Franco Fridays: A Visit with the Great Parker Windle

Sadly, all of our time on French soil has been documented, but never fear, I thought I could drag out Franco Fridays by documenting our visit with an American in Paris visiting England.  How's that?

We were really looking forward to a visit from Parker at the end of last month. He flew over from Paris for a church-planting conference, and KJ talked him into staying an extra day before and after with us.  Of course this called for a little exploration.  The very old city of York is an easy drive away, and there was a certain bookstore by the Minster I was looking forward to re-visiting, so while the kids were in school Monday we had a nice little day out.  We had a good explore, and I took my time in each and every bookstore we came across.  It's much easier to do things like that without children with you getting antsy.

When it came time for lunch we weren't quite sure where to go.  It's so easy as Americans in another country to gravitate toward McDonald's.  It would never be my first choice at home (unless we needed a playground and free WIFI stat), but it's so familiar, and you know exactly what you're getting.  But we resisted the pull and found a place with a bit more character.

The Robert Burns Hotel was the perfect amount of charm and good pub food.  KJ asked our waitress if she could recite any Robbie Burns for us, but sadly no. 

KJ snapped this picture in which Parker and I are eyeing his onion rings with a certain amount of regret.

Why did I order the jacket potato?

After lunch we meandered a bit more (more bookstores!) and walked a bit on the city wall.



We ended the day with some good southern cooking.  I don't know what everyone else thought, but I felt like the biscuits were my best from scratch biscuits to date.  James enjoyed wrestling with Parker and having someone to play Super Smash Brothers with. 

I think my mama made biscuits with almost every meal, and I always like the sight of rolled dough and flour on the countertop.

Monday was nice, but then Thursday...look at this day.

The book of James says every good and perfect gift comes from above, and someone in Robin Hood's Bay must have known that, too.

The day couldn't have been more beautiful.  We ate lunch, and there was a wonderful playground for the kids, complete with a pirate ship.  On the way into town we looked up a little history of why this town is associated with Robin Hood and concocted scenarios of how the French pirates could have not made away with their plunder.  French pirates being captured by Robin Hood was the starring role in imaginative play for the day.

The town is charming, and if you have a day with skies that blue and clear, it is a nice day, even if you didn't have a bucket and shovel and had to collect your shells in a plastic grocery bag.