Day in York

Friday, January 29th, 2011

The morning of our field trip to York came very early.  Lets just say that I am not much a morning person and was pretty thankful that we would have the opportunity to sleep on the bus!  Our trip started out like any other, in which Christine chatted with us barely awake students about  the landscape and prepared us for what was awaiting for us in York.  I've got to be honest, I think that maybe only 3 of us were awake to really soak in this information.

The morning commute..don't we look lively!

When we arrived in York, I was extremely excited to be off that bus and stretch out my legs.  First things first was a quick tour throughout the town with Christine so she could share with us some landmarks, the history of what we were to look at as well as get familiar with the town.  Although this "short" tour ended up being a little longer than we had expected, it was definately nice to get some background information of what we were looking at.  It still amazes me how much Christine knows!

After our quick guide through the town I went straight to the York City Art Museum.  The beautiful fountain outside the museum had me excited to see what was to await me inside.  When walking in the front door of the museum I noticed the gallery seemed to be under construction.  There was a small room off to the right on the main floor which was open to view, as well two rooms upstairs of the museum.  The main floor gallery contained religious paintings, Dutch Baroque and Still life paintings, as well as some portraits from the 18^th century.  To be honest, this wasn’t my favorite gallery as I am not a fan of these types of paintings, but was still happy to see some paintings by Meindert Hobbema and Van Bearen.  After viewing the main floor, we ventured up the stairs to check out the next floor.  In one of the galleries open on the second floor they had illustrations of stories, fairytales, and nursery rhymes done by several different artists. In another room was an exhibition known as the Gallery of Pots.  This exhibition contained several different pieces of pottery as well as large photographs which showed the potters creating their masterpieces.  I was very impressed with this exhibition by the variety of pottery that was represented.

the fountain outside of the York City Art Museum

As soon as we were done in the Art Museum, it was time to visit other historical attractions in York.  Our first stop, Clifford’s Tower.  When first walking up to Clifford’s Tower I was overtaken by the spectacular view it possessed and forgot what I had learned  about the horrific events that had taken place there.  This tower played a key part in the medieval period when Richard I was crowned king which led to violence against English Jews.  In 1190, when the threats and violence became too much for the English Jews to handle, they proposed a mass suicide in Clifford’s Tower instead of giving in and being harmed by the angry mobs.  This site became one of the worst cases of anti-Semitism in medieval Europe, resulting in the deaths of over 150 Jews.  After being reminded of these horrific events while visiting the site, the picturesque nature of the building also shared an eerie and haunting mood.

Clifford's Tower

The brutal stairs leading up to the tower

The next place we were off to was York Minster.  What a site!  Although I am not extremely religious, I was still extremely attracted to this building due in part mainly to its beautiful architecture.  While here, I learned many things about this large Gothic cathedral, thanks to Christine and our tour guide.  The stained windows and massive columns were breathtaking.  I felt like there was no end to this building, it just kept going and going higher in the sky!  The delicate details on the gargoyles and figures alongside and above the portals and towers were astounding.  There was so much to look at, I felt like I could spend hours just sitting outside the cathedral taking in the view.

After spending time outside, I was happy and excited to move indoors for two reasons, the warmth and our tour of the interior of the cathedral.  Walking inside I was speechless.  It was so beautiful!  I tried to pay attention as much as I could to the tour guide but it was nearly impossible.  My eyes kept wandering throughout the cathedral, there was so much to look at.  While we were in the nave of the York Minster, the tour guide explained to us how the columns that held up the ceiling had to be reinforced with concrete and bolts because the architect who designed the building thought that when the building would settle it would do so on top of the Roman building that was beneath it.  However, only three of the four columns hit the Roman building causing major interior issues to the nave, which have now been repaired and are no longer an issue to the foundation.

Overall from this field trip to York I got to experience a lot of history.  It amazes me how these buildings have survived the test of time.  Just walking around the town I was able to find something new and learn about something I wasn’t aware of prior to the trip.  I am so thankful that I have this opportunity with this program to learn new things and experience the world and all it has to offer.

I feel like I look miniature
next to this massive cathedral!