York, Yorkshire

York was nothing less than a winter wonderland, all castellated city wall, fake snow and Harry Potter ice sculptures. It was like walking into a festive cliché. I had an amazing time, and York jostled its way to the top of my ‘favourite British towns’ list.

Half the fun was sharing the experience with Zoe. She was the one who originally convinced me to go on the International Student House’s York trip. We all met at the ISH at 7:30am on Friday morning, from which we left for Kings Cross and eventually wound up in York.

First off, we took a tour of this mediaeval Disneyland. Among other things, we saw a church that had once housed its very own hermit. Not the most glamorous career. We also walked along part of the city wall towards the monumental York Cathedral. Lots of stained glass in that building. It was all removed during World War II to prevent potential bomb-damage. Bomb shelters were for glass only. (Civilians < glass.)

After a quick peek at the Shambles, a famous windy alleyway of a street overhung by houses, we went for dinner at a pub called the Black Swan. I had a gigantic Yorkshire pudding and beef, and then shared some spotted dick with Zoe. Good stuff.

Day two began with Vikings. We headed down to the JORVIK Viking Centre for the full Viking experience, which encompassed guides in costume, a ride with mannequins, and ‘authentic’ Viking smells. Mum, your cubs would love it.

Next came the York Castle Museum: a collection of rooms, objects and narratives done up like the past. I learned heaps about the evolution of toilets and soap and mourning clothes and mince pies. They even had an indoor street scene, complete with an actor performing a one-man Dickens extravaganza: A Christmas Carol. He tried his hardest to grope Zoe, but she fended him off with admirable skill and dignity. Humbug.

We then went and had cream tea at Betty’s, a famous teashop that was beyond brimming every time we passed it. Somehow we squeezed our way in at low tourist tide.

Next we heaved off for dinner. We met up with a couple of the others and embarked on an epic quest to find a pub with room to spare. This took about an hour. We wound up with approximately ten minutes in which to eat before we had to rush off for a ghost tour, which was hilarious. I didn’t get scared, and that’s saying something, as I’m still fairly jumpy around unfamiliar bathrooms (thank you, Stephen King and Alfred Hitchcock). Only screamed once. The guide just made fun of everyone the whole time.

On Sunday morning, Zoe and I hiked out along the town wall and found ourselves at the Yorkshire Museum. Lots of interesting stuff there: Romans, mediaeval churchy stuff, dodos, and a really fat over-stuffed platypus.

One museum obviously wasn’t enough, so we struck out for the National Rail Museum, which wound up being more or less as fascinating as it sounds. There were some very cool Thomas-esque tank engines and more than a couple of trains that bore close resemblance to the Hogwarts Express, but apart from that… we bought nice postcards.

We wound up our York trip with a carol service at St Denys, a local church. It was lovely – lots of kids scrabbling around for chocolate coins, and a fairly awful band accompanying some fairly questionable singing. Just how I like it.