York

It's the place where Yorkshire pudding was created and home to one family of the War of the Roses. It boasts the Jorvik Viking Center, the National Railway Museum, and the largest Medieval Gothic cathedral north of the Alps. And I got to see it all when I visited the "city" of York on Saturday!
I left from school on a coach at about 9 in the morning; we drove for about two hours before arriving. But don't ask me which direction we went; I have no clue.
They call York a city, but it is more of a town. It's significantly smaller than Nottingham and would probably only take 15 minutes to walk from end to end. It is jam-packed with history, though. Awesome!
Most of the original city walls are still standing. I even walked for a mile on one part. York Minster is the cathedral I mentioned above. It is beautiful and awe-inspiring. There are a plethora of cathedrals in the same architectural style all over York, just smaller.
I also witnessed Vikings and Anglo-Saxons in battle! Didn't catch the full details of why they were skirmishing...something to do with preparing to fight the Normans, I think. There were decked-out Vikings wandering all over town, though. It was great.
For lunch, I hit the International Market at city centre. There were booths offering dishes and foods from all over. German sausauges, French crepes, Indian rice and kabobs, a huge help-yourself candy tent, cheese, bread, Italian pizzas and paninis...you name it, it was there. I bought a delicious Indian dish that consisted of spicy chiken with peppers and onions and lettuce in a wrap. And I got some dark choclate from a famous Brit choc-maker, Thorton's. So yummy!
Next, I climbed the staircase to Clifford's Tower, built by William the Conquerer and named after a guy who was hanged from its walls by Edward II. It looks pretty small for a fortress-type building and stands on a very steep hill.
On the opposite end of the city is the National Rail Museum that houses real-life models of trains from the very firsts to the most modern. I sat in the Japanese bullet train! By that time, my friends and I were pretty tired. It hadn't been too cold, just unbearably windy. We pretty much passed out on a bench at the museum and then headed back to the coach at 5:30 for a 6 o'clock departure. It was a full day!
This week I am concentrating on writing a 3,000-word essay for my history class and a 1,500-word one for my film class. It's very hard to get motivated, though, when all I want to do is see the world. Less than a month until I'm home.