York-The Original (Part 2)

Following our lunch we headed off to follow Rick Steve's self guided walking tour through the city. Our walk led us to the Museum Gardens, which seemed to be like a city park. Many of the locals were there with their kids, strollers, picnics, on dates, laying out in the sun, playing soccer, and otherwise enjoying the day. 

Right when we entered the park, we saw the 13th century facade of the Abbey Hospital. The place was crawling with children and I imagined that if we had kids, they would be thrilled to finally see something old they were allowed to climb on. 

The highlight of the Museum Gardens for us was the remains of St. Mary's Abbey. When you travel, you never really know what things you will like, what you'll enjoy doing, what exhibits you'll find touching, and what you'll find strikes you as deeply awe inspiring. For us, the remains of St. Mary's Abbey was one of our biggest surprises. During our trip, we saw several cathedrals and minsters and castles and palaces and museums. It turns out though that scaffolding and restoration construction on these historic sites are as common as the crane in the Vegas skyline. The St. Mary's Abbey was a rare ruin though, left as it was destroyed five centuries ago. No one restored the stained glass, no one added bricks to the crumbling foundation, and no one roped off the entrance and added a toll booth. Instead they let the grass and the flowers grow and now people can come and enjoy the space, making what was once surely a horrific battle ground now a peaceful park.

According to our sage, Mr. Steves, the abbey dates back to the age of William the Conqueror. It was destroyed in the 16th century by Henry the VIII, for money and religion, and ultimately power.

Now only one wall stands. There used to be abbey's like this all over the area.

This one is part of the park, and people come and play in its remains. To us it felt kind of haunted, and it was weird thinking about a place of worship and sanctuary (and likely scandal and political power) being destroyed for the value of the lead in its roof and the idea of paying taxes to the state instead of tithing to the church. While we looked at the stone bricks that were surely chiseled and carved by hand centuries ago, a little girl was kicking a mini soccer ball with her dad under one of the arches. 

The sun would have set behind the west-facing stained glass each afternoon.

It makes a person feel small, and young, but not insignificant.

The museum gardens curators have used much of the stone remains to create pathways and new gardens. Some of the hidden alcoves are stunning and the symbolism of building from the rubble was not lost on us. 

After letting ourselves be awed by the abbey, we moved on to checking out the old multi-angled tower. There were old open (and empty) tombs and the trademark Roman red stripe of bricks. Apparently the lower stones are Roman and the upper stones are medieval. Building on top of Roman ruins was a common occurrence during medieval times, as it was very practical and cheap. And yes, you could walk around and even, should you be so inclined, climb into the tombs. We chose to keep walking as the place was overrun by 9 year old boys asking where the bodies were. 

Leaving the tower, we started our walk around the city wall. York is one of the few cities left with its original city wall still around that you can walk on. All day we were surrounded by hoards of tourists and locals alike, but suddenly we found ourselves alone on a peaceful walk on the wall.

We walked a huge portion of the wall, getting sneak glimpses into the city and sometimes having to single file. A lot of the wall was shaded and many spots still had little alcoves for archers. I felt like Robin Hood only without the whole "avenging the poor" thing.

Yes, that is a moat (now waterless). Very awesome. All it needs is a drawbridge! And so that was the end of our walk around the city. The next stop was the York Minster, which gets it own post. But first, one more picture of the Abbey.