A night in Amsterdam

Having always enjoyed my trips to Amsterdam I saw no reason to stay at the airport all night long (my flight got into Amsterdam at 10:00PM and didn't leave till 10:00AM the next morning).

I ate Burger King at the airport before heading into the city.
I love this city, the first two times I was there I didn't even get high but its still rather beautiful.
This time though, I decided to indulge.
I won't get you tangled up in my mistakes, but needless to say I had a really great night that made me horribly sick at the airport the next morning (and very very paranoid that I wouldn't make my flight).

My commentary on Amsterdam is and will always be, I am glad there are places where things are not as taboo, but its sad that it has to come with rampant consumerism and exploitation.

It really is a beautiful city, but by the time I was heading back I was well gone, sleep deprived, emotional and way off my rocker.   I laughed at the girls speaking in dutch across from me. I couldn't tell if they thought I was listening to them or if they knew I was just a smiley idiot.

At the airport I tried to get focused and found to my dismay that I couldn't. It really ruined the whole night... The small amazing cultural differences got lost in the chaos... the things I felt were so beautiful, became cheap.

-I am somewhat happy to report though that the budget hotel where I once got bedbugs didn't seem to be operating... and for some reason that makes me happy (those were hellish nights as well).

Somehow I made it on my flight (thank the airport attendants) and by the time I got home I felt fairly decent again. The next morning I woke up and went to work.

The Last of York

On my last full day in York I went to the crowning monument of York, the Minster. 

I was lucky enough to get there at a time when it wasn't too busy, but also wasn't completely dead. In fact shortly after I had taken a stroll around the main sites of the building they announced that there would be a Stations of the Cross(what is it?) service. I not being a Catholic had never attended such an event and was curious. I followed the Priest with a group of others to several large paintings done by Ghislaine Howard of various moments during the Passion. The service was extremely moving, with prayers, stories, and quotes pushing the audience to see Jesus as not only God, but as a man who suffered like many suffer now. The message didn't end there however, he made it clear that the reason this happened was so that we might learn to recognize the beauty of our fellow human beings and care for them as equals (as he did). 

The poems and stories were touching, but so was the strong devotion of the people in the service, many of whom knew all the words to the songs.

After the Stations of the Cross (paintings) service, there was a regular mass, and I had to wait around for a little bit until I could go into the tower. 

The view was well worth the wait

When I returned from the tower I wanted to check out the basement, an on site museum of sorts that shows the history of the building and the town that surrounds it. 

The Church was originally built on a section where a roman building has stood, following that a small church was made, then a smaller cathedral and now the large one that stands today (all built from the same foundations). The Minster had to be reinforced a few years back to keep the ceiling from caving in on top of the old structure underneath. 

Along with the architecture, underneath are some more crypts and a display of the various religious utensils(cups and platters) that had served the church (the greater church) during different periods in English history. It was interesting to see how gold and silver, intricately patterned and plain faced fashions had come and gone.

Obviously its very high up, lots of fog/clouds. 

SO THEN  I decided to check out the Merchant Adventurers Hall with a quick stopover at McDonalds where I found this.

Does your McDonalds have a Sweet Viking guarding it?  

I didn't think so.

York Adventurers Hall

I'm not entirely sure why I stopped in here. I guess I like the old style look, but on the inside, despite the history, it was a bit -meh.

The history is pretty cool though, the Hall is basically the chamber of commerce for York, these are the people who funded all the big sea voyages and trading adventures that made York a trade hub and kept it populated and industrious. 

The best part of the Hall, is the video game you get to play in the basement where you send boats to various ports and try to make your money back.

The next day I left for Amsterdam, with a little bit of train delay to London.  Becky and I had a great brunch, but I barely made it to London in time for my flight. 

A Week in York part tres

 Ah yes, so what did I do next?   I don't really know... because the next day's pictures were vague and apparently we didn't get in to the things we were gonna see... here is Becky protesting at the gates of the Jorvik Viking Center

 

You see everything in York closes early...

But I did get a shot of this beauty ========>

This is Clifford's Tower by day. It is the main tower of the now defunct York Castle.

This is the problem with relying on pictures for your memories.

Well the next day we were determined -so we marched right back up to Jorvik and Clifford's and made it... but I only have pictures of the tower... so you will have to make do.

Pretty good views though right?

And that was the story of Clifford's Tower  (click here to read about it)

Experience at Jorvik after the break

A Week in York part 2

So for the rest of my week I basically decided I would try to check out some of the tourist options. Like the National Railway Museum

Full of trains, just full up with em. 

It was actually a fairly impressive collection and one had to wonder how they got all those trains in to the museum (probably had to do with all the train tracks on the floor). 

After that I spent some time walking the walls until I got to the Yorkshire Museum

which I really enjoyed. It had collections of artifacts found in the area and told the history from the Roman times to present (kind of). Mostly it told the story of the Roman times and a little about the Anglo-Saxon stuff... I found later that most of the other time periods were covered in different exhibits around York.

The Gardens were beautiful though, with the remains of St. Mary's Abbey 

 Later I reconnected with Becky and we walked some more of the York City Walls. 
These pictures are all types of out of order... 

Cliffords Tower

York Minster