We're Canadian, We Promise!: York!

This is Zoe checking in, with apologies for my lack of correspondence recently.

This last weekend, my group and I went on a day trip to York, a wonderful city up North of London. We took a train early in the morning - a lovely experience in and of itself - and got there around 10:00. Our day began with a tour by our theatre professor who'd accompanied us there; he's good friends with our trip leaders, and he also knows nearly everything there is to know about England, both the contemporary and the historical. He told us the town is bordered by a wall, parts of which are still intact from when it was originally built by the FREAKING ROMANS (if you'll pardon my caps lock)! There were a lot of extraordinarily old things in York, because apparently they realized before London did that preserving them would be good for tourism.

Back to the tour, though - we walked for some time along the top of the wall (the whole thing is pedestrian-accessible, we weren't just strolling around on top of an ancient relic like a bunch of hooligans). It was a very cold day, so it was icy in parts, which made the experience a little bit of an adventure, but it afforded some amazing views of the city. Then our professor (Phillip) showed us around the town proper, which was utterly charming, with lots of sweet little boutiques and tea shops. My roommate and I went to Betty's Tea Rooms and got a famous 'York Fat Rascal,' a delicious cross between a rock cake and a scone which sports an adorable face made of glacé cherries and blanched almonds. :)

There were also some amazing churches - everything from a small, 800-year-old church tucked away in a courtyard, to the breathtaking York Minster cathedral, presided over by the Archbishop of York, an Anglican church official second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury (and also the first black archbishop!). Later in the day, some of us returned to York Minster for the Evensong service, which was truly one of the most beautiful choral experiences of my life. We also saw Clifford's Tower, the keep of a medieval castle where 150 local Jews were killed in 1190.

These sobering experiences were in stark contrast to the pantomime we attended together: the York pantomime is evidently a long-standing tradition which began 33 years ago, involving a consistent set of elements, including a 'grand dame' (a man in a dress - the role's been played by the same actor for all but three of the years the show has run, and according to Phillip, he's the best in the land!), several musical numbers, and a bit at the end where they read aloud shout-outs from the audience - Phillip submitted one in tribute to our group (it even rhymed, bless his heart!). It was an extremely goofy and fun experience, but what was more significant was seeing the meaning it possessed to the citizens of York. It was obvious that they knew and loved the actors, having seen them play the same parts for years upon years, and that to them, it was more than goofy - it was a tradition thoroughly embedded in their local culture.

Since then, lots else has happened; I've seen the UK premiere of a new opera called Wagner's Dream by Jonathan Harvey (frankly, I hated it, but thankfully the school payed for our tickets), an early-20th century play called "The Charity That Began At Home" by St. John Hankin (LOVED that one), and been to a wonderful vintage fair (I bought the sweetest dress, and the fact that I can't wear it till the spring is killing me). That's not including my Chinese New Year exploits with Abby, but she's already covered that quite well. :) There are so many wonderful things still on my to-do list... stay tuned! Love to all!

BUT FIRST, PICTURES!!