York

Our room in York, in Monkbridge House ...

... was charming and included this four poster:

The B&B was close to center city, the old part of York that is surrounded by a centuries-old wall. There are several gates that allow access to center city; this is Monk Gate, closest to our B&B.

The pride of the city is York Minster, the largest cathedral in Northern Europe. 

It's difficult to capture in photos the size of the space inside Minster, with its soaring columns and groined vaulting high above the floor.

We took an abbreviated tour of the cathedral interior; we left it early to join the Under the Crypt tour, which took us into the bowels of the structure. There, we learned how the cathedral was built and rebuilt over many centuries.

Afterward, we took a Rick Steves self-guided tour of York, including walking atop the wall that surrounds it.

Close to the Minster is a modern sculpture of Constantine, who was named emperor while he was in York and where he stayed for six years before returning to Rome. Constantine helped make Christianity the dominant religion of the empire.

On a lighter note, we discovered that the UK has its own version of the Dollar Store.

York has its share of hokey tourist attractions, including ghost tours and witch tours.

In Ireland we learned how the Irish, when they won independence, painted mailboxes (actually, metal pillars) green rather than replace these symbols of the hated English. Here's what they look like in the UK.

We enjoyed a fine dinner in York on our last night there. The next day we'd be off to London and then home.