The occasional webcam
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Hello - Just for the record, I started this update about 3 weeks ago hoping to surprise you all with a quick update. Oh well, we're here now.
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The occasional webcam |
A little while back I said there were two things I needed to do before I'd be ready to return to Boston. The first was to meet Michael, a colleague from our Leeds branch, which I did the night before heading out to Venice. The second thing was to spend a few days in Yorkshire, which we did a few weekends ago (14-17 May). It was a wonderful weekend, complete with stunning scenery and amazing weather (72°F and mostly sunny). It was brilliant.
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We headed up to York on Friday morning (click on map at right for reference), arriving about lunch time. Checked into our B&B (nice enough) and walked to the city center for lunch. It was about a 7 minute walk through gorgeous gardens by the Yorkshire Museum and some old church / abbey ruins. The park was full of people hanging out and enjoying the first really nice weekend (weather wise) for both days that we were there - it always makes for a wonderful atmosphere.
York is a very pretty city and the capital of the north whose history is mostly Roman and Viking. It's a walled city, and you can walk much of the way around in/on the old medieval walls. The Ouse and the Foss rivers meet in York and run right through it. Love a city with water. The streets are relatively wide, the buildings old and the shopping plentiful. Rats, no time. We tried to take a walking tour of York but missed it by about 5 minutes. So we headed off to see York Minster and avoid the Saturday crowds.
York Minster is the largest medieval gothic cathedral in northern Europe and the seat of the Archbishop of York. We took the guided tour because you always get more info and more interesting info than if you just walk around on your own. It has a long and important history which you can read about at www.yorkminster.org. Its size alone is pretty impressive. Sorry we don't have better pictures to show you.
After the tour we climbed the 275 stairs up the central tower to get the view. Luckily there was a child in front of us so there was no need to hurry. Nothing worse than people behind you when you are climbing these very high, narrow and winding stairways. Truth be told, the view was a little disappointing but the exercise was good.
Saturday was museum day, with a quick stop at a craft fair where I got two pair of earrings and a bracelet. Not bad. One of the pair of earrings and the bracelet are made of Whitby Jet. Jet comprises an unusually pure and hard form of fossilized wood - more specifically an ancient and relatively abundant species of monkey puzzle tree which were laid down in the early Jurassic era some 175-185 million years ago. There's more to it than that, but that'll do for now. Except to say it's where the expression 'jet black' comes from.
The first museum we went to was the Yorkshire Museum - opened in 1830, one of the oldest running museums in England. It's mostly an archeological type museum but they had other stuff like a pottery exhibit, a gallery with truly amazing wildlife photography, and an excellent exhibit called 'Dust off the Dodo' which had a variety of old things like dodo bones, gems, a 1914 teddy bear and more. Very interesting. There was also a bit of Roman and Viking stuff there. It may be one of my new favorite museums along with the Ashmolean here in Oxford. Really well done.
The museum was literally built on the site of St Mary's Abbey ruins which you can see in the museum basement in the exact location where they were found. It has a very cool effect and you can see a picture below. As it is written on some other website…
'This Benedictine Abbey was once the wealthiest and most powerful monastery in the North. The second church to be built on this site, it was completed in 1294 and is in the Early English style. The abbey fell into ruin after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 instigated by King Henry VIII.'
Just outside the museum is the Multangular Tower which was originally a corner of the Roman fortress. Only the lower 6 metres are Roman; the larger stones were added in the late 13th Century to strengthen the medieval fortifications of the Abbey and City. There's a picture below.
| York - click for bigger picture | ||||
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) Americans are everywhere! |
) St. Mary's Abbey's ruins |
) More St. Mary's Abbey ruins |
) They built the museum around these ruins |
) Tom and Toby |
) Tom and the ruins |
) People enjoying the sunshine |
) Walking on the city wall |
) Multangular Tower |
) A tree in bloom |
Then we headed across town to the Castle Museum - this reminded Tom of the Smithsonian Museum of American History - lots about life in Yorkshire, street scenes, exhibits about culture and society. An excellent museum. There was a WWII exhibit with a sign in the window explaining 'demobilisation'. If you remember our September 7th 2003 web page, one of our bits and bobs items had to do with being 'demob happy'. Well, this is where the expression comes from. There is now a print of it at my desk, marked with a few alterations. I think I've been a bit demob happy since we hired Jane and now that she's started it's just getting worse. Going to be a long wait for my 'leaving do' in September. Back to York…
Across from the museum is Clifford's Tower - erected by William the Conqueror as part of his campaign to overthrow the North. Clifford's Tower was the scene of what was perhaps one of the most terrible events in York's history. In 1190 the Jews of York sought refuge there after being attacked by a local mob. They were given the choice of being either baptised or killed, but they took a third option and committed mass suicide. At this time the tower was built of timber and so burned to the ground. It was rebuilt in stone. We didn't actually go up to the tower because we heard there was nothing there. But we did get a picture.
