I was sent up to York for three days to run a training course with work which was a great opportunity to see the city. Luckily my train ticket was an open return too so I stayed on an extra day so I could see York Minster which was only open during the day.
Weather over the first few days was interesting... freezing cold, then sunny, then pouring with rain! Guess that's England weather for you, and they reckon NZ has four seasons in one day!
I was staying in a beautiful old hotel while I was working, next to the railway and gorgeous old stairwells and chandeliers inside. On the last night I switched to a YHA hostel which was a good 20 min walk from town along the river.. which wasn't too bad unless it poured with rain.. or the river flooded! (More about that later).
I spent my nights during the week walking through the town and over some of the city wall. York is a walled city and you can walk along a lot of the wall which is a great way to see the city. There were cool little pubs and churches everywhere, York was a really awesome English town. I also managed to try out some of the pubs for dinner which made for some good local food.
On the Saturday after a nice sleep in (well as much as a sleep in you can have in a hostel dorm room) I headed down to the communal dinning room for breakfast. And what a feast awaited me there! Bacon, eggs, sausages, hashbrowns, baked beans, croissants, pain au chocolates.. we're talking the meanest breakfast ever, and it was included in the price of the hostel! I was blown away. I think this could have been one of the best hostels I've stayed in so far.
I headed into town and joined a free walking tour of the city. It lasted about 2 1/2 hours and the tour guide was really knowledgeable about the local history. York is fascinating, it's history spans all the way back to the Romans so there was a lot to learn. I learnt about the old Roman wall and fortresses and then about the ruined Abbey that was destroyed during King Henry VIII's reign. The city wall is also made up of parts from different era's which I found really interesting.
We had a walk through the park with the abbey ruins, along the city wall and down an old street with slanty tiny houses, passed some Morris dancers (crazy looking getups and they wack sticks together) to our last stop at the Shambles, I think it was one of the oldest streets in York and it used to be the old meat/butchery lane. I found a jewelery shop that sold the most beautiful Whitby Jet pieces (a black stone) and I just couldn't resist getting one.
After my morning walk and a tasty lunch of a Cornish Pasty I headed to the York Minster. I ended up spending a lot more time here then I'd expected, there was a lot to see and again so much history! I went down to the crypt where you get to see the foundations of the old Roman buildings and other churches that have been on the same ground and see scale models and excavated artifacts of them.
Back up in the Minster I joined a guided tour which was fascinating. Our guide was hilarious and gave some great anecdotes about the stained glass windows, previous fires and statues. The choir started practicing for Evensong which was also beautiful to hear.
The last section I explored was the tower. 200+ steps in a skinny spiral journey straight up! Not for the faint hearted. It was tough work, very dizzying and a bit claustrophobic, but the view from the top was good. There's barely enough room on the stairs for one person so they only let a group up every half an hour so you go up and then come back down and there's no chance of having to try and pass someone on the stairs.. cause I'm telling you that would not be an easy task!
It was starting to get late and I needed to catch a train home so I headed back to the hostel to grab my gear. The attempt to walk back along the river to make the 5:30 train proved treacherous when I found the river path gone! The river had flooded the banks due to all the rain over the last couple of days. I had to take the long way around! If you check out the photo on the right you'll notice the archway, that's where the footpath is.. or at least used to be!
I wasn't going to make the train so I stopped off for some food before heading in for the 6:30 train. Turned out to be a lucky thing because flooding on the train tracks north of York had caused chaos at the train station and the 4:30 hadn't even arrived yet! A train bound for London finally showed up at 6:45 so I was one of the lucky ones who didn't have to wait very long, unlike some who had been at the station for over two hours! Needless to say the train was pretty packed for the trip home.
I was sent up to York for three days to run a training course with work which was a great opportunity to see the city. Luckily my train ticket was an open return too so I stayed on an extra day so I could see York Minster which was only open during the day.
I was staying in a beautiful old hotel while I was working, next to the railway and gorgeous old stairwells and chandeliers inside. On the last night I switched to a YHA hostel which was a good 20 min walk from town along the river.. which wasn't too bad unless it poured with rain.. or the river flooded! (More about that later).
