York the Magnificent

| The mighty York Minster |

England Trip 2015
Saturday, March 28

(10:56 PM) I am greatly enjoying my chocolate malted bar recommended by our poet barista Josh at the Costa Coffee in York. :) He was pleasantly friendly, chatting with me while Mom was off, and we had the longest conversation that I've ever had with anyone besides Mom since we got here. There is something special about making human contact while you're traveling because you find you have things in common with people and you learn some insightful things that you didn't expect.

Our barista Josh made clear that he doesn't like the busy-ness of London, preferring the slower and friendlier way of life in the north – another northerner who loves his part of the country. :)

Then I discovered that he loves poetry – he actually loves sitting by the river and writing it himself! We do differ on what sort of poetry, as his favorites are '50s beat poets, but he also enjoys 18th century novels. :) It was discovering that I studied English literature that brought on the subject. Much of this conversation surprised me, I admit, because I guess I didn't expect to meet a young working man in York who loves literature – even though I should have known better than to have any such preconceptions! After all, I've seen 'North & South' about fifty times! Oh well, I'm glad to say that I was pleasantly surprised out of my prejudices, not unlike Miss Margaret Hale. ;)

That was at the end of our day in York, so I will now say something about the rest of it, starting with the beginning.

We took advantage of the Park and Ride from the outlets on the south side of York, which dropped us nearby to the city's center and most of it's famous sights.

The Shambles in York

We had splendid weather! More glorious sunshine passing in and out of the clouds, lighting up the Minster and the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey beautifully. The latter would have put Marianne Dashwood into raptures, it was so picturesque.

We walked through the famous Shambles first, which is also picturesque, but a tad touristy with its shops and tea rooms. (FYI: "The Shambles" is where a large chunk of Tudor buildings have been preserved.) Still, its Tudor architecture is worth seeing because it takes you back in time in an amazing way! The slightly off-kilter buildings lean into each other over the street just like on a postcard.

We found these fellows over a shop window.

As we left The Shambles from this street in the photo above we entered a sort of square where a weekly market was going on. There were lots of fun local vendors selling crafts, toys, a dangerous number of delicious desserts....

A market at York.

....and some deerstalker hats.

How could I resist?
(Technically it was Mom's idea... Well, the collar bit was mine.)

We almost missed Molly's Tea Room because it is tucked away above an antique store. So when you follow the map to the spot you can't see it from the street. They had the most delicious looking cakes, so we had to have some after our pea soup and our cheese and chutney sandwiches. Another lovely touch was the lady charge calling everyone 'love' or 'darlin''. :) That never gets old!

Me with my lemon poppy seed cake and tea
at Molly's Tea Rooms

Mom with her coffee and walnut cake
in Molly's Tea Room

Split pea soup with a sandwich.

We glimpsed York Minster (the famous and enormous church) and found a used bookshop with seven rooms of books around the corner... How we got out of there in fifteen minutes is mystery.

The Museum Gardens with the Abbey ruins is just down the street. (Everything in York is nicely close together. It was constantly surprising me.) It is a lovely park! There are Roman, Medieval and Tudor ruins, and it was lush and green with daffodils and tulips everywhere.

The Roman wall in the Museum Gardens.

St. Mary's Abbey ruins in the Museum Gardens, built in the 14th century and destroyed by Henry VIII in the 16th century.

It's the epitome of a picturesque scene! (Picturesque in the 18th century romantic sense, that is.)
St. Mary's Abbey ruins.

Proof that we were there. :)

We found the Minster again, and Mom thought we should try going in even though it was closed by then. But this time being a rebel paid off. We went in the open door and realized that it was 5:14, which meant that we got to stay inside and listen to the evensong service that was to begin at 5:15! We stood in the corner listening to the choir and we got to take pictures. A total win. (Unlike in Westminster Abbey where one is never allowed to take pictures.) It was filled with that glorious golden light, making the warm stone glow and the stained glass windows jump out from the walls in vivid color.

There it is: York Minster!

We'd heard of its reputation for being enormous, and boy did it live up to that. It's massive!

The nave (or whatever it's called... it's the main part of the building, anyway).

One of the stained glass windows above us.

