I met up with Mary, long-time commenter on this blog, in York on Monday. It was like meeting an old friend!
We had a leisurely lunch in that Yorkshire institution Betty's then a mini tour of York. Mary had come up for the day from London (which she said she probably knows better than Washington DC where she worked in the field of refugee resettlement). She had visited the Minster in the morning, so we walked some of the medieval streets and this section of the Roman wall
We glimpsed the work of stonemasons by the Minster and marvelled at the skills, we ventured into a shop in Stonegate to see the stained glass, painted ceilings, fireplaces and wood panelling of the building, dated 1682 (the staff are used to people treating it like a museum), thought of the seige of York in the Civil War, noted the portcullis on Bootham Bar which kept out the Scots, rested our feet in the cafe of the newly refurbished Art Gallery, noted the beautiful proportions of the many elegant Georgian buildings.....all the while learning about each other's families and work, travels and opinions.
We could have talked for a week, but we packed quite a lot into our few hours together!
It was such a pleasure Mary. Thank you.