Sarahenity: On the road: London and York

January was probably not the best time of the year to go to England, which might sound odd coming from a Seattle resident. It's the same, right? Just lots of rain.

Puddle-dodging

No -- not just rain, actually. Cold rain. Damp rain. Wind, blowing strongly off of the Thames or the River Ouse in York. Hail. And dampness -- pervasive dampness.

Our sightseeing in London was relatively low-key -- we were both there for work, so we didn't have a lot of time to look around. We did take a bus tour -- much better than we had anticipated, actually. We also went to the British Museum and the National Gallery, both better than I remembered. My favorite thing in London was probably our walk through St. James's Park in the sun on our way to see Big Ben.

My health was pretty off for this trip -- Sergio was incredibly kind and patient with my slow sightseeing pace. It reminded me of our time in Madrid. He had hurt his knee (and had new-shoe blisters) and was reticent to tromp all around town. The bus tour we took was surprisingly good (minus the loud Italians) and helped us orient ourselves using major landmarks. In London the tour was slightly more meandering. The guide of the first bus, named Barry (funnily enough), included more trivia and relevant knowledge than almost any tour guide I'd heard. He didn't just focus on one subject -- he blended history, music, the arts, politics, the economy, engineering, modern issues, etc., etc. Unfortunately when we hopped back on our guide was less than stellar -- it sounded like she was reading from a maintenance manual.

My favorite part of the trip, however, was our weekend in York, just two hours north of London by train. It's impossible to find a perfect destination for an extra weekend, and York barely beat out Bath. Sorry Jane Austen. I promise we'll visit sometime.

The York Minster

York had a little bit of everything -- Vikings, Romans, minor royals, the Industrial Revolution -- all packed into a small, walkable core. It was frigid with wind whipping against you as you stepped out from the corner and walked towards the Minster.

I've seen many churches in my travels around Europe -- this one was spectacular. The current cathedral was consecrated in the 1470s, though different versions of the cathedral have stood on the site since the 600s. It's the second largest cathedral in Northern Europe (the Cologne Cathedral holds the honors) -- awe-inspiring, of course, as you enter the transept and crane your neck back as far as possible to see the top of the tower.

The best part of the York Minster was the Evensong service that we attended. The sun had just set and we joined a group of people heading past the ropes towards the choir (the small, central part of the cathedral). The Evensong was led by one of the cathedral's many choirs, and we sat in the old choir stalls, those that had been used for hundreds of years. I had never attended a Church of England service -- for someone who is most familiar with Lutheran traditions, it felt very Catholic to me. I've never quite understood incense -- ah, the life of a Protestant.

York had so many charms -- we also enjoyed lunch and pastries at one of the famous tea rooms and had lunch on our last day at an Indian restaurant where we were the only customers (curiously some of the best Indian food I've ever had). We tried not to calculate how many dollars we were spending each time we set down a pound note. And, of course, there were photos. So many photos. Sergio really is my favorite travel buddy ever, work or otherwise. He's always got the camera, I'm always holding the map. He's taught me to relax more when I travel -- to enjoy the random fun moments that always seem to pop up.

But all good things must come to an end, so we returned to London for one last night before the long flight home. We were lucky enough to score cheap business class seats on the flight over (the upper deck of BA's 747s are the place to sit!) and were not looking forward to much smaller (and more cramped) economy seats going home -- if you've traveled economy on BA you know what I'm talking about. We arrived at Heathrow with time to spare but we couldn't check in at the machines. SEE AN AGENT! it kept telling us. Panic, of course, settled over me. Had I booked the right day? Had I booked the right day but the wrong year?

No. The airline wanted to be sure that we were traveling together because I had been upgraded to business class -- did I want Sergio to come with me?

There's no one else I'd want to travel with -- England or otherwise.

xo,
Sarah