Later we found the city wall, which gives a great view of York. That is another Roman remnant – they're everywhere! York almost feels like a history book with its variety of architecture from the Romans to the Normans to the medieval period to the Tudors to the present day. Mom and I just loved it!

The Roman wall around York. One of the most complete of its kind at over two miles long.

Climbing up on the wall gives you a fabulous view of the Minster.

It was nearly dark, so after stopping by Clifford's Tower (built by William the Conqueror in the 1080s), we caught the park and ride bus back to the Outlets, stopped by Sainsbury's, and made it home safely.

Another bastion of William the Conqueror: Clifford's Tower, right in the middle of York.

© 2016 Anna Morton

Yorkshire: It's the North

| The wild scenery of Yorkshire. |

England Trip 2015

Friday, March 27 

What we're full of now is our cottage and its wild Yorkshire surroundings. No matter where we've been in this county the view is simply historic. Even the trees radiate history! I can just see Richard III or Hotspur riding about while looking fierce in their cloaks and girded with swords. (I wish I would see Hotspur, specifically in the guise of Joe Armstrong...)

The trees are bare, except for the blossoms bursting out alongside the leaves. The sun was casting a glorious golden light, making all that fierce nature glow.

But we're supposed to lose the sun tomorrow to the presence of a definite rain, but I'm hoping for a sudden change that will prove the predictions wrong. Yet the sun today was one of the many things that reminded me how God is taking care of us, because it would have been utter chaos and terror for Mom (and me) trying to drive in the rain. I cannot be thankful enough that God spared us from that!

It was quite nerve-wracking enough without the rain. But Mom showed her skill with a stick shift, and God showed His love in protecting us. :) Its a little red Renault – quite snazzy – and by tomorrow it will be quite insured, no thanks to me.

The boot of our snazzy rental car.

Apparently all UK car rental companies must include CDWs (Collision Damage Waivers) in contracts – which nulls any coverage your credit card will give you (at least the one we had with Mastercard) – but if you book on a US website the CDW is (for us) conveniently optional. Thankfully we were able to change to another level of travel insurance that includes a zero deductible (we only had to cancel our current plan and buy the other for our remaining time). 

I am rather fond of World Nomad travel insurance after today. As we recovered in the New Moon pub in Collingham from our first terrifying leg on the road Mom got in touch with them and found out the good news (after she waited on hold a little and we prayed a lot). A cup of tea was so comforting just at that moment!

Landing in England! We're home!

And now we are relishing the comfort of the cottage we are allowed to call home for four days. It feels nearly as good as home! Coming back to England made me feel so happy, and compared to Paris and Haarlem it actually feels familiar.

Except for the accents.

I love these accents. It's like we've been dropped into North & South! Our immigration officer had a textbook northern accent, and when we told him about our visit he said, "We're very proud of our country up here" (or, more accurately, "oop eer" :) ). He was friendly, replying to my comment that London is different from where I come from by saying, "I think London is different from anywhere." :)

Our lovely lodgings in the quaint village of Selby.

Our host has a southern (English) accent, and is a very sweet lady, who appears to enjoy gardening with her husband in their large and lovely garden. They seem to be fairly well off, educated, hospitable people, providing us with Twining's tea and stacks of Yorkshire magazines and travel resources. I have put together a pile of books and magazines for my entertainment. :)

Studying up on my Yorkshire knowledge and history. ;)

Time for tea!!

© 2016 Anna Morton

I'm Back! The Ten Booms in the Original Haarlem

| Our first journey into Haarlem, The Netherlands' smaller, but still unforgettable city. |

Note: One last entry from memory! Which is one reason why this post has been so delayed, for which I apologize. But I hope you enjoy hearing of our jaunt into Haarlem, one of the pleasantest cities I've yet to visit!

Never have I been so pleasantly surprised by any city on our travels as I was with Haarlem. To be honest, I was a little nervous about visiting a country where we knew absolutely nothing of the language, nor had done hours of research to understand the culture. But all of our fears were needless, for The Netherlands seems to be home to the nicest people, who all want to practice their English on you. :)

We left the Gare du Nord on a Thalys train quite early in the morning. It was quite pleasant to arrive at the station in time and without rushing like maniacs on our way there, huffing and puffing with all of our baggage. We got to walk down the platform in a leisurely fashion and take our seats like normal people. We had breakfast from the dining car while watching the French countryside go by. We went through Brussells, Antwerp and Rotterdam, craning our necks to see what we could of those unfamiliar places, before arriving in Amsterdam to take the train into Haarlem.

