Damn, I’ve had a busy weekend. While participating in events that API is having us do while here in London, I’m also participating in a social program through the University of Westminster. This weekend, we were to take a trip to York, an almost four hour journey from London.
On Saturday morning, Kay, Gaby, Kristen, and I got up at the crack of dawn to head to the tube station. The night before was a late one so I was exhausted as we made our way to Russell Square, bags and Oyster cards in hand. We were to catch the bus with everyone else in the social program at 7:30 that morning and we left with plenty of time to spare, trust me. We had to go from the Russell Square station to King’s Cross, then to Bank. Unfortunately for us, the tube was delayed and we had to wait and watch as 7:30 approached quicker. We finally boarded the tube with less than 10 minutes to get to the bus and we were all a nervous wreck. When the doors opened at the Bank station, the four of us took off in a dead sprint. I’m not kidding, we were running through the tube station, weaving in and out of people, hoping that the bus hadn’t left without us, only about a minute to go. Luckily, as we ran up to the bus and our two adult chaperones, they informed us that they had heard the tube was delayed and we all, completely out of breath, boarded the bus.
The bus ride up to York was highly uncomfortable and Kay and I struggled to get comfortable enough to properly sleep. Lots of changing sleeping positions and getting kinks in my neck. Making only one pit stop to get food and go to the bathroom, we finally arrived in York. We began our time there walking around York Minster and we all were amazed by how grand it was. The architecture was unreal and the scale of it all was hard to comprehend. From there, we were taken to the youth hostel where we would be sleeping that night. After a quick nap, we worked our way into town for a meal at a tavern (Kay had a full bowl of cheese fries. And they tasted amazing). Kay and I then decided to take a ghost tour around town and our tour guide was absolutely hilarious. He was very animated and we couldn’t stop giggling. With all the walking we had done that day, I fell asleep that night in no time.
We all woke up early the next morning, our bus departing around 9:00. We drove down to Fountains Abbey where we saw old church ruins and a beautiful water garden. Kay and I decided that we wanted to see as much as we could, so we literally walked around the entire area, eventually reaching the furthest point, St. Mary’s Church. By the time we made it back to the Visitors Center, we had clocked a time of about 45 minutes and while we were proud of how we powered through that, we were sweating and exhausted. The next stop our bus took was at Hardwick Hall. This house was built for Bess of Hardwick, who remarried for four times and each time, moved higher up in status. She raised her granddaughter in this house, who she was trying to groom to be the next Queen of England, which never happened. The house was full of so much history and I felt very immersed in the story of the women who occupied this grand house. I also got to know a few more people who were participating in the social program with me, so that was nice!
From Hardwick Hall, our bus made one more food and bathroom pit stop before finishing our journey back to London. It felt nice to see a different part of England this weekend. Because I’m only here for three weeks, I don’t have as much to explore the outer scope of the country and this weekend trip offered me just that.
No comments:
Post a Comment