the small town of york.

ever the planner and tour guide, nate had lots of things planned for us throughout the week. now in the beginning it sounded like a great idea to see all these places, i just didn't realize how much we were cramming into 1 week lol. but if youre going to be in england, you must make the most of it!

world traverlers!

when i studied aboard in 2005 we spent most of our time in london which is where we lived anyway. so with the offer of new cities i was super excited to do some exploring and see what the rest of england looked like! york was our next stop and sooo much different than the big city we had been in. lots of little streets and sweet shops for us to see and check out!

we met alyse, her husband brad, her mom, and sister megan there, they had flown in after us so we could meet them there. now our group had grown to 13! we were quite the traveling pack haha. we made a spot in the middle of town though to meet a couple times throughout the day as we knew could never stay together. this made it soooo much easier to see anything we wanted on our own. the big group (and growing) was starting to get to me a little, i wont lie, so to be able to do what i wanted for the day was great. andrea, nick, and i gladly split off on our own.

my gingerbread chick!
i told you they were crazy about easter hehe :)

we started at the absolutely beautiful church in the center of town. after gathering a map from the tourist center we set off to do some exploring. the town was packed with people everywhere even on a fairly overcast and chilly day. we walked around enjoying the shops and the sights. it was nice to be in a smaller group and taking our time as we wanted.

the beautiful church in the middle of town.

shambles road.
all the buildings hang over the street!

for lunch we decided to show nick the difference in american food in the uk so we ate at pizza hut. i am telling you people it tastes sooo much better there! its thinner in a good way and the taste is more even, i know that sounds weird haha. afterwards the two of them decided to head to a coffee shop and do some reading so i went on a shopping mission. we hadnt really had time to do real shopping since we got there and i was excited to explore some fashion i could actually afford. (i mean as much as i love harrods, i couldnt afford an inch of something in that place haha!)

one of the store windows,
chick-fil-a anyone??

the group met back up at 3p to have a snack at bettys tea room and it was delicious! i was all set to have some ice cream, weird i know, till she wheeled over the dessert cart and i saw the chocolate cake. it was all over. and nates dad actually had some tea he didnt drink so we shared. i swear they just make it different over there. it is all soooo good!

lemongrass ginger, yum!

we disspersed again for a little while longer and i was definitely wearin. with my run that morning and day 3 of touristy things i was tired. amanda and i browsed some more shops and returned to the next meeting spot about a half hour early to score some free wifi. its a hot commodity haha! once everyone returned we attempted to find somewhere to eat. now for a group with 13 people that is quite a feat in england. they dont have huge restaurants like we do in the states. and everything closes very early. by the time we remet at 6p all the shops were closed and many of the restaurants were already serving a smaller menu, it was very weird to the americans haha!

dinnertime!

we settled on a pub that turned out to have delicious hamburgers and a hilarious waiter. he dealt with all our questions and changes so well. finally it was time to head back to the train and return to durham. we were all very ready to get back to st johns and rest for the evening. we had an early rise the next day for edinburgh!!