We had a little trouble finding our way around the station. One would think that finding a ticket window would be simple. Oh, and finding a working ATM was even worse! I think we asked about three people before locating one that worked.

Our train had two levels, and we took seats on the top to have a better view of this fascinating and unknown country, lying under a dreary grey sky, though it was. Now, if you ever visit a completely unknown city, always get directions to you accommodations, or you will wander around said city for ages trying to figure out where in the world you are even going.

As you might guess, we did not follow the aforementioned advice. A very helpful security man in the train station tried to direct us to our AirBNB based on its address, as did a bus driver and a nice lady on the street. But to no avail. The street was nowhere to be found. Finally an older lady who had once lived on that street was able to give us definite directions – thank the Lord! However, we were running out of time to visit the Ten Boom museum, so we decided to find it before we walked across town to our AirBNB.

Any excuse for some Dutch coffee and cake!

We needed wifi in order to contact our host, since we were already rather later that we had told him we would be, so we found a sort of cafe in a clothing shop to rest our feet and have an energizing cup of coffee while we got online. We couldn't resist the idea of some apple cake, too...

Our host was very kind, getting back to us right away to tell us we could arrive whenever we were done touring the museum. So we popped into the Ten Boom house to inquire after tour times, and happily there was an English tour coming up. We bought our tickets, then, with an hour to spare we decided to check out the local shops. There was a sort of miniature Ikea/Tuesday Morning sort of shop with all sorts of fun knick knacks and home stuff that we enjoyed perusing, and we bought a a few little odd things like a Union Jack luggage tag (of all things), chocolate and a tea bag holder with pretty little blue wooden shoes painted on it. We found something practical, too: plastic rain ponchos to cover our luggage. It sort of worked... They did keep our luggage from being soaked by the rain, at least.

The Ten Boom family museum.

What an amazing experience – absolutely unforgettable. Our tour guide around the Ten Boom museum was a little elderly Dutch lady who had lived in Haarlem during the Nazi occupation of WWII. What a woman she was! Not only did she have a strong spirit and great compassion as she shared Christ and the gospel more than once, but she was such a character, often making us laugh with her humorous little comments. On the tour with us there were a couple other Americans, an English couple, a family from Romania (I think) and a couple of German ladies. We all sat in the parlor where the Ten Boom family would have gathered to conduct church services or play games with the Jews they were hiding. It was small, but cozy, and had a clock or two that were actually made by Mr. Ten Boom himself.

The door to the Ten Boom museum.

The upstairs bedroom, which was Corrie's, was the most chilling and at the same time the most thrilling. It was where the Jews who were waiting to be smuggled out of the country were hidden whenever the Nazi soldiers came to search the house. They would all climb in through the linen closet...



... And then hide out in the narrow space behind the wall. The wall itself was fascinating because it was specially constructed out of brick – and this was because if someone knocks on the wall it doesn't sound hollow like wood does. And the Nazi soldiers would go around knocking on peoples' walls to check for hiding places.

Mom behind the Ten Boom wall.

And me... It felt a little small. I couldn't imagine
being stuck in there for days! And sometimes
they were.

From the rooftop of the Ten Boom museum.

The next stop was the rooftop. It was an important place during the war years because it was where the hiding Jews would come to get some much-needed fresh air once in a while. There are walls up there, which hides them while allowing them an opportunity to get outside.

It was an inspiring and humbling experience to see this house in person, to be in the places where there had been so much fear and yet so much kindness and bravery – the Ten Booms had faith in God's promises to Israel, that those who blessed Israel would be blessed by God, and hundreds of people escaped through that families ministry as a result.

After our tour we took some time to walk around the city. It seems like a sort of northern European version of Venice, with it's unique architecture and lovely canals. Even on such a gloomy day the red brick and pointed rooftops gave this city so much charm!

The canals of Haarlem.

