Vikings in York

I'm already back in New Zealand after a wonderful 3 month long "summer" holiday in the UK, and although I've set the date for this blog back in time (to the day that we went to York itself), I'm only managing to blog about York in the first weekend of the semester.

I haven't gotten around to blogging about the last few weeks in England. Undoubtedly it has been fun, right till the very end, but a huge wave of pre-holiday blues interrupted any productivity whatsoever. Not to mention coming back to New Zealand has turned me into some sort of depressed hermit.
Blogging and uploading photos aside (which take up quite a bit of time, surprise surprise), I haven't made a any progress in the huge pile of newly bought law text books and course books that sit on my desk. They come in volumes now, too. Brilliant.

Looking back at these pictures of York (which I have only managed to upload about a third onto facebook due to a certain person refusing to smile properly... :P), I am nothing but nostalgic.
I truly miss the place- the culture, the food, the weather, and the people.

thought I had mastered the art in reading maps, but Ralph did all the navigating that day. 

York was absolutely beautiful, a city full of historic attractions and life. Though the weather was gloomy and slushy due to the sudden burst of snowfall the day before, the photos still turned out alright. York Minster was smaller than I had expected- the photos online misled me to believe that it was absolutely enormous. The size of Buckingham Palace or bigger! I'm not terribly good at making out sizes of things in photos anyway, so perhaps it wasn't so large after all.

We also went to the Jorvik Viking Centre. The smell at first was honestly unbearable. To keep in theme with the Viking Age, the entire musuem was infused with a musky, almost rotting smell that would give you an idea of what it was like back then. Guaranteed, they did not have as efficient a sanitation system as we do now, but who knew that the smell would be so overpowering!

I accustomed to the smell not too long after being inside though- so maybe that's how people back then dealt with it. The Jorvik Viking Centre is built on actual remains of 1000 year old houses! There was a ride as well that allowed you to travel into the city of Jorvik itself, hear the wax figures converse in Norse, and see how they went about their daily routine! I can't tell you how grateful I am for living in this present day and age. It's an experience I will never forget.

standing in the snow

I'm also studying the Norman Conquest this year, and just coming back from the UK has inspired me tremendously. I can't imagine what it must be like to study British History in the UK itself!
At least one would have the opportunity to actually go around all the sites discussed in history books and textbooks. The unfortunate thing about New Zealand history is that I have absolutely no interest in it, so it follows that I won't be able to apply that same theory here.

the house of John Goodricke (a famous astronomer who managed to discover a lot of cool things about stars)

I imagine York would be lovely around the summer time as well. As you can see from the majority of the photos uploaded here, and on facebook, the weather was not exactly the best that day.
Nevertheless, a great experience of trudging through snow, slush, and history.

All my love always,

April