Not-So-New York

Today we ventured to the great, historic city of York.

On the train, we sat near a family with the cutest little boy. I swear little kids in England are the coolest! He kept saying funny phrases, like (imagine in a very English accent), "Naughty Daddy! You ate all my crisps!" (potato chips), and "You could work from home on your computa, and every Friday, you could take me swimmin'!" He was a crack-up. We also passed these AWESOMELY bright yellow fields.
Once in York, we headed straight for the York Minster. On our way, we found one of those sweet, red, classic telephone booths, so we decided to all cram in and take a picture. An older British man offered to take it for us, which turned out to be the funniest sight ever! He is standing in the middle of the street as cars are going around him, and he can't find us in the view-finder so he's moving the camera all around (like 90* away from us!). It was hilarious! Finally he found us, and clicked a picture. We proceeded to talk with him and his Welsh friend for the next half hour. They told us stories about the Clintons, etc. It was great; they were so cute.
The York Minster was AMAZING! We got to go up in the tower (2 hundred-some steps up a very tight spiral staircase), and then also down to the Undercroft (underground to the tombs and treasury).
(This is us at the top; we figured taking our own picture was cheaper than buying the shirts in the gift shop)

As we were walking out, we walked past a Vitamin Water truck with two guys handing out free orange Vitamin Waters. We walked up to get some and the guy gave us 4 and asked if he could take a picture of us jumping in the air. I had him take one with my camera as well, so look for this picture on a Vitamin Water ad...we could be famous someday!

We finally had our first experience with fish and chips, or "fish 'n chippies." (Chips are french fries). It was actually WAY good! I loved it! We got our food and were walking around, and came upon a guy doing some street entertainment. We stopped to watch and he did a whole show (getting himself out of chains, etc.), involving our friend, Candice, as one of his helpers. He was hilarious, but it was definitely British humor, if you know what I mean.

We then went to a place in town called "The Shambles" - see below. It's the ancient street of the Butchers of York.
There were some super fun shops there and I got a real crepe (HUGE!) with apples and cinnamon in them. It was delicious, and really fun to watch them make it.
We then went on a open-top double-decker bus tour of the historic sites in York (while it was raining, mind you - it was kind of fun though). Then we got to walk around about half of the city on the old Roman wall that surrounds it. York used to be a Roman city and a lot of the buildings, and the wall are still there. It's really cool! I loved this city!
Some of my favorite shops/signs from today are:
(You gotta click on this one to see it bigger)
Yes, they DO have Salvation Army in England! And the Whip Ma Whop Ma Gate = shortest street in York with the longest name.

But of course, this one beats them all :)It was a GREAT day in a GREAT city!!