St. Bavo Square, Haarlem

We finished our day in St. Bavo Square, dominated by the gargantuan, yet somehow not overpowering, Cathedral of St. Bavo.

Cathedral of St. Bavo

We chose to eat dinner at a restaurant in the square, because we couldn't resist having a view like this! The restaurant was Brinkmann and got good ratings on TripAdvisor. But we had a bit to learn about ordering in Dutch restaurants, and about Dutch servers in particular, which I will now share for everyone's future reference. It's quite simple, once you know. But if you don't know then you will have to learn the slow way like we did, and I literally mean slow. We had been sitting at our table for maybe fifteen minutes without even a glance from a server, when a couple at the table next to us took pity on our confused looks and asked us if they could help. It was then that we told them our dilemma and they explained that in the Netherlands diners must always physically wave down their server before they will come to your table.

The fact that we Americans don't usually do this in our restaurants gave this couple a mild moment of panic since they, being Dutch and having visited America, were waiving down their servers during their time in the States. But we reassured them that American servers wouldn't mind – we do have a reputation for being friendly and informal, after all. :)

Our food came after we flagged down our server, and we had a fun time chatting with our helpful neighbors while we ate. They were as friendly as every other Dutch person we'd met, and enjoyed telling us about their travels in the US and the UK, which we were happy to hear. They were also the ones who informed us that Dutch children learn English from an elementary school age, and that whenever a Dutch person meets an native English speaker they want to practice their English with you. :) So it's hard for English speakers to practice their Dutch!



I have not yet mentioned our accommodations and the pleasant surprise we discovered there, which I shall now do. We did eventually find the place, and it was down a quiet street across a canal, with vines growing up over it's front. The rooms were not large, but clean and cheerful, and our host welcomed us by making us a nice warm cup of homemade cocoa, which the chilly weather outside made even more lovely. After talking to him a bit about our adventures of the day and what it was like for him growing up and living in the Netherlands, we discovered that his entire family was Christian! And not only that, but we shared the common struggle of finding a church committed to preaching Biblical truth.

There is nothing like meeting a fellow brother or sister in Christ who lives halfway around the world... They are family, and you can tell that bond is there just by talking with them for a few minutes. It's amazing!

He carried our suitcases up the narrowest, steepest little staircase I have ever climbed, and to our room. It was pink! The bedding, decor, chair cushions, and even a bit of wall paper and paint (which of course I loved, as it is my favorite color). It was as warm and cheerful as the Dutch people themselves.

Our pink room in Haarlem.

We returned from our dinner well after dark, and dragged ourselves out of bed at six the next morning so we could get to the airport on the city bus. Our host had promised us breakfast, which in itself was an exciting prospect, but we were not prepared for the bounty that appeared on those trays!

Our breakfast in Haarlem.

Yes, we each got our own. We had coffee, tea, cocoa, milk, orange juice, an egg, a huge slice of homemade bread, yogurt, a tangerine, a banana, ham, cheese and cereal. We knew a minor catastrophe had occurred when we heard quite a crash on the stairs, which turned out to be one of our trays on its way up. But another one was quick to appear. :) It was delicious! The bread was especially a treat, and it was sad to have to leave any of it. But no matter how much I wanted to finish it, there was no way that I could.

We made it out in good time, and happily we had a crisp sunny morning while we walked to the bus stop. It went straight to the airport from the center of the city and dropped us off right in front of the Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport about 45 minutes later.

That is one nice airport! I loved it. It's new, clean and pleasant; although these aspects were certainly enhanced by the fact that we were there in plenty of time and didn't have to rush around.

Our destination was the Leeds-Bradford airport in Yorkshire on a Jet2 flight, but I shall defer my account of our arrival there to my next post.

Thanks for reading! It's good to be back. :)


© 2016 Anna Morton

Starbucks at L'Opêra and the Paris Skyline without the Eiffel Tower

| That magnificent building of the Belle Epoque: the Palais Garnier opera house. |

England Trip 2015
Wednesday, March 25

This will be another post from memory, as I once again neglected to write in my journal while outside of England. :)

Six years ago when we first came to Paris I had greatly looked forward to seeing the Palais Garnier, the opera building, but we had neglected to look up what was going on at the opera, and – surprise, surprise– there was an opera actually going on, so it was closed. Since we visited on our last day we were forced to forgo the pleasure of a glimpse inside. Which meant that seeing this grandiose building became one of our priorities for the next trip.

