It’s been a crazy last two days. Three days? I still get my
flying time mixed up. I last left off in JFK, where I was miserable being stuck
in the arrivals section of the airport. It really wasn’t as bad as I made it
out to be, I just don’t like JFK. Finally the time rolled around and I was able
to head back to the baggage drop off. It took forever to make it through that
line, and then I had to wait in the painfully long security line. I have never
in my life had to wait to long, and I’ve been to a lot of airports. It was so
crowded that this TSA woman came over and escorted a handful of us over to
first class security so we could speed up getting people through. The first
class lounge is sweeeeeet. Perfectly air conditioned, nice chairs, clean….. On
the other side of security was an actually decent terminal. Apparently it was
new. It was actually pretty nice.
My flight to Iceland, I was both amazing and awkward.
Firstly, Iceland air is AMAZING. Best airlines I’ve ever flown. The first class
seats were all named after Norse gods and the economy seats taught you
Icelandic. You got complementary Icelandic spring water when you boarded, the
blankets were actually warm and soft, and the pillows had little lullabys on
them in English and Icelandic. This is the English:
Bye bye and hushabye
Can you see the swans fly?
Now half asleep in bed I lie
Awake with half an eye
Heyho and welladay
Over the hills and far away
That’s where the little children stray
To find the lambs at play.
I don’t know, I think it’s cute. I was stuck sitting in the
middle seat in a row of three for the fiveish hours of the trip. The boys on
either side of me were brothers and kept speaking Icelandic over me. Occasionally
the one at the window seat would climb onto the seat and then step over me to
go to the bathroom. It was weird. I tried to sleep most of the time.
My layover in Iceland was sadly pretty boring…. There not
anything in the area of the airport. Outside is just barren land. . . I had a
really good chicken tikka masala sandwich though.
Second flight was in better company. A young mother from
Minnesota flying to meet her husband and his family in England. The baby was
not just cute but also really well behaved!
After landing in England, it took FOREVER to get through
customs. It was even more difficult than trying to get back into the US. After
that I went to take the Picadilly Line to Kings Cross. Everything was going
great. Then I found out the Picadilly Line was closed halfway through. So a guy
came on, ushered us off the train and onto some busses. Then we drove through
London. Which was actually pretty cool. Then we had to get back on the trains.
By the time I made it to Kings Cross I was stressed and tired. I had planned to
get my tickets for the 3:00 train as it was 2:20 and that would give me time to
find Platform 9 ¾. However, when I bought my ticket the guy gave me one for the
2:30. At that time I had 5 minutes to run for the train. I had no idea where I was
supposed to sit and I couldn’t read my ticket. I asked a woman in a station
uniform for help and she was just like “look for an open seat.” Great. So the
train was starting to make noise and I was running up and down the platform
trying to figure out what to do. Finally she just told me to hurry and get on
so I just got in the nearest car. Turns out my suitcase was too big to fit down
the aisles so I needed to find a spot in one of the two cars on either side of
where I got on. I finally did and sat down. Because of the rush, I hadn’t
called Ellen. I used the 15 minutes of free wifi on the train to message her
everywhere so I wouldn’t get stranded in York. After awhile, I was finally able
to calm down again and enjoy my train ride. Across the aisle from me was a
friendly Canadian couple who I talked with some.
I got to York in the end and got to see Ellen. We went back
and had cottage pie for dinner. Then she gave me a tour of Heslington, which is
the village her University is in.
On Monday we walked into York proper. We walked up and down
nearly every street, went into the Minster, went to the train station and the
museum, walked back to the city center, then to the supermarket, then home. I
feel super fit. We got to see all the interesting places in York. The wall that
surrounds the city was originally built by the Romans. The Minster ‘s stained
glass is so old that all of it needs to be replaced.
We ate lunch at a local restaurant and got fish and chips.
The place was packed with a group of German kids on a fieldtrip.
We did so much walking that both of us were terribly sore.
Even today.
Today we went to Ripon, which is the town that the Crawley
family of Downton Abbey are always visiting. Modern Ripon is, well, modern. And
bigger. We got there pretty early and were freezing. While waiting for the bus
to Fountains Abbey, a famous ruin, we looked around town. We got coffee from
the nicest barista ever and ended up in the cathedral. Unlike the Minster, this
one was actually still in use, though it was also a museum. We donated some
pounds and walked around. There were a line of bishop statues or something that
were in chronological order. It was interesting to see how their names represented
the different groups in the area throughout the years.
After that we went to the Abbey ruins. They were beautiful.
At first I thought it was just a tower and some other rooms, just like the
Minster and other places we visited. Then we walked down the hill and into the valley,
walking around what we could see to discover a vast collection of ruins. The ones
we had see from the hill were just the most intact. Behind them were the
remnants of what would have fit both of the other Cathedrals we had visited. It
was really amazing. After having a picnic in sight of the ruins, we hiked the
trails around them. Eventually we ended up at a deer park where we saw lots of
awesome deer!!