On the Saturday after a nice sleep in (well as much as a sleep in you can have in a hostel dorm room) I headed down to the communal dinning room for breakfast. And what a feast awaited me there! Bacon, eggs, sausages, hashbrowns, baked beans, croissants, pain au chocolates.. we're talking the meanest breakfast ever, and it was included in the price of the hostel! I was blown away. I think this could have been one of the best hostels I've stayed in so far.
We had a walk through the park with the abbey ruins, along the city wall and down an old street with slanty tiny houses, passed some Morris dancers (crazy looking getups and they wack sticks together) to our last stop at the Shambles, I think it was one of the oldest streets in York and it used to be the old meat/butchery lane. I found a jewelery shop that sold the most beautiful Whitby Jet pieces (a black stone) and I just couldn't resist getting one.
Back up in the Minster I joined a guided tour which was fascinating. Our guide was hilarious and gave some great anecdotes about the stained glass windows, previous fires and statues. The choir started practicing for Evensong which was also beautiful to hear.
It was starting to get late and I needed to catch a train home so I headed back to the hostel to grab my gear. The attempt to walk back along the river to make the 5:30 train proved treacherous when I found the river path gone! The river had flooded the banks due to all the rain over the last couple of days. I had to take the long way around! If you check out the photo on the right you'll notice the archway, that's where the footpath is.. or at least used to be!
Well it's official. Nick is coming to London! So happy I could burst. He lands Thursday 25th September, so just over a week left to go. It all happened really quickly once his visa came through and I'm so excited. It's going to be fantastic traveling together.
Monday 18th I went to see my first west end theatre show. It wasn't your conventional production, it was a hip hop dance show peformed with a fairy tale backdrop. I really enjoyed it. A good introduction to the London theatre. I found a picture of a few of the performers. Some of their moves were pretty incredible.
Headed out to Windsor Castle for the day and I have to say I was pretty impressed. The castle is huge with high walls and a big central tower. I picked up an audio guide on the way in and I was glad I did, it had heaps of interesting information but I did manage to switch mine into Spanish somehow! Thankfully a helpful guard managed to switch it back for me.
Windsor Castle has a magnificent dolls house, built for Queen Mary in the 1920s, it was created by a variety of artists and modelmakers and everything was made to the finest detail. It really was incredibly beautiful. All the paintings and fabrics were replicas from the palace, famous writers wrote miniature books for the library, the silverware is made out of real silver, it has full electricity and plumbing (even the toilet flushes apparently!) and every tiny detail was thought out. Incredible. Sorry no photos, they wouldn't allow them.
The state apartments are impressive. Beautiful rooms but my favourite was definitely the awesome weapon & armory rooms. The sheer size and range of swords, guns and full armour was too cool for words. Many of them were from all over the world and many of the swords and knives had jewel-set sheaths and handles. There was a full armour set of King Henry VIII too and boy was he a big guy!
In the large dining room I found Sir Edmund Hillary's crest in among the other knights. The chapel was closed to viewings since it was a Sunday but there was a beefeater guard out front who I got to take my photo with.
With August being one of the most expensive and busy times to travel I decided to save a bit of money and do a few small trips out of London to see what England had to offer. I can't live in England and not see a bit of the country :) Oxford was the first stop, Brighton the second.
Brighton, a small seaside town just an hour south on the train, is a popular destination for Londoners and I could see why. With its beautifully rough and weathered pebble beach, derelict pier, carnival attractions and fabulous shopping I found it a fantastic destination for a day out.
Walking along the rocky shore with a view of the beautiful crumbling west pier was a highlight. The new pier contained dozens of carnival rides, a carousel and numerous candy floss & toffee apple stalls. It was something straight out of a movie.
Deciding my visa had had quite enough punishment for one day I headed back to the beach for a chilled out Pimms while I watched the world (and seagulls) go by. Some fish and chips on the pebbles in the now very cold weather was a good choice before heading back up the hill to the train station. I think I'll be happy to return to Brighton again.
I went to Kensington Palace & Gardens with the idea of going into the palace to check out where Princess Di lived but the gardens were so beautiful in the rain I ended up spending all day wondering around them. Because of the rain the park was quieter than normal and yet it somehow seemed to add something special.
There was a beautiful sunken garden with lots of flowers in a variety of colours and squirrels everywhere and a pond with lot's of swans, ducks and geese. The day started to clear up by late afternoon and I strolled to the other side of the park where I sat beside the Princess Di memorial fountain before walking back along the lake and did a big loop back around the park to the palace.
