What a difference three days makes! It was a high of 63 degrees today. 40 degrees cooler than Tuesday! We actually felt cold. More touristing in York today. We started out at the York Castle Museum, which has a lot of different old stuff situated in the old prison. Once done there, the women went and got tea at the famous Betty’s Tea Room while the men did the manly thing and went to the National Railway Museum. Not encouraging any gender stereotypes the...

Today we took the bus to Castle Howard, an 18th century manor house and estate about an hour ride north of York. The bus took us through the narrow, winding country roads of North Yorkshire. We had a great time touring the manor house (145 rooms!!! But we only saw handful). The rooms were filled with priceless art, Roman sculptures, and beautiful furnishings. One of the rooms was dedicated to all the films and TV shows that were filmed there (like Bridgerton!...

Now that the graduation was out of the way and everyone has recovered (somewhat) from jet lag it was time for some hard core tourtisting in York. Today we spent the morning in the York Minster. We walked through the whole thing, toured the museum in the basement, and climbed the tower that offered wonderful views of York. After a picnic lunch in the Minster park we walked through the Yorkshire Museum which traced the history of Yorkshire from prehistoric times...

The rest of the family (my parents, sister, and her four boys) arrived last night, a day earlier than expected. They had to rearrange their travel plans due to the country shutting down today because of the hot weather. Train travel and some restaurants and shops are closed today. This morning Amy, Ellie, and Luke went to a climbing gym with Ellie’s friends. I went for a run and then met up with the rest of my family at their hotel. My aunt Elise and Uncle...

Ellie stayed at her place last night and the three of us slept in and tried to make up for all the sleep we missed. I went for a run south along the Ouse river (pronounced “oooze,” it is the main river that runs through York). It was a nice and picturesque run. I got back to flat and Luke and I set out for pastries and coffee and explored a little more of York. Once we were all ready we took the bus over to Ellie’s house and hung out there. We got to ...