A second (and third) trip to York

When my folks came to visit, we went with them to York.  We did the same when Carol and Ellen came a few days later.   Cooper and I had been once, to visit the National Railway Museum, but we were looking forward to seeing some other sights.

Mom and Dad visited the York Minster (cathedral), with an amazing stained glass window.

We saw a street performer who padlocked himself into a long chain, stood on a ladder, and shimmied out of the chains in two minutes.

A couple of days later, Cooper wound the elastic string of his mittens around both wrists and said, "Can I escape?  I don't know... I've never done this before!  I'll try to get out in two minutes!" 

A future street performer?

We also visited the York Castle Museum, which included exhibits about the York Castle Prison.  Each prison cell had a video of a prisoner who lived there, telling stories about their time in the prison.

They appeared to be motion-sensitive, or at least incredibly well-timed to scare the bejeezus out of you whenever you walked into an empty room.

Cooper tried out the bed:

And then promptly requested a blanket.  After which he learned that no one brings blankets to people in prison.  (We're laying the groundwork and implementing the early stages of our family's Scared Straight program.)

We also walked a bit on the walls in the city, which have been there since Roman times to help defend it.

York has more miles of intact wall than any other city in England.

We finally made it to the Jorvik Viking Center, which chronicles York's history as a viking community and has fabulous artifacts from archaeological digs in the area. 

And, at Cooper's request, we went back to the train museum, this time by way of the "road train" that drives through town.



I really like York, I've decided.  Neat, unusual museums in addition to the typical English cathedral stuff.  Cute little twisty streets with fun shops.  Street performers all over the pedestrian areas.  Mostly walkable, and only an hour away from here by train!