Backtracking to the trip...

Where to begin? In five days I saw more of quite a few places than I have yet seen of my home for the next year. So, I'll attempt to recount a bit of each location we spent time in. The first place was York, only a bit over an hour away from Nottingham by private coach. As soon as we arrived, Mark and Carol handed us maps and a list of sights we had to see in the next two days. The dropped us off in the city and told us to go, just like that. We stubled around for a few minutes, getting our bearings, and eventually decided to spend some time in the City Art Gallery. The main focus of our attention there was to be the "Icons and Idols" exhibit, part of the Nat'l Portrait gallery. We spent some time pondering our assignment and once sufficient notes had been taken, I moved onto an quiter exhibit upstairs. At the end of one room, I found a solitary bench from which I could view the entire room, all of the art and people included. As I watched the people wander through the room, something suddenly dawned upon me. A sense of calm came over every person who set foot in the room. From the weary traveller to the tired toddler to the lontime patrons and art critics, all seemed to breathe a little slower. Each person was absorbing not only the colors on the canvas, but the emotion poured into each piece by the artist. It was humbling to be sitting in the presence of something that could unify all people so simply.

The group left the gallery for a group lunch at the University's refactory, complete with plum crumble and custard. We moved on and split the group in two for exploring the historic city of York. We saw the complete and extensive city wall, the Merchant Adventurers' Hall, Fairfax House, and of course, the Shambles - the one remaining street with many origional 18th century buildings. It was fascinating to learn of the history, stretching from recent all the way back to Roman 1st century. It was bizarre to realize that the people living in York know the 2000 year history of the land they live on. The day was spent going through museums and the occasional boring audio tour, but started to wind down in a jovial manner. Aaron had spent the day with the five girls, putting up with our jet lagged near hysterical laughter and randomness, and it only went downhill from there as we went to dinner. We decided to eat at this Italian chain restaurant by the name of 'Ask Pizza'. Once inside the towering doors, a grand entry way took us by surprise. The dinning room was in an incredible assembly hall with granite walls, marble pillars, and exquisite statues included. It was a pretty nice 'chain' restaurant if you ask me. Anyway, the dinner was excellent, and Aaron, once again, did a marvelous job of dealing with the five girls. Our laughter soon turned into tears as our fatigue caught up with us. I will have you know that this is the second time I have laughed myself into tears in Europe over dinner (Family, remember Zurich?). Soon enough, the other three guys walked into the restaurant and had a much more controlled dinner and we left together to head to the playhouse for the show "The Man with Two Gaffers". It was nice end to the night. Afterwards we walked to our hostel outside the city walls and soon fell asleep after a few scribbled notes in our journals.

The hostel proved to be nice enough. There were plenty of two inch mosquito-like bugs (except these were harmless), but it was a bed and a shower and a surprisingly good breakfast within walking distance of the town, so it worked out well. The second day in York was much more enjoyable. I got up earlier than any normal person should and went for a quick run with Kevin and Brandon. After a solid breakfast, we went out for day. As we had gotten most of the museum visits out of the way the first day, we were free to wander a bit more. We started the day with a tour of the towering York Minster. We learned that parts of the first Harry Potter movie were filmed there, this was one of the set locations we saw. The Cathedral and the history behind it are both beautiful and fascinating, but somehow, it had become such a tourist attraction that the sacred nature of the church was somehow lost. Regardless, it is still quite an impressive building. We spent the day exploring, shopping, eating pastys and fudge for lunch. As it started to rain, we decided to look in on St. Mary's church, which has been turned into an art gallery. The current exhibition was called 'Echo'. As we sat in awe of the bold, yet soothing display, we took a break, shared some Cadbury's and journaled. It was a much needed break from the hustle and bustle of the narrow streets of York. After a torrential rainstorm, inwhich a group of us took refuge in a women's toilet, we finally made it to Evensong at York Minster. It was an etherial experience to here the music of boys and men echoing throughout the walls of the 12th century Cathedral. The group left the Minster and walked to Tandoori Nights where we had the best Indian meal I have ever tasted. From coconut naan to chicken corma, every bite was wonderful. We discussed the experience of the past few days and plans for the rest of the trip. After a brief stop at the hostel, the majority of the group went out for our first night out. We found an interesting pub and ran into some people we had met over the past few days. It was a good start to a year of bonding. A quick walk back to the hostel, only held up by squishing the seven of us into a traditional red phonebooth, and into bed, ignoring the slight flutter of wings as we drifted off to sleep.


...the story of the rest of our trip to The North is to be continued.