Day 11 - Crash & Burn

Today was a difficult day, because Mommy came down with a bad cold last night. In addition, I made us about two hours late. At around 6AM I woke up feeling very sick, and spent the rest of the morning in the bathroom throwing up. In more pain than I have ever felt before, I honestly thought that I was going to die and wished that I could at least pass out to escape the pain. But after I crawled into bed again, curled up, and began a rosary, the pain subsided and I fell back asleep. When I woke up I felt 100% better and we left for York.

Normally it is only a three hour drive to York, but Mommy was falling asleep at the wheel so we pulled over and let her sleep for an hour. Finally we arrived at Castle Howard, a Georgian palace still occupied by the Howard family, at 2PM in the afternoon. Mommy asked to sleep a little longer, and meanwhile we all went and perused the four gift shops in the courtyard of the palace.

By the time that we woke Mommy up, it was already an hour later. At this point it seemed ridiculous to pay 25 pounds to see the house for an hour an a half. So we left and headed towards York for a tour of York Minster and perhaps a little shopping. Our hopes scrambled out of the dirt and dusted themselves off.

However, the day was insistent on not be resurrected. We parked in York, and promptly realized that we couldn’t find the cell phone anywhere. Searching every nook and cranny of the car and every pocket occupied our time for roughly 45 minutes. Eventually we gave up and Mommy used a pay phone to make a long distance call to our cell phone, while I remained in the car to listen. With relief I heard a ringing sound coming from the inside of the driver’s seat. Somehow the phone had been wedged inside the seat, and I, without too much trouble, found and rescued it.

By now we had missed the last tour of York Minster. Despite our continuing misfortune, we walked towards York Minster to at least walk around the church. At least in this we were rewarded.

Though we visited York Minster two years ago, I only had ten minutes to look around and had barely enough time to appreciate the windows. Being the English Cathedral fanatic that I am, York Minster was something I simply had to see again. For an hour I walked around the Minster, holding Elizabeth’s hand and trying to impress upon her the magnificent beauty that were witnessing. Adding enchanting “mood music” to our tour, Evensong started at 5PM.

However, the music was unnecessary. World-renowned for their intricacy and delicate structure, the stained glass windows of York Minster sing a soaring song of their own. I have never seen such creations before, pieced together from colored common glass. Even now, when I think back to what I saw, I can hardly believe that such things existed on earth. Our Lord must be honored by such craftsmanship.

Unfortunately an hour was only all we were granted before the sun ceased to sparkle through the glass. Nearly all at once the Minster lost its enchantment. I found Mommy, sitting in a dark corner enjoying the experience of saying her rosary in a Catholic-turned-Anglican cathedral. We gathered our belongings and left.

All the shops were closed in the town so shopping was out of the question. On the way back to the car we got lost in the city, and were forced to sprint (for me a sprint is more of a brisk clip) to the car before our parking ticket expired. We made it just in time, climbed into the car, and started the drive home.

Halfway home we stopped at a Moto, which, during our 2003 British tour, was our favorite pit stop. Every year for the past three it has won the “Loo of the Year” Award for cleanliness. Sadly, service there has declined in the past two years, and though the loos won the 2005 Award (it was displayed on the wall), they did not deserve them. The restrooms were filthy. To be fair I must admit that they are still better than most bathrooms in England, which seems to be plagued as a nation with bad plumbing.

At 10:30PM we slunk into the driveway and tumbled out of the car and into the house. A ray of warmth, Daddy had a delicious dinner of spaghetti ready and we really enjoyed something as a family for the first time all day. While cleaning the dishes, we acted out “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra”. Daddy never fails to laugh when we act them out, and we know all his favorite parts. His smiles – and his rare laughter – are like gold. Most of the time he is so stressed out and serious that even light moments are strained. Thus, although the day started badly and was rough, it ended on a happy note.