The eastern coast, southern city, and more museums

On the train to Whitby!

Whitby!

The Irish Pipes

Whitby Abbey

The fun continued the next week!  After much debate and deliberation over train tickets and days and prices and buses, we finally decided late Sunday night that Monday we would train to Whitby, Wednesday we would bus to London, and Friday Kenneth and Adam would train to Edinburgh.

Fish and Chips!

The Yorkshire Moors

Since the price was significantly cheaper and we didn't think there would be as much to see in the small town of Whitby as it turns out there was, we left Monday at a leisurely time of 12:30 and hit the small coastal town of Whitby, nestled in the midst of the Yorkshire Moors, population approximately 15,000.   What an adorable little city!  After an impressively scenic train ride through the Moors, we arrived to sunshine and a warm sea breeze.  Not realizing how little time we would end up having, we wandered lazily through the town, spotting fishing boats, lobster cages, and loads of seagulls.  We stopped and admired a local street musician playing the hauntingly beautiful Uilleann Irish Pipes.    Well actually, Jon and I listened while Kenneth and Adam deliberated over which chocolate to buy in a nearby candy shop.  We then made it up to the sight that makes Whitby famous (to be shortly followed by the tastes which makes Whitby famous...), Whitby Abbey.  The first religious establishment on the site began in 657 AD with Abbess Hilda, and now it was of the iconic images of the city.  Damaged greatly not only by a barrage of sea winds and weather, it was also damaged by the Germans in WWI, and now is greatly in ruins, but is still quite beautiful and striking.  After admiring the abbey for quite some time, it was quickly time for dinner before our train back.  The fish eaters among us made sure to get some of the much talked about fish and chips, supposedly the best fish and chips in all of England.  The rest of us got the chips and just had a bite of the fish to see what all the hype was about.  A few games of cards on the train and we were back in York before we knew it. 

Traditional English Breakfast

The next day was back in York, to catch the last museum left to see, the Yorkshire Museum.  A first for Jon and I, it was interesting to see all the archeological artifacts they have found all over the city through the years. We began the day though by taking Kenneth and Adam to a little cafe down the street for a traditional English breakfast.  The vegetarian version includes toast, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, and baked beans (and tea of course).  It was good.  Speaking of good things, after getting our fair share of museums (until the next day), we basked in the glorious sun and ate ice cream from a little truck in the city square.  It was an early night, as it was about to be an early morning...

Rosetta Stone!

Arming ourselves with apples, tangerines, bananas, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies (thanks mom), hazelnuts, almonds, raisins, other dried fruit, and water bottles, layered clothing, extra batteries for cameras, we were fully equipped for our 24 hour day in London.  Our bus left the station at 6:00 AM.  That meant that some of us got up at 4:30 AM.  5 1/2 hrs later we arrived in balmy London!  First stop was the British Museum of course.  Jon and I made good time, and in a span of three hours managed to cruise through the Greek, Roman, Assyrian, Egyptian, Ancient Mesopotamian, and parts of the Asian, African, and Enlightenment sections, and then made the 30 minute walk to the British Library where we spent an hour.  On the other hand, in the same amount of time, Kenneth managed to see the Greek, Egyptian, and part of the Assyrian sections, the same things he saw two years ago :) (He's happy because he said he managed to see one more room than last time)  The British Library was amazing!!  Not only does it house like every book ever published in Britain, it also has an amazing section with some rare manuscripts and original editions.  For instance, we saw Jane Austen's desk, Beethoven's tuning fork, the original scores of Ravel, Purcell, Mozart, Handel and more, a 1410 edition of The Canterbury Tales, one of the oldest copies of Aesop's Fables, Henry VIII's prayer scroll (when he was still pious), the original Magna Carta, the Gutenburg Bible, some correspondence of Charles Darwin and Leonardo de Vinci, original lyrics scrawled by the Beatles on napkins, and Jon's personal favorites, the Codex Sinaiticus (one of two manuscripts which our Bibles are largely based on),the Lindisfarne Bible, and a cool ancient Bible with silver ink. 

After we all met up again at the library, (at this point the British Museum had closed and forced Kenneth and his camera out), we did a quick scramble around the various theatres of West End before finally deciding to go see Wicked about 5 minutes before the show started.  Modern and flashy, but quite good!  A quick to-go order at an Indian restaurant across the street, and brisk walk to the bus station, and at 11:30 PM we were beginning the 5 hr bus ride back to York, arriving at 4:30 as the sun was coming up.  What a bus ride, yikes.  For the first two hours, the driver didn't seem to realize the heat was blasting out at our feet.  After a 75 degree day and a bus full of people, this was not what we needed.  We were hungry, tired, sweaty, and getting grumpier by the minute.  When the bus stopped two hours in to get gas and no one else seemed to be making a move, I decided enough was enough.  I marched up to the front of the bus, determined that I would be polite but I was not sitting back down until the heat was off and the cold air turned on.  The conversation was successful, and the entire bus thanked me as I made my way back to my seat, afterwhich we enjoyed a much more pleasant remainder of the ride.











Thursday was obviously a much needed recovery day.  Jon and I managed to rouse ourselves by 12:30 or so.  Kenneth made an appearance around 2:00, and finally told Adam at 2:30 if he didn't get up soon he wouldn't be able to sleep that night.  We hung out most of the day, made one last trip to the store for the needed ingredients to our Greek meal that night, and played several games of Dutch Blitz and Forbidden Island, which was a hit.


Today Jon and I were left to our own devices as Kenneth and Adam made their own day trip to Edinburgh (another early morning/late night for them).  We attempted to be productive, which is quite difficult when you aren't in the habit of being so anymore!  Did manage to write another 400 words for my last essay, do 3 loads of laundry, and clean the house for our next guests, Jon's cousin and husband, who arrive tomorrow, and exercised.  We now anxiously await their soon return to hear of their adventures in Edinburgh before sadly seeing them off bright and early tomorrow morning.  What a nice visit with two awesome guys!! 

The four of us!