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| On the way to the side chapel |
Today, I had the chance to visit the interior of
York Minster to attend the 7:50 am Communion service. To be honest, I didn't leave the hotel until after 7:30, spent a little time getting lost within the downtown area as it started sprinkling and then circled the entire York Minster before finally finding the side door to enter. The was a security guard looked through my rain drop covered glasses questioningly but did lead me to the
Communion service. Sad to say, there were only seven other attendees at the service (and, one was a priest, dressed in a long, flowing black robe with wide red band around the waist).
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| Peaking into the altar area |
The service was held in a small side chapel of York Minster. The pews were wooden; and, the kneeling benches were wide with what looked like hand cross-stitched covers. The only part of the service that I knew was the
Lord's Prayer. I skipped going forward for communion, even though the priest attending kindly asked if I would like to participate. At the very end of the service, I picked up the red and black books in the back of the pew behind of me. Both were
books of common prayer. Underneath them was a piece of paper titled "Eucharist in the Easter Season". (Eucharist is another word for Communion.) It was the entire service, word for word! I folded up the piece of paper and stuffed it in my coat pocket. Only now looking at it do I see at the bottom of the sheet, in all caps: "PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE".
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| Beautiful stained glass window on the side of York Minster |
Old churches, while beautiful, are definitely not handicapped accessible. One of the elderly attendees was slowly working his walker up the four stairs to get out of the chapel into the main church. I and two other women waited behind him. Then, the three of us ladies snuck past an open door into the main altar area where I took a quick photo before slowly sauntering back toward the door that I'd entered. Suddenly, the guard walked around the corner. Without many words, he escorted me to the door, unlocked it and locked it behind me. The elderly gentleman had made his way down the stairs to the sidewalk level and asked me where I was visiting from. He told me that he had retired to York from the US because York is the best place to live in England.
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| View of York Minster from the city walls |
The sprinkling had stopped by this point; and, I hopped back on the city walls at the Layerthorpe Bridge. From Layerthorpe Bridge to
Monk Bar and then
Bootham Bar, there are great views of York Minster.
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| View of York Minster from the city walls |
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| View of York Minster from the city walls |
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| View of York Minster from the city walls |
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