| York - click for bigger picture | ||||
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) View of the Minster from the wall |
) Inside the Minster |
) Inside Minster - kings |
) Inside Minster - kings |
) Toby on the climb to the top |
) Busy shopping street in York |
) Ducks outside the Castle Museum |
) Castle Museum complex |
) Inside the museum |
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) The origin of the phrase 'demob happy' |
) Scary!! |
) Clifford's Tower |
) Tom and Toby at the beach |
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After lunch we got in the car and drove a bit to Ripon, to Fountains Abbey. Fountains Abbey is a World Heritage Site and is owned by the National Trust here in the UK. As members of the National Trust, we got in free! The Abbey, Britain's largest monastic ruin, was founded in 1132 by 13 Benedictine monks seeking a simpler life. They later became Cistercian monks. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 by Henry VIII, the Abbey buildings and over 500 acres (202ha) of land were sold by the Crown to Sir Richard Gresham, a merchant. After many generations it was donated to the National Trust. The abbey's official site is here: http://www.fountainsabbey.org.uk It's a fabulous place, all 500+ acres. The abbey ruins are spectacular and the grounds afforded us a really pleasant walk which included a small deer park. The pictures here, as nice as they are, don't really do it justice.
Back for dinner and in time for most of the Eurovision, a European song competition that you've just got to see to believe. The music is generally bad and every country gets to vote for their favorites and every country votes for their neighbors. Terry Wogan is the English commentator who basically "takes the piss out of it" all night, making fun of everything from the lyrics to the costumes to the voting. Poor Tom had nowhere to go and was stuck watching it with me.
| Fountains Abbey - click for bigger picture | ||||
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) Fountains Abbey in the distance |
) Bigger!! |
) The Abbey ruins |
) Nice flowerpot! |
) Toby |
) Tom |
) Abbey |
) Abbey - long |
) Abbey - tall |
) Looking back |
) Water garden on the grounds |
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On Sunday we took the long way around and through the North Yorkshire Moors Nat'l Park to get to Whitby, a seaside resort on the east coast with connections to Capt'n Cook and Dracula. We stopped at a farm (petting zoo type thing) but we were too early so we headed on to Rievaulx Abbey. We thought Rievaulx Abbey was beautiful, but not as nice as Fountains. I'm sure there are those who disagree. We also went to Rievaulx Terrace and Temples, a stretch of land overlooking the Abbey ruins (another National Trust site). Good views of the ruins from above and a nice walk through the woods.
Onto Whitby. After checking into our B&B (very nice!), we had Sunday Roast at a nearby restaurant. After all, no point in being in Yorkshire if you're not going to have Yorkshire pudding, is there? Lunch was good, but I must say that Steve and Sharon's Yorkshire pudding is still the best we've had. We spent the afternoon walking along the coast and enjoying the sun and the view near Capt'n Cooks' statue. It is a lovely town but not what we were thinking of when we decided to go to the Yorkshire moors. We did enjoy some good fish & chips at Magpie's - reputed to be the best in the world. Not sure I'd go that far, but it was worth the ½ hour wait to get in. Too much food though. After dinner we spent some time in the arcade playing the fruit (slot) machines. Only the cheap ones though (5 pence), Tom was with me.
| Rievaulx Abbey - click for bigger picture | ||
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) Rievaulx Abbey up close |
) Rievaulx Abbey from above |
) Temple, above the Abbey |
| Whitby - click for bigger picture | |||
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) Captain Cook Memorial |
) Coastal view - nice bird! |
) Whitby panorama |
) Tom inside a whale's jawbone |
The North Yorkshire Moors Railway is an 18 mile heritage steam railway that runs north/south through the Yorkshire Moors. Although we had wanted to take a ride on the steam engine the timing just didn't work out. So on Monday, instead of taking the train ride we went to Goathland, one of the stops along the train line, and went for a 4 mile hike along the path of the original railroad. It was a really nice walk. Not too difficult but the scenery was hard to beat. Plus we got to see the steam engine as it went by. As an added bonus, the Goathland train station was used in the Harry Potter movies - it's Hogsmeade station where Harry and crew caught the Hogwarts Express. It's really tiny.
