Jim and Von's England Trip 2012

We have lots of catching up to do as we've not had access to a computer.

We left the Lake District on Saturday and headed to York. Along the way we (Jim and I) stopped at a couple of castles, an abbey, the remains of a Roman town and a beautiful garden. The further east we drove the colder it became (even after weather forecasts of it getting warmer this week).

The garden (Acorn Gardens) we visited was absolutely beautiful. It was a small garden estate, but well cared for.

After arriving in York and checking into our hotel we waited for Pete and Laverne to arrive and then headed toward the town centre to get a quick overview of where things were and then had dinner.

Sunday started with a guided tour of the city which covered the history of the city. We saw the sites that included the Roman era, the Vikings and of course the various English rulers. We took a walk on the city wall, saw the Shambles and of course saw the York Minister. Our guide (who was a volunteer) has been leading tours for 30 years and knew his English history. I don't know how they keep all their kings separate or when each of them ruled.

After our tour Pete, Laverne and I checked out the market on the square and the many shops while Jim checked out a Cold War Bunker (he'll add more at the end).

We were all looking forward to 4 pm and the Evensong service at the York Minister. We sat in the choir and were right next to the Minister choir (men and young boys). The music was wonderful. The service was about an hour. It was Ascension Sunday so the scriptures, music and sermon were all on Christ's ascension. We even used the Common Book of Prayer. After Evensong we listened to the organist and the postlude -wow! It was something to hear. Then it was time to walk through the Minister for a tour.

Today was the Railway Museum for Pete and Jim while Laverne and I headed out of York to tour gardens. We never made it past the first one as we spent the entire day Harlow Carr, a Royal Horticultural Garden.

Below are some pictures of our last few days and then Jim will add to our blog. Not sure when the next blog will happen. May not be until London - and that's if we can find an internet cafe. Tomorrow we're hoping for our train ride across the York Moors.