YORK

The first half of the day was a travel day. Storm Austen hit southern England and Wales the day before, which disrupted train travel throughout England.



Our train was supposed to have eight cars, but only had four because they had to shuffle trains throughout the system. But they packed the same number of people onto half the number of cars. That meant that it was standing room only for much of the trip. For the first 45 minutes of the 2½ hour trip, I was trapped between cars due to the sheer volume of people on board. I got to dance with the accordion connector and feel every bump and sway of the train. It was a good thing I took Dramamine and was wearing my magical acupressure wrist bands.



Once we were settled into the room at our guest house, we headed out to find food for an early dinner. We stumbled upon Craft Burger York, which was the best of happy accidents. I had the Broski, which was a Classic smash burger with stir fried kebab meat on top. I cannot even begin to explain the heavenly nature of this burger. It was accompanied by excellent chips, Algerian dipping sauce, and a can of Ice Cola. 



The city of York is surrounded by Roman walls, most sections which are still extant, and other sections are being rebuilt/restored. Gatehouses and storehouses dot the entire perimeter of the walls.



We walked a lengthy section of the wall, peeking into ruins, looking through arrow slots, and peering down upon the current cityscape of York.



This is the beauty of York. The English lawn of Grays Court Hotel, with York Minster in the background, as seen from the top of the Roman city walls.



Who knew? Constantine was proclaimed emperor of the Roman Empire in York in 306 AD.



We walked around in the shadow of York Minster, basking in the beauty of it's Gothic architecture, as a prelude to tomorrow's journey into its interior.