15 May post by Sammy

Today was full of time travel and bathroom humor. We began our morning with a lovely wet walk atop York’s city walls left from the period of the Romans. Had it not been raining so much, it may have been a bit more pleasant. Along the wall many of us stopped in the gift shop for the Richard III museum where the people of York try to prove he is not the monster Shakespeare makes him out to be.

From the wall we moved onto Vikings! Oh the glory of the Jorvik Viking Museum was truly a thing to behold. We all got into a machine! We traveled back to 866 where we were loaded onto Disneylandesque carts by a Viking to ride through a village full of attractive wax animatronic Viking citizens. At one point the narration tells of the public toilets as you slowly cruise by a man sitting in one that is having some bowel problems. The museum following the ride begins with an obscenely large piece of petrified human feces.

Later that day we continued our travel through time as we toured the Barley Hall – an old home from the medieval period that has been restored to look as it would be in the 1480s when a wealthy community member resided there. Our guide (who wore an excellent period costume) was sure to tell us all about the bathroom habits of the residents and their quests – including the special product that nun “wee” was which could be used as a substitute for holy water. We ended our day by seeing an excellent production of “Twelfth Night,” with excellent sets and lighting. We were certainly entertained by the drunken singing by Sir Toby and Viola’s awkward interactions with Duke Orsino as Cesario. Not even Shakespeare could resist including elements of bodily humor as there were numerous jokes told in regards to the body. Overall it was a most excellent and entertaining day.