I Heart York

From the lovely image above you can see the awesome shirt I got from York, England! Oh the irony :)

York was an amazing, tiring, wet trip.  The city is about 200 miles north of London and about a 2 hour train ride (my first train ride to be exact!)  We had to be up and getting ready by 5 a.m. to be at Kings Cross at about 6:30.  We thought our train was at 7:15.  We were wrong.  Our train to York didn't leave until about 8:00 so needless to say we had plenty of time to do... a whole lot of nothing.  We arrived in York around 10 a.m., bought a city map, which was HUGE and super embarrassing to pull out and of course I was on map duty, and set out on our first mission... to find the Jorvik center where the annual viking festival was held.  Unfortunately I couldn't take pictures inside the exhibit but it was like a mini viking museum with the history of York and its viking habitants hundreds of years ago.  There was even a electronically toured guide which was somewhat like a carnival ride in that you sit in a seat that holds about 5 people and it moved you around the area to show you the way vikings lived with narration.  After that we set out to find something else to do.  We came upon the famous lookout castle built in the middle of York which is the second picture, on the right above.  Then we visited the Castle Museum which was fun because it was actually an old castle converted into a museum.  Even the dungeons and prisons were reserved so we also got to see that.  After the museum we set out to check out the Shambles area of York where tons of little shops were.  I ended up spending too much money on souvenirs and gifts but I'm glad I did!  We also went to see the beautiful York Minster... one of the highlights of the trip for me.  It's pictured below but, of course, the picture doesn't do this piece of history justice.

Did I mention that this trip was wet? It was very cold too, that being said after our trek across (literally) York we stopped in a cute gluten free bakery and I got some hot cocoa to warm me up!  We then began our journey back to the train station with an hour and a half to spare so we stopped in a pub at the station to watch some soccer (football) and have a drink.  When I say "we" by the way, I'm referring to my two fearless travel companions Paula, with whom I live with, and Jen, the gluten free girl =P  They're both so much fun, so flexible, and pretty travel smart so all that combined with my wits and charm we make the pretty perfect group! ;)

As a class trip, I will be traveling to Scotland next weekend with my peers so I hope to have some good stories to share with you about that!  I also hope to write one more blog this week possibly... if not then you all shall suffer withdrawals from my oh-so-captivating experience here in Europe!  I just recently finished the novel Jane Eyre, something I would never have read on my own but in the end am glad I did read it, and tomorrow I'm leading a seminar on the passionate reserve of the Gothic Romance.  This is my attempt to tear myself from facebook, skype, and this lovely blog which I actually wrote in to avoid homework.... but it can be avoided no more.  Miss you all, thanks SO much for reading!!  Cheers!!

-KYRA THE VIKING:)

p.s. If you would be so kind to include your name if you comment on a blog and your blog screen name doesn't say who you are, that would be super helpful.  I like to know who's reading my things n stuff! Thanks!