sleeping with the aid of a Zopiclone.  I had the middle seat, Darren to my right and a rude young girl to my left who had made two rude comments to me in the expanse of roughly 2 minutes.  23 years of Administration did not escape me, once a teacher, always a teacher.  After this last interaction with her, the flight was quite uneventful.  Uneventful is probably a sought-after adjective whenever one is flying.

We landed in Gatwick and caught the Underground to Kings Cross Station in London and then we found our Liner train to York.  This can be quite a harrowing adventure if you are not a seasoned traveller.  

Taking in some decent Sushi in the Train station before taking the train to York.

We rolled into the York station and walked 5 minutes to our hotel within the walls of this beautiful city.

York originally was settled by the Romans and it was an old Viking settlement.  There are many great picture-taking moments in York.  

Beautiful York Minster Church above and to the left.

Quirky little streets that cars can not go down are a bonus for tourists.

Many of the buildings are narrower at street level to avoid paying higher taxes.  The yellow building is wider with every floor to maximize the size but to avoid extra taxes.

Many of the ancient buildings in the walled city are not completely square but are leaning.  They have stood for hundreds of years so I don't think they are going anywhere soon.

Micklegate Bar is to the right.  This is not an actual drinking establishment.  It was built to protect the city from invasion.  Originally there were 4 bars built for protection and only two remain today.

Walking the entire wall around the city was my plan but I did find out that in the 1800s parts of the wall were demolished in the name of progress.  A Bishop won his case against the city to let the remaining portions of the wall stand.  I find the wall highly intriguing to think of what this wall has seen over the millenniums fascinates me.  

There were snails attached to the wall in the shadier areas of the city.  The walls had a lot of moss growing on them.  Afterall England is a rainy country.

Darren walks the wall towards York Minster Church.

York is considered to have the most complete Medieval walls in all of England.  There are many buildings to explore in York like the York Castle Museum, Clifford's Tower etc.  Too many places to see and so little time.