October 14 - Bham to ATL to Man to York

Ok - y'all know how I am. These trip posts will be way too wordy, and I will have too many photos. This is one way that I can remember the details!

We headed to the Birmingham (BHM) airport on Wednesday, October 14. We had a short flight to ATL and then a longer flight from ATL to Manchester.

Here I am looking bright-eyed, along with my sweet friend, Laura.

We had a lengthy layover in ATL, and we found places to hang out in the airport. This was right before we boarded, when I put on my compression socks. I bought some pretty ones for this trip, but they did not match my cute dress!

We upgraded to Comfort seats. It would be nice to fly first class, but I don't forsee that in our future.

After an overnight flight, we arrived in Manchester about 7:15 a.m. I slept a couple of hours right at the end of the flight. Our tour guide, Harvey, and driver, Lee, met us at the airport, and we boarded two buses. There were a lot of us (almost 70)! 

Our first stop was York! Actually, I think our first stop was a gas station/coffee bar/drinks/bathroom stop. I just barely remember it haha!

Our first sight-seeing stop was York Minster Abbey. This is from their website: Since the 7th century, York Minster has been at the centre of Christianity in the north of England. Today the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of St Peter in York remains a thriving church welcoming communities from across the globe.

Every aspect is built for the glory of God. This includes the exquisite, handcrafted stone and unrivalled collection of medieval stained glass.

Our pastor, Brian, told us a little about York Minster while our tour guides secured our tickets.

The ceiling is spectacular!

After we toured some of the cathedral, we headed out to find some lunch. I had done a little research and knew that we would find 365 pubs in York!

We were wandering aimlessly at this point, and walked right up to one of the pubs on my list of "these are good pubs."

Below is the list of resident ghosts in the pub.

In we went to the Golden Fleece Pub.

I loved that many of the pubs were decorated for Halloween. Mark and I think we would love to live in a little village with lots of pubs.

We look ok after a long flight and no showers haha!

Mark ordered fish and chips and with his very first bite (literally), hot grease popped out of the fish and immediately burned his lip - as in a blister and blood!

I, on the other hand, ordered a burger and fries (chips).

We were with Lu and Dave, Becky and Blake, and Cel.

After lunch, Mark and I struck out on our own. I had pre-ordered tickets to the Viking Museum (JORVIK Viking Centre). Once we entered, we boarded a little car and rode through the exhibits. It was actually very interesting.

They even had smells that matched the scenes - as in raw meat . . .and other, not always pleasant, scents.

We arrived at Yorkshire Hotel - Doubletree by Hilton York, which would be our home for two nights. We had dinner at the hotel and crashed!

 

I'm not sure how quickly I will write the posts for each day. I apologize in advance because there will be at least 12 total posts.