Sept 9, 10

Wed, Sept 9
Woke up in York. Breakfast British-style – beans, tomato, mushroom, egg, toast, sausage, tea. Yum town, UK. We went to the York Castle museum and saw things, fun times, then had a tasty cucumber and cheese sandwich for lunch and walking tour of the city. Then a delectable steak and Stilton pasty. Headed to the York Minster Cathedral for evening prayer.

Aside:
This cathedral is the largest “north of the alps” according to the literature. There were about 40 people in attendance at evening prayer. I didn’t really expect too many, but it's been striking how secular England is considering the huge and rich religious history. Hundreds (thousands?) of churches shut down, the rest functioning largely at museums. The future of America? (Minus the beautiful buildings, I suppose)

After Evening prayer, we walked the old city walls back to the B and B. Stopped in at the Swan for pints of Tetleys and Moorhouse Black Cat.

Thurs, Sept 10
Drove to Durham and checked out the wonderful cathedral and chilled out with St Cuthbert’s bones. Gave NT Wright a high five. Ate a sandwich. Exchanged some bills and bought a phone. Cruised up to Hadrian’s wall and had some great hikes along those old Roman stones. Saw some tree that Robin hood lived in and a cow eating grass in a very humorous manner. We stayed in a hostel that was near the ruins of some old Roman fort from 3000 BC or something. We went to a pub on the side of the road and had diaper tasting fish and chips, but some un-diaper tasting pints of Samson Ale (Maxim Brewery) and Black Sheep Ale