Bits and Pieces: The orginal York

So a few weekends ago a friend of mine S and I went to York for a Saturday day trip. York is about a 2 hour train ride from London via King's Cross. According to RS, it is the number 2 tourist city outside of London in England. There's plenty to do for a day and thankfully, S is from Yorkshire and knows his way around. It was so wonderful to travel with someone who knew the city....I didn't pull out a map once, pick a site to see or get lost. It was the most organized travel day I've ever had.

We got off the train and headed straight for the city walls, where the Henry VII experience is in the Micklegate Bar (entrance) to the walls. The wall displays were very interesting, giving a great history of the War of Roses and the Lancaster/York rivalries. Great little museum.

After that, we headed to Jorvik Viking centre to learn about York post Romans when the Vikings took over (York originally know as Jorvik). It has an interactive ride that takes you through a recreated village, complete with smells, food and tools. It's built on top of an archeological dig site, which shows artifacts under York from the Viking era. That was my favorite part. The ride was definitely a bit cheesy, but to be fair, it takes some guts to do something different in museums and it was definitely different. It changed the normal pace.

After the Jorvik, we went up to Clifford's Tower, which is the remaining largest structure of what was once York's version of the Tower of London. It had great views of the city and explained all the famous people that had been in prison there. Good weather, good views, worth the money.

Then we moved on to Betty's for afternoon tea. Betty's is a Yorkshire institution. It's a really classy (girly) place that is known for the tea, sandwiches and pastries. They even have an area on display where Canadian air force members signed the wall during WWII thanking Betty's for the service. It's just a really enjoyable place - highly recommend.

After tea, we headed to the Museum Gardens and got some great shots of St Mary's Abbey and then to the Richard III experience. The Richard III museum was particularly good; it had a section on the Princes in the Tower who disappeared and Richard III took the thrown. In my mind, most intriguing story in royals history outside of Henry VIII.

Then it was time to see the York Minster. We were very lucky; we arrived right on time for the free tour, which was done by a very knowledgeable, amazingly sweet English lady who worships at the church. She gave us the full history and an extended tour as we had to wait for a wedding to finish (! Imagine a wedding in that place). The tour and the exhibits in the undercroft were the best part of the day, which is hard to say because everything really was so great. There was even a single guy on the tour. S and I debated a long time afterwards if I should have said something to him. I probably should have because he resurfaced later....

Next, it was off to walk the most scenic portions of the old walls around the city. Then we did some pub hopping at some of the oldest pubs in York, even some built above Roman Baths. We then had dinner at an Italian place in an old bank. After the train ride back, we watched the English lose to the Italians in the WC, but the game was close, so just like the Americans, the English weren't too disappointed.

I rounded out the weekend with a trip to the British library to see the Magna Carta, original early versions of Shakespeare's works (transcribed by others), and of course, the napkins and scraps of paper with original Beatles songs. It was every book lovers dream. The weirdest thing though was that the single guy from York appeared right next to me as I was staring at the Magna Carta. Of course, I should have said something then, but I chickened out. I saw him later on with his mom, clearly touring with her. Missed opportunity, that's for sure. Next time!