We pause in York

On the train from Edinburgh to York I sat with an 85 yr. old charmer named Mrs. Bishop from Berwick on Tweed. She was the epitome of the gentlewoman of spirit - full of stories of gardens and travels and eccentricities of the gentry and how she started doing watercolors at the age of 75. I'd love to have spent much more time with her.

In York we stayed at the Priory Hotel (1870), from which we could walk up the River Ouse to the castle and its wonderful museums. We explored the Shambles and crawled all over the York Minster - Roman ruins in the crypt were particularly interesting. We had tea in the courtyard of 15th century St. Williams College, then on again to London.

On the train we were regaled by the head of the British Engineering Dept. who owns an estate with one of England's finest trout streams running through his back garden. He tried hard to impress us wih his travels, high ranking job etc - we found it quite amusing.

Our London Hotel seemed very drab after the lovely places we'd been.