| North Yorkshire Moors Walk - click for bigger picture | |||
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) N. Yorkshire Moors (Goathland) |
) A view from our walk |
) Another view |
) Lambs on the walk |
) Tom on the walk |
) Steam train rolling by |
) Toby at the Hogwarts train station |
) Common moor vegetation |
On the way home we stopped at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park which we noticed on the way up to York It's a beautiful park - 500 acres of landscape and gardens with a changing display of modern and contemporary sculpture exhibitions. And sheep. It was a lovely park with some really interesting sculptures. A nice break for the ride home.
| Sculptures - click for bigger picture | |||
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) Sculpture |
) Sculpture |
) Sculpture |
) Sculpture |
It was a fabulous weekend, even if we did have to miss a dance class. Apparently they just added a bit to the Cha Cha which Sharon and Steve showed us. Next is the Rhumba. We missed yoga too, but we sure did a lot of walking and climbing to make up for it.
Other fun stuff
Sailing / spa weekendIn a repeat performance Sharon, Alex, Autumn and I spent a long weekend, Friday to Sunday, at a 'health farm'. That's a 'spa' for most of you. This time I brought the camera so here are a few pics. There is one of me during the wax bath before she put the blanket on but as I was basically just wrapped in wax and clear-ish plastic Tom wouldn't put the picture up. (Phew!) I splurged again but I have no control in situations like this. It really is a treat to spend the weekend in a bathrobe and be totally pampered and massaged and detoxed all weekend. Plus Christopher Parker was there, an actor who plays Spencer on EastEnders (a major soap opera here) and is in a new ballroom dance show. I was off getting an eye treatment, but Sharon, Alex and Autumn were even in the hot tub with him for a little bit. You know you are living it up when you are hanging with the stars. When I win the lottery I will make an excellent rich person.
While the girls were in heaven, the boys, Trevor, Tim, Steve and Tom were on the sea - sailing. They did the same thing last year but Tom had to head to California for a conference that weekend so he couldn't go. They had good weather but apparently too much wind on Saturday - Tim and Tom lost their breakfasts - and light winds on Sunday. Beautiful sunny day though! The scenery from the water was great - the South Devon coast is beautiful. Next year the girls want the guys to join them at the spa. Would love to be here for that…
| Spa Weekend - click for bigger picture | |||||
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) my room |
) Room view |
) Waiting room |
) the girls |
) wax bath |
) Thalassotherapy room |
Tom's birthday update - there is none because no one has emailed me with any present suggestions. Thanks.
As for work, my replacement started this week. Her name is Jane Taylor and so far she's picked things up pretty quickly. I wish I had more time to spend with her as it has been a very busy week, but we're off to Norway on Friday and I leave her in good hands with Arry and Fiona. It's a little odd introducing her to everybody but I'm liking it. I can feel my level of responsibility lifting already.
Guests
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Tom's cousin, John Shuman, made the trip over for a visit. We usually see John on Labor Day weekend at Cape Cod, but we've missed a few years of that being over here. So John, who has made a few trips over here for walking holidays, came for a visit and a walk. He came on Tuesday, and then set off walking half of the Ridgeway Trail (about 40 miles) with a friend on Wednesday. He returned to us for the weekend and then off he went again on Monday a.m. Short as it was, it was fun to see him. We also had a nice walk with him in/near the small town of Minster Lovell which is near us in the Cotswolds. Lovely rolling hills and lovely late afternoon light.
We also had Tom's cousin Margot up for a visit from London. She joined us for lunch and for a nice walk on Port Meadow, and she got to reminisce about her time here in Oxford a few years back. It was lovely to have her; we've enjoyed spending time with her at her place in North London and it was nice to have her here in Oxford.
Music
No music this time...oh well. We look forward to Chris Smither in July though and who knows who else we might sneak in before then.Plays
Movies
Bits & Bobs
And there you have it for this report.
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