We woke up to beautiful “English” weather. I’m talking about sun and blue sky. It was perfect weather to take a walking tour of the city. They offer free walking tours for 2 hours. The lady was very informative and gave an interesting tour. There is evidence that Mesolithic people settled in York between 8,000 and 7,000 BC. The city was founded by the Romans around 71 AD.

There was still plenty of decorations left around the city from the Tour de France (which started here this year). There were yellow bikes and flags everywhere. I think one highlight of the city was seeing the ruins of an abbey. They ended up taking it down to use the stone on other buildings around as they already had another minster. A man decided that the remains should be saved and bought the land so nobody could ruin where a beautiful abby once stood.

It was a nice tour of the city but we didn’t have much time. We had another 4 hour drive to Glasgow so it was back on the road for us.

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We made it to York, England last night.  My parents arrived around noon and it took us until 2:00 to get going.  The car rental process isn’t the fastest when you really want an automatic.  The drive took around 4 hours, and I was pretty shocked at how much traffic there was the entire drive.

Since we didn’t get to our hotel until a little after 6, we headed straight out to the town to find some dinner.  The bed & breakfast is a cute little place a little outside the center of town. It was built around the 1880’s so it has a lot of old charm.  We basically picked the first pub we saw since it was after 7 when we got into the center of town.  The place was called Hole in the Wall and seemed like a pretty traditional English pub inside.  We sat on little stools, and you placed your order at the bar.

By the time dinner was done it was after 8.  Since we were all tired, we didn’t walk around long, but it does stay light longer.  I took a couple of pictures but expect to have more after I walk around the city in the morning.  It is different from the rest of the European cities I have visited since everything is brick here.

I expect some pretty long days since I woke up at 4:20 this morning because it was light outside and the owls were very chatty.

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My suitcase is packed again and the plane is departing tomorrow for London. My parents will follow suit the next day. I need the extra day to get a good night sleep before our first long drive. Most of the trip will be in Scotland but the first couple of days there will be long drives through the English countryside. As long as I remember you drive on the left side of the road and on the right side of the car, I think we should manage to make our way north. There will plenty to see and lots of towns to visit to. Below is an overview of the journey that awaits. I’m leaving the hot weather behind me in Portland and heading to nice 70 degree weather. Perfect for touring around.