And see it we did!

We began our day with the essential visit to a patisserie down the street from our apartment to snap up some of Paris's world-renowned quiche and pastry before hopping on the Metro to emerge on to the street around the corner from the Opera square and begin our search for some reasonably priced coffee.

McDonald's is usually the best bet, but on this occasion we decided on Starbucks, and a particularly elegant Starbucks at that. I have never seen a Starbucks that looked so much like an eighteenth century drawing room! Talk about going for a classy atmosphere. I'm sure the walls and ceilings were originals, which gave it more than a simply elegant appearance, it was another small moment of stepping back into history that seems to appear every other minute when you visit Europe.

Our coffee, very chocolate pastry and coffee eclair.

Starbucks meets the eighteenth century near the Paris Opera.

After a relaxing breakfast, which provided the perfect opportunity to use the free wifi and update Facebook, we strolled off down the street to find the side entrance of the Palais Garnier. It was at last time to tour the most opulent building I had ever yet beheld...

Part of the entrance hall. You can get a sore neck looking up at it all!

On the lower level, ready to begin our excursion.

Lots of red and gold.
That's all you need to make the most opulent theater, ever.

"Duuuuuun, dun, dun, dun, dun, duuun!"
Thankfully, it didn't fall on us, and neither did we meet any singing men wearing masks... ;)

A view from the front balcony to the exceptional Paris architecture.

The most excessive display of splendor in a building already full of it: the Grand Foyer.

Our day at the opera! :)

The Grand Escalier

It was impossible for someone who possesses an imagination, a desire to time travel and a love of historical clothing not to pretend they were a wealthy debutante attending an opera at the Palais Garnier in an elegant gown at the beginning of the twentieth century. (Meaning that I did just that, of course.) ;)

A building like this gives a person such a vivid peak at the past and brings to life scenes from over a century ago. And when that happens you can understand an entire culture to a degree that is impossible without being physically on the spot.

Our next destination was the Musée de Cluny, Paris's museum of the Medieval world that is located in an actual medieval building and filled with a plethora of medieval objects.

Ready to enter the Musee de Cluny.

Medieval combs.

I love to see any artifacts related to clothing, hair and beauty. For me this gives an insight into the daily lives of young women like myself who lived centuries in the past. It's almost a tangible way to connect with them and remember them as real people who actually lived. This is why I took pictures of practically every tapestry in the place – and there were many – since tapestries were often the only sources that depicted women's fashions during the time.

Possibly the most treasured items in the museum are the 'Lady and the Unicorn' tapestries from circa 1500. There are six in all: five representing the five senses and the famously enigmatic sixth that supposedly represents a sixth sense of love and understanding. Each tapestry is the size of a wall, being maybe 10x10 feet, so the display room is quite impressive. (The Lady's clothes are all quite lovely, too.)

The tapestry of the cryptic sixth sense.

Our next destination was the Cathedral of Sacre Couer up through Montmarte. And when I say up, I mean up! We climbed scores and scores of steps, and very steep steps they were, to reach the spot reputed to have the most spectacular view of Paris. The view on the way up was rather less than spectacular, as that particular part of Paris is less than pristine. But the view was quite beautiful. We had the perfect warm light from a dramatically cloudy sky, giving the many white buildings of the city a pleasant glow as the sun began to set.

A view of Paris from Sacre Couer.

There is Sacre Cour itself, looking like the birthday cake that Hercule Poirot described.

The other side of the city.

As we did, you may wonder where the Eiffel Tower may be. Surely such a famous monument would be immediately visible on the Paris skyline. That is what we thought, and were puzzled when it was nowhere to be seen. After a bit of searching, however, we at last found it, hidden behind some trees.

There's the Tour Eiffel hiding behind the trees on the right.

After our long climb to Sacre Couer we began to long for another bite of Paris's famous cuisine. We therefore pulled out our trusty copy of Rick Steves Paris (just bought in London) to look for a reasonable and delicious restaurant in which to have our last French dinner. We wandered down the steps to the right of the cathedral (if you're facing it) where one recommended place was to be found. Unfortunately, we couldn't seem to find this particular restaurant, but we had passed another pleasant looking place, and, after dawdling outside of it's door for a bit from an uncertainty of its being open, we decided to be daring and step inside.

