DAY 48 SATURDAY MAY 12 THE MINSTER

A beautiful sunny spring day! We went straight to the Minster and bought tickets for the tour and the ascent of the tower. What a magnificent building.  It claims to be the biggest cathedral in Europe outside of Italy.  It makes you feel very small. It is full of delicate stone carving, huge stained glass windows depicting bible stories, memorials to Yorkshire soldiers and former archbishops.  A small army of masons and riggers are continuously renovating and the national lotteries are pouring money in to help pay. We climbed the 275 steps in the circular staircase and got a little dizzy going round and round.  The view of Yorkshire from the top was fantastic in today's weather and we took photos of Catherine's flat which looked very close. Went to Nero's for morning tea and wifi and took a photo of the long queues outside Betty's Cafe which seems to be very famous. As soon as we came home for lunch the phone rang and it was Cathy and John in Peru. We talked for an hour as it was over 6 months since we had had a conversation with them. They are due home on May 28 when we are in Holland. We will see them on June 3. At 2.30 we set off on the 3.1 kilometre walk around the Wall.  Got lost a couple of times as we did it without a map but there are no boring bits in York so it did not matter.  We always find our way home eventually. We now have the password for John's internet so do not have to go searching for cloud.

BRONZE MODEL OF THE CITY IN FRONT OF THE MINSTER

INCREDIBLY FINE STONEWORK INSIDE THE MINSTER

A WORK IN PROGRESS

WE STOPPED HALFWAY UP THE TOWER TO SEE THESE BUTTRESSES

FURTHER VIEWS FROM HALFWAY UP

VIEW FROM THE TOP OF THE TOWER. CATHY AND JOHN'S FLAT HAS THE LOWER BLACK BAY WINDOW JUST TO THE RIGHT OF THE SPIRE

QUEUE AT BETTYS