Day 6 - York to Edinburgh

On our 6th day, we were up early and walking into the city centre of York. Of course, that meant passing through one of the city gates. There is just something amazing about the fact that this city has had walls around it for over 2000 years. The gate pictured on the left - Bootham Bar - dates from the 11th and 14th century. Some pretty impressive history!

Once through the gate, we made our way to York Minster. Denise had looked on the website the day prior and saw that it was not going to be open to touring due to Easter weekend services (we were a little frustrated that this information hadn't been posted a couple weeks earlier!), but still wanted to get a look around.

When we arrived (after a little bit of aimless wandering through the streets of York) we saw that the front doors were, in fact, open, so in we went and asked what we were allowed to see. While certain sections were off limits (sadly, including the undercroft), we were still allowed to walk around and, much to our delight, we got to hear both the choir and the organist practicing a little bit for the services! While I was quite impressed with the pipe organ (especially since we were hearing it being practiced), Denise was more of a fan of the gargoyles on the exterior.






















After the cathedral, it was time to head back to our B&B to start the drive northward. But, not without walking along the top of the some of the city walls.

Our first stop as we drove north was Alnwick (ahh-nick) Castle. This one was one of Margaret's top destinations for the visit. In addition to playing host to a recent episode of Downton Abbey, it was also used as Hogwart's Wizarding School in the first two Harry Potter movies.

Alnwick has used these associations to create quite a few enjoyable activities and displays in the castle. The state rooms here were really interesting, as the castle is still in regular use by the Duke of Northumberland and his family and the rooms were decorated with an interesting combination of items from the 1400s to today. We particularly liked the library with thousands of ancient books right next two a couple of beanbag chairs and a HDTV. The Downton Abbey displays included actual costumes and descriptions of how they made the castle look period appropriate for that show (and caused a lot of stress to the staff). After touring the facilities and getting some lunch, Denise and Margaret got their (highly anticipated) broomstick lesson.

 Denise managed to find herself chosen as one of the pupil to demonstrate excellent broomstick skills, but as you can see, both of them really were very successful. I will refrain from any kind of witch comments.
We also did a little shopping at Alnwick and Margaret came home with some buttons and Denise and I got some locally produced mead.

It was then back to the road and further north for a brief stop in Bamburgh. A small town along the coast (that we have already decided we WILL visit again) with a simply amazing coastline. The castle there is still occupied and was therefore closed by the time we arrived in the evening, but we still walked around it and out to the beach to touch the North Sea for a moment and also look out at the islands of the coast - which also feature castle and abbey ruins. This was to be our last stop in England before crossing the border into Scotland.

After our beach walk, it was back on the road to Edinburgh. We arrived at the castle where we were staying for the next two nights (yes, really) and then went back out for a quick, late dinner at the Melville Inn - which we really enjoyed. Finally at 9pm we were back at the castle and into our beds to get rested up for our day in Edinburgh!