Hello Friends and Family: York

York is a great city. I love York. It has so much history. Now, it’s been a while since I visited, but I didn’t feel like writing about it at that point. So I didn’t. But now I’ve been home for quite a bit, I thought it was about time.

Having heard that the City Walls Walk served as a good orientation to the city, I was going to walk it on my first day in York. However, it was drizzling, so I thought it might be better to spend a day inside. Instead, I went to the Yorkshire Museum. The museum was awesome. I especially loved the large space downstairs with all the medieval stuff.

My second full day in York had fine weather, so I did the City Walls Walk. Starting at Micklegate Bar, I did the Henry VII Experience (small, but interesting). From there I walked clockwise along the walls, looking at the city from all angles. The Richard III experience wasn