We walked along the river from the boat dock to the Art Museum. Kristine, my sister and cat lover, told us of the cat tour. There are 22 or so cats that adorn buildings and gates all over the old town. They were considered good luck so we kept our eyes peeled and saw several. A pastry shop provided two hot pies for lunch. We passed several birds of prey that were our for an interactive experience and beautiful flower beds. We continued on through the Museum Gardens and then along the river looking for an open park bench. We finally found a park bench, sat down to eat but Leslie did not like the taste of her veggie pie stuffed with potatoes, onions and some weird spice...ooof! Try something new and you might find that you should not have. Then we vectored to the Art Museum and passed the ruins of St Mary's Abbey. Apparently Henry VIII was not content to take all the property and land of the churches and abbeys, in this case they actually pulled down the building! What remains is still a beautiful structure. We finally made it to the Art Museum and lo and behold it is closed on Tuesdays. New plan is take a ride on the Hop On Hop Off, the HoHo. It was a great tour of the town.
A rooster
#1 Siamese Cat
#2 Black Cat
#3 Grey Cat
Not a cat, a bunny
The reddest of bricks were scoured by the flood waters from the 2000 flood
Each of the individual rental boats had names
Great light fixtures
So many pigs on this crest
St. Michaels Church
Very old and very cool
Way back when this was a tall tower
A tiny organ
A huge window
Golden pigeon?
Loved the ceiling
Another stained glass window
Mustache and wings
Flying seals?
Great Gate
So ornate!
The Minster and another tower
Biggest of the birds
Very beautiful plumage
The smallest owl
Who hoo?
The York Museum
St Mary's Abbey
Or what is left of it after the intentional destruction
It was interesting to see how the walls were constructed
Rough stones on the inside of the wall and finished stone on the outside
How grand this building must have been
Flowers in the garden
Crocus and the orange thing
More abbey remnants
The University
The city walls
Looking back at the Art Museum
Knight on the top of the walls
Leslie sat in the front of the double decker but there was no room for my feet so I sat further back
Lovely decorative panel
Large stone building
A large gate in the city walls
One of many smaller churches
Found one of the cats!
Some very detailed stonework
Grandiose!
Cliffords Tower. No roof on top as it was blown off during a many gun salute
Rooster turret
#4 Cat on the Wulmgate
The gate keepers house is above the roman arches. It is at the end of the barbican, a tunnel designed to trap invaders. Apparently the only other barbican still in existence is in Poland
Looking through the barbican
More walls
Another gate as seen from the hoho
A lovely house
The walls on the other side of the river
Guard towers and all that
Looking upriver
Georgian housing build in the early 1800's
Even more housing was built in the Victorian Age
Of course a farm tractor has to drive down the main street
The Royal Gate, all the monarchs have to stop here and ask permission to enter the city
Can't stomp this bug
The train station was once the largest int he world
It is very chic
York Tap, get your drink on before getting on the train
We have circumnavigated the walls
More flowers
An old stone man
These arches were put into the walls when the street needed to go through this area
Tourist train
Back over the river
The River House, a fine hotel
The York Minster in the distance and a church on the left
The Minster towers
More fine limestone craftmanship
