Heute mal zweigeteilt, der erste Teil auf Deutsch,der zweite auf Englisch.
Wir waren in York, Heimat des York Minsters, eine gotische Kathedrale von immenser Größe und Schönheit. Als eine der größten Kathedralen Europas hat sie große Bedeutung für die Architektur und Bauweise der damaligen Zeit. Besonders bedeutsam sind ihre gewaltigen Glasfenster, nicht nur wegen ihrer aufwendigen Herstellung und Schönheit sondern auch und vor allem ihrer Größe wegen.
Die “fünf Nonnen”, fünf direkt nebeneinandergelegene schlanke Spitzbogenfenster, beispielsweise haben eine Höhe von mehr als einem Tennisplatz!
Ebenso berühmt ist das große Fenster über dem Eingangsportal. Es steigt steil gen Himmel auf und verläuft sich oben in einer fantastisch konstruierten Herzform. Dieses ist als “Heart of York” bekannt.
Die Kathedrale wurde, wie die meisten Kirchen, mit der Zeit erweitert und umgebaut und bekam dadurch stetigen, dauerhaften Besuch von neueren Baustilen, wie z.b. in einer angebaute Kapelle, in der teilweise barocke Elemente zu finden sind. Auch die Gewölbe, besonders das des großen Vierungsturms in der Mitte, sind grazil und bestechend schön.
Schade war nur, dass viele Bereiche wegen Renovierungsarbeiten an der Orgel nicht begehbar oder nur bedingt sichtbar waren. Auch stand beinahe überall an den Wänden Baumaterial oder Ähnliches herum, was der Kirche Einiges ihrer Majestät geraubt hat.
Jedoch wirklich schlimm empfand ich es, wie in den Gängen der Seitenschiffe und teils auch im Hauptschiff mit neueren Stilen und vor allem Figuren um sich geworfen wurde, dass es einem Steinmetzen übel werden kann. Vor schlanke, gotische Spitzbögen mit Nonnenkopf stellte man da Kriegerdenkmäler in Renaissance und Barock für Gefallene des ersten und zweiten Weltkrieges, Rokoko-Politiker und Bischöfe in den buntesten Farben und Formen, oftmals in schillerndem Marmor als fürchterlicher Kontrast zum hellen Kalkstein…
Das tat mir persönlich ein wenig in der Seele weh, dennoch möchte ich die Kathedrale definitiv als wertes Ziel für eine Besichtigung einstufen. Sie bietet viel Freunde und Grund zum Staunen, in Größe, Bauart und Liebe zum Detail.
Right after visiting York we went off to Whitby, a coastal town with lots of stories to tell.
We parked right by Sandsend Beach, so for two nights we had the loud sounds of the sea (and the slightly quieter main road) drifting in through the window and a gorgeous sunrise waking us up in the mornings.
It’s about an hours’ walk from the parking place to Whitby and the whole stretch takes you on or by the beach, which from morning to night is a popular place for families and dogs. On our walk we had a particularly fun moment when Mike sat down on a large stone to look at the sea and two dogs, Sky and Olli, came up to play, cuddle with (and sit on) Mike.
Whitby itself is lovely. We went to the lighthouse first, before walking along the port. There we stumbled across a replica of the Endeavor. Apparently, Captain James Cook, famous for charting the coast of New Zealand and the eastern coast of Australia and considered one of the best sailors and explorers in history, learned to be a sailor in Whitby and his ship, the Endeavor, was actually built there.
This is not something I would have known before going to Whitby. But it is difficult not to learn that, when there are information signs about Captain Cook all around Whitby - by the Captain Cook Experience (which is on the replica Endeavor), the Captain Cook Memorial Museum (which is apparently where he lived while he was learning in Whitby) and by the Captain Cook Memorial (a statue of him). You would almost think they’re wanting to attract tourists to the place.
To be fair though, they do not only have signs about Captain Cook. We also found three different signs boasting of Whitbys’ fishing and whaling history and how exactly one went about killing a whale and there was even one about their jet gemstone industry.
Mike and I had fun reading the little signs while walking around the place, though. We did that for half an hour or so, before finally going to the Abbey.
Just as we arrived at the steps up to the Abbey we found a sign addressing the steps - of which there are 199 - and the literary history of them. That is, of course, Dracula, who climbed the steps up to the Abbey in the shape of a dog in Bram Stokers’ story. Since we are neither vampires nor animagi, Mike and I were forced to take the (very unevenly spaced) steps one at a frigging time. I imagine they were well paced for a dog, though, so at least I now know what my preferred Animagus form would be.
Obviously a dolfin - Duh.
The climb was absolutely worth it, though. Mike got all excited about the old gravestones (as one would) while I enjoyed the view over Whitby, like some kind of a tourist. We then went to look at the ruins of the Abbey. Thankfully the place was closed down for the day, so we were spared our repetitive discussion as to whether or not it would be worth the money to go in and have a look. Neither of us have one permanent stance about that question, we discuss it every time simply because we both feel it needs to be mentioned. Or maybe we just like arguing. So instead we walked around the outside wall and had a look-see from there, which seemed fine for us.
In the evening we went back to our campervan, which proved rather more eventful than the first time we walked that stretch. As it turns out, you can walk along the beach from Whitby to Sandend beach, no problem. But only while the tide is out. Confused pixies that we are, we only realised this when we were half way back to the campervan and were suddenly surrounded by water.
For Mike this was no problem whatsoever, since there were huge boulders along the beach that we (meaning he) could easily (hahaha!) just climb up and along to the next stretch of beach, where the tide was still out. I think my heart is so worn out, it will never be the same again. It was only afterwards that I discovered that there was actually a pathway just above the boulders that even I could easily have reached from where we were stranded. Tough cookies.
Despite the unsceduled learning opportunity we definitely had a lot of fun and I would not mind visiting Whitby again some day.
We’ll post again soon Mike and Lilo
