Cindy and Mike Do the World!: Yorkshire, England

We arrived in Manchester and stayed for a night on our way to Leeds to see our friend Kim. Kim had a 3-day itinerary to give us the promised Yorkshire experience and boy, did she deliver! We had a great time! First on the agenda was a trip to Ilkley Moor amidst the dales of Yorkshire. The first thing to note about the dales is how incredibly, brilliantly green everything is. That is, except for the incredibly brilliant yellow rapeseed fields everywhere. We enjoyed the stunning sights briefly before we were literally blown off the moor by the strong wind, directly into the nearby pub. Next up was a trip to Harewood House, a stately home built in the 18th century. In addition to housing the Earl of Harewood, it has a museum exhibiting the history of the house and grounds.

The next day we went to York, in which Kim's Yorker friend Ben showed us around. York is a beautiful and interesting place for many reasons. It is encircled by a massive stone wall built by the Romans in <a very long time ago>. The historic centre consists of The Shambles, a series of cobblestone streets over which the buildings lean towards each other. History is everywhere you look. And so are pubs to shelter you from the torrential rain that comes and goes in an instant.

Finally, Kim drove us all the way to Whitby, a lovely seaside town known for being the landing point of Dracula. The drive to Whitby was as gorgeous as the destination, with dales even more vivid than anything we'd seen before.

Thanks Kim for being such an incredible host during our time in Yorkshire! Our experience there was immeasurably better than if we had've stumbled around on our own.

Ilkley Moor

A wee bit windy but we're having fun!

Mike's hair also blows.

The requisite pub stop after

Random penguin exhibit at Harewood House

Look at these grounds. I can see why people living here back in the day didn't leave... why would you?

Harewood House

Right! Because I really wanted to bite into an onion.

Coolest toilet ever. Apparently the butler used to warm the seat beforehand (these are the days before Toto came into existence). As an aside, I wonder if I could get any royalties from Toto since I give them so many plugs on this blog...

It's time to learn about paintings and Turner (according to the exhibit guide, everyone should know who he is). I wanted to make a joke that the only Turner I know about is named 'Ted' but the expression on the exhibit guide's face made me reconsider and I kept my mouth shut.

I would be more interested in art if all paintings looked like this!

Or sculptures like this... ahem, no, actually, I'll stick to paintings.

Exploring the gardens

And we randomly found a stupa and Buddhist prayer flags!

Scones have taken the place of my daily croissant and the trade isn't half bad. Yum!

York

Streets of York

This dog looked so real to me... exhibit at York Castle Museum.

This is where they should have the sign 'Display only, please do not eat.' Just saying.

Yikes!

Of course, Mike's been looking for these books on Amazon.

York Castle Museum

Time to nip in for a pint! We're loving these pub stops. Thanks again to Ben and Kim for showing us around York -- what a cute place! Oh and Hedy, we finally found someone who watches as few movies as us. It is possible!