 

The cheerful exterior of L'Ete en Pente Douce.

We were met by a very pleasant young man, who seemed to be a younger member of the family that owned the restaurant. It was the L'Ete en Pente Douce, a place I would recommend for it's welcoming, relaxed atmosphere, hearty and delicious food and fabulous dessert! Mom began the conversation with a question, "Fermé?" to which he replied, "No, come in!" This was followed by a necessary laugh on Mom's part because it was apparent he recognized us as Americans from Mom's accent. :) (To which I must add that I always think Mom has an excellent French accent! I just suppose that natives can spot a foreigner almost anywhere. Or maybe it was our clothes...)

He found us a lovely corner table and gave us some recommendations for our dinner in English, and explained that most people ate their evening meal rather later than we were currently having ours (which wasn't exactly early). And, sure enough, people began trickling in not too long after that. There were not only people, but a cat who appeared to be a permanent member of the establishment. He seemed to be greatly enjoying himself by wandering all around the restaurant at will, finally settling himself by a lady with whom he already seemed on familiar terms.

My dish was a joint of pork in a lentil and vegetable soup.

And Mom's was a stuffed pepper with salad.

We decided to try something rather unusual for dessert: a pear and chocolate tarte with a (not unusual) cup of coffee. It was delicious! It's hard to go wrong with the chocolate in this town – I think it would even make broccoli taste better. (If you're not partial to broccoli like I am.)

Pear tarte for dessert! And our mirror trick for getting pictures of ourselves together (selfies get a little boring).

On our way to the nearest Metro station we met a nice young couple that we enjoyed talking with as we walked. He was from Algiers and I think she was a native of Paris. 

Our last night in our pleasant apartment was spent in packing up, watching the BBC world news (I think we got addicted to BBC News...) and calling home.

Next stop: Haarlem and The Netherlands!

© 2015 Anna Morton

My first weekend with a few hundred Janeites

Yours truly is off today to attend this year's Jane Austen Society of North America Annual General Meeting, a.k.a. JASNA AGM. It is a weekend where scores of JASNA members gather in one city to hear lots of speakers, attend special presentations, dance at a ball and spend time with all those people who love Jane Austen as much as they do.

This year the AGM is in Louisville, Kentucky and is being hosted by the Greater Louisville Region JASNA group. I wouldn't normally be able to go, but it so happened that this year the Greater Louisville group offered a scholarship to attend. It includes the registration fee and accommodation in the Galt House Hotel where the AGM is being held. The scholarship was offered in honor of Jackie Johnson, who was a dedicated member of the Louisville group for many years and loved Jane Austen, and could be won by entering their essay contest. So after writing and rewriting for at least a week, and waiting to hear who the recipient of the scholarship would be, to my great delight and shock it was me!

Which means that here I am, ready to leave at 11:00 tonight to get to Louisville in the morning for my very first JASNA AGM!

The theme this year is Living in Jane Austen's World, so the speakers' topics include things like the kitchen, farming, aging, embroidery, holidays, economics, theater, gardening, marriage, monarchy, and dozens of others. We have three plenary speakers, including Professor Amanda Vickery who has hosted and researched such documentaries as Pride and Prejudice: Having a Ball and At Home with the Georgians. There are special events such as "Dressing Mr. Darcy" and "Undressing the Historical Lady," a banquet, a ball and even a Regency church service on Sunday morning. There are also dancing, breastknot and tea-making workshops.

The Galt House Hotel

If you're curious, this was the essay question...

"Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility and Mansfield Park are considered to be "Austen's Problem Novels."  These novels do not generally end up at the top of most Janeite's lists of favorites, and are the works in the Austen canon that literary critics have the most difficulty with as well.  Examine Austen's social commentary behind each story and discuss whether or not she came to any conclusions on the social issues and morals prevalent in her day.  If so, are those same issues relevant today?"

 I decided that this was my opportunity to spend all day every day in Regency clothing, so I of course had to add a few new pieces to my wardrobe. I shall post pictures when I return!