A Northern Adventure

So this last year and a half I spent a lot of time looking into a trip to South America, this trip which I had researched and started to plan looked like about 6 months visiting 10 countries and unfortunately I had to postpone it. So I was looking for something for Summer this year. I have about a month off and I looked around for what was cheap and might also allow me to see a friend or two. 
I looked into prices in South Africa, Japan, New Zealand  but settled on something that I assumed would be cheaper... Iceland.  Iceland didn't seem like enough though, so I looked around the map and realized I could hop skip and jump to Ireland for probably not a lot more.  I ended up being able to stop over in England to see a friend... and thus the design of the trip was pretty perfect. 

I don't know that it will actually be cheaper. I mean, I can't imagine costs in South Africa to be too exorbitant, but at the same time I am sure the tours and sense of safety I would desire, would probably racket up the cost. Ireland and Iceland have very little crime so the sense of security should be pretty easy to deal with. I can book hostels and splurge a little on some basic tours to ensure I see what I want... and in the long run I think I will be happy with this trip. I don't expect to have to jump into my savings account, but if I do eh... 

So I have been researching for a couple of months and I feel pretty up to date on the history of Ireland, Irish culture etc.  But Iceland is kind of a mystery in some ways... partially its the language which throws me off, partially its the fact I didn't try very hard to find out any history and part of it is my attitude towards Iceland which is roughly   "they have a smaller population than the city I live in, how complex can it be?" 

So I am hoping to be blown away... 

Mentally I am pretty ready.. I have an early flight tomorrow to Boston and then a flight from there to Keflavik where I am hoping to get on the last shuttle towards my hostel in Reykjavik... It will be a long day of travel but I will be changing like 5 hours of time zones so midnight there is like 7 PM here...  I hope I can get to sleep the first night. 

Physically I have been preparing by going walking every day with a few days off. I have been walking a few miles every time I walk and it felt really great. My right leg gets really tight right behind the knee but I have learned a few stretches and I know that resting for a day really helps. To be honest I am more worried about the pain in my groin area. I have a recurring non serious medical condition that sometimes just causes a dull ache, but it leaves me not wanting to do a lot of walking. I hope it goes away. THE MORE YOU KNOW  right? 

In Iceland I think I will be sticking to the South and West of the country. I don't think I will make it very far inland, because the terrain isn't really accessible, in fact much of the island isn't exactly hospitable. As far as actual attractions I am not sure what I will see or do so far. I know I want to take a whale watching tour and will probably do the golden triangle and check out the blue lagoon. Other than that, I am not sure... most of that can be accomplished in a day or two. History, culture, a good walk, and lots of pictures... oh and maybe love?

 My main goal in England is to see the friend I visited a few years ago.  She lives in York, but since I have already seen York I might try to squeeze in a day on either side to check out some other cities... I fly into Manchester on the 22nd, and I think I will be flying out of Leeds on the 26 or 27... depending on if I want to spend a day there or not. Those cities are all in the middle north of the country. 

I am likely flying into Ireland through Dublin, and I know I am flying out through there. As for what comes in-between I don't really know yet. I know I would like to spend time in both Ireland and Northern Ireland. I know that I would like to visit many of the places on the map  to the right.
I am contemplating taking a multi-day tour that would take me all over the island. If not, I may do a few of the tours that are day trips from Dublin to places that aren't on this map.  Ireland has a fairly large and complex history for such a small and not densely populated place (it is smaller than Minnesota but has about 1 million people more).  I am interested in checking out historical sites, learning about the culture, listening to some music and taking a good walk, good pictures... and that's about it. Unless I fall in love. That would be nice.


Stuff:

1 small bag
2 pairs of pants
1 sweat shirt
1 long sleeve shirt
1 rain jacket (WILL BE NEEDED)
1 pair of sunglasses
1 hat
1 swim suit and towel
-socks to be thrown away
-t shirts to be thrown away
-briefs to be thrown away
money belt 
stuffed animal
flip flops
ipad 
iphone
digital alarm clock
1 book to be given away
journal, pens, colored pencils, sharpener
camera (if needed)
some cash, cards, passport, plane ticket-y stuff
toiletries


Looks like a lot, I will throw it away if I don't need it.

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