Dad and I arrived in York pretty late in the
evening. We passed a few B&B’s, not sure which one to try to get a room in.
We drove around York, puzzlingly lost for quite sometime until I told him to
just pull over, and I will go ask someone. After running around York on foot, I
got some rather good information which told us to go here, there, and to this street with lots of
B&Bs on it. So we head out of town in our little stupid polo, and end up
passing the street with the B&Bs. By now, we are both a little on edge and
nervous to not find anywhere to sleep! (Since all the hotels and other Inns we
tried were booked full!). We approached a ‘hotel’ on the right side of the road
and I said “Stop stop stop stop stop, we are going here!!!”. So we stopped, and
got the last room in the Beachwood Close Hotel.
Dad was tired, and didn’t really feel like
exploring, but I forced him to go out, since it was only 8pm. We had a beer
downstairs at the hotel’s bar and had a conversation with the owner! He was a
nice, well informed old man with lots of fun facts. Did you know… It
is illegal to kill or shoo a cat in the city walls of York. Richard III loved
cats and gave them freedom to do as they please in York. In the city of York it is legal to murder a
Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and
arrow, or is it if he is wearing a kilt? And not on Sundays! AND Guy Fawkes is
from York, and to honor… or respect the idiot that came out of their town, it
is illegal to hold any bonfires within the city of York. Hahahaha!
Anyway, we took a cab up to the gates near
the pubs and inns that I found while exploring for a B&B. The Guy Fawkes in
was our first stop! It was dimly lit with only a few real lights and some tall
wax candles dripping on the floor and bar. There was a guy playing guitar there
that night… Gypsy Bill perhaps? Dad claimed to not really want to listen to
someone playing a really loud guitar but I couldn’t get him to leave after we
had a drink. Hahaha. It was a lot of fun and dad loved the dragon something
bitter ale.
After I dragged dad away from the Guy Fawkes
Inn, we went to another pub just down the way. That was where I got such good
directions to find a room. So we had another beer there, sitting next to their
nice warm fireplace! This place had a very different atmosphere from the Guy
Fawkes, but it was still a wonderful place in its own! Once again, dad had some
sort of bitters and I don’t remember the name since I am writing this a month
after it happened (stupid term papers getting in the way).
On our way back to the B&B we stopped at
the Three Legged Mare (where the owner of the B&B said to go). It was not
nearly as cool as the pubs I chose, but that is because I am just too brilliant
at pub choosing. The beer here that we chose wasn’t very good either. So, we
left about half in our cups and departed. Leaving some is better than getting
sick eh!?
The walk back took about 30 minutes maybe. We
saw a black cat in the street who zig zagged in front of us about 3 times… Then
he just wanted to be petted, so I petted him J
The next day, we got up, hardly. I tried to
take a shower but I couldn’t get the water hot, and it kept having high
pressure and low pressure. Spaztastic shower. It must have been haunted.
Breakfast was great, as usual. I ate the
beans again!
Then I wanted a nap, but instead we went to
explore the city! It was such an amazing place! We started at the TI, then made
our way to the York Minster. I thought dad wanted to tour it, and dad thought I
wanted to tour it, but really, neither of us really wanted to pay to go in and
look around! So I called us out on our bluffs and we exited the line (after
absorbing the high vaulted ceilings and brilliant stained glass windows, of
course).
We moseyed along York and ended up at the
Shambles, exactly where I wanted to go. It was so cool! The buildings were so
old, the street tiny, and unfortunately it was almost shoulder to shoulder of
people. The shops were very cute though and dad bought mom a glass that was
fashioned from a bottle of Banks Bitters.
After the Shambles we went to the ‘currency
exchange’ where I explained to dad that he will always get ripped off about 10%
at these places and you should just pull money out of the bank’s atm. I hate
the exchange places. I think they are rubbish. Anyway, we then went to
Vodaphone and got me a new little voda. This time it was a Samsung candy bar
burner phone! This came in sort of handy while we were about our travels over
the next week, even though it drops calls like no body’s business.
After that we made our way to the York Castle
Museum. It was like walking through a time machine, quite literately. I really
liked the area that was designed to be an old Victorian style town. It was fun.
Especially for a historian. Hehe.
Before we ate dinner/lunch we went on a walk
on the old historic city walls of York. They completely surround the city and
its basically a footpath now. That was fun! But the wind was brutal and I
thought it was going to blow me off the wall, since there was not really
fencing the entire way… there was only a fence to keep you from falling at
certain points where it would be very dangerous for you to fall, like the
street or water. But most of it was only a 6 foot drop to some luscious looking
grass.
Yo Sushi was the lunch destination since
every other place was either typically greasy fish and chips, or ridiculously overpriced
anything. Although, after we devoured
almost everything the chef put on the conveyer belt, we did not end up saving
much money. Ever since we came to London when I was younger, I have wanted to
eat at Yo Sushi because it just seemed cool! You just grab a plate off the
conveyer belt that runs along all the booths and bars of the restaurant, then
you are charged by the color of your plate. It was pretty tasty. We had a
couple rogue items of course, but overall it was good. Later however, we both
got severe stomach aches. Boo.
We decided to take a cab back to the hotel
since it was cold and starting to spit that pesky English mist again. We got in
our little black polo and went off again down the M1, this time headed to THE
SOUTH.
PS: Have you ever read the "Little Critter" books? That's where I get my title. Childhood was such a blissful place.
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