Owls

 Today was pretty low key. We had breakfast at Lucky Day, went to the Yorkshire Museum, I made intelligent purchase decisions, we waded back through the hoards, strolled part of the medieval wall, and had some burritos at our place. 

The Yorkshire Museum is built on/in the ruins of Saint Mary's Abbey which is one of Libby's favorite abbeys.

A funny thing happened on the way to the museum. We came across a pavilion with a handful of birds of prey inside. They were funding the the rehabilitation of the birds that come within their care by charging to hold the birds and take pictures or have a "flight experience". I'm not sure what the latter was, but spoiler alert, Libby and I both held owls. Libby held this tiny Tawny owl that was full grown at ten weeks, but so tiny and cute. I held what I think is a Great Horned owl. The big owl got heavy after a while but it was really fun to see them up close. There was also a Barn Owl which was small and pretty chill, and a Harris Hawk that was very not chill and wanted to fly away. 

We had our experiences with the owls after we went to the museum so I guess I should talk about that a bit. 

The Yorkshire Museum has items from practically a whole Ichthyosaur (a "type" fossil that scientists use to check against new finds) to a geologic map made in the 18th century. 

Recently they obtained what they are calling the Rydale Roman hoard. A group of bronze items found by a couple metal-detectorists. A whole room was dedicated to it and various other Roman items found around York. Part of the interactive quality to the exhibit was trying to get museum attendees to think about and guess who buried the items. 

The items were:

• A bronze bust they think was of Marcus Aurelius.
• A man on a horse who was probably holding a spear at one point.
• A plumb-bob.
• The front half of a horse they think was originally the decorated end of a key.

There was a tombstone made for a standard bearer of the famous IX legion who garrisoned in York at the time of his death.

One of my favorite items is an incredibly preserved and beautifully reconstructed Anglo-Saxon helmet (one of only six known to exist). The owner's name is inscribed on the top of the helmet--Oshere.

and this super cute chicken

We left had our experience with the birds of prey, I made my educated purchases, and we headed back. After resting a bit Libby and I headed for the wall around the old part of York to walk along the ramparts. On the way we grabbed a couple doughnuts. We had some nice views of the Minster, and meandered home. 

The fellow that did our Minster tour yesterday said that the tower was unfinished because of the weight of the tower so they didn't point the spires/pointy bits at the top. He said it bothers him and now I can't unsee it and it bothers me too hahaha!

It feels as if half of Yorkshire is in York today and we did not like our chances at getting a place for dinner so we had some Mexican take out from down the street and it was pretty good! 

Tomorrow we travel to Edinburgh.