A Day in York..... WT drove the 4-hour trek from London to York without incident.  He kept to his side of the road just fine.  The M1 moved right along ...it's efficient but I missed the countryside views and cute little villages on the way.  However, had we taken the cute route, we might still be driving!  It was a fabulously sunny day and we arrived around 2PM.  We dropped our gear at the hotel and took off around the beautiful walled city.  Two hundred years of incredible Gothic architecture.... the York Minster really stands out among the rest.

     The Shambles is an especially quaint and colorful street....fun little cafes, shops and restaurants.  The name comes from the word shammell meaning a butcher's cutting block.  In  medieval times it was the butcher's street.  We zigzagged around the entire city and just couldn't get enough of it.  So, we went out in the evening for another walk..... a guided, ghostly walk to hear about the creepy side of the world's most haunted city - after celebrating Michael's 18th birthday - of course!

    Michael's birthday event was by all accounts notable.... we found a delightful restaurant aptly named Michael's.  We indulged..... roast beef & Yorkshire pud', local sausages & cheesy mash, roast lamb & Yorkshire pud', colourful steamed veggies uniquely served family style.... and we finished up with a shared treacle pudding with lashings of custard. The creepy tour wasn't bad....not brilliant either.... glad we hadn't paid more than we did.

     Rellies arrived from Manchester for a morning visit... great overlap including an altogether trip to the Railway Museum....  York was the railway hub of Northern England in the Industrial Age and its station was the world's largest.  Story has it that in World War II Hitler chose to bomb York simply because he had seen a photo of the city in a travel book.

     "Au revoir, relies" and off and away to Scotland.  Ominous weather rolled in and I was looking for Heathcliff out over the moors.

      Onwards to Hadrian's Wall which I mistakenly took to be the divider between Scotland and England.  I woke up Michael and Madison and welcomed them to Scotland....oooohing and aaaahing over the lush green landscape but also wondering how I'd missed the "Welcome to bonnie, wee Scotland" sign.  

     We pulled into Newcastle and suddenly the world's worst torrential downpour accented with thunder and flashes of lightning jarred us to our senses.  The MI was reduced to 8 to 10mph for about 20 miles.... seemed like forever.  Several roads were entirely washed out but slowly navigable until we hit one road blocked off by police.  This is where I learnt that we were still in Northumberland, England.  She told me how to detour around the closed roads and that the Scottish border was 15 minutes ahead.  She also told me that typically there is someone there in full kilt bagpiping visitors over the line but due to weather, he probably wasn't.  I was so disappointed he wasn't....... I really wanted to be bagpiped in, wouldn't you?  Another time...

     The Northumberland countryside is so beautiful and the transition into Scotland continued to be so.... patchworks of varying shades of green rolled out to as far as one can see.  It's breathtaking.  God's amazing!  

     Edinburgh came into view at around 8PM and only a couple hours later than we had anticipated.  Sainsbury's around the corner along with an M&S Outlet and a view of Aurthur's Seat... I think we are in the right spot....oh, and the Royal Mile just a 15 minute walk away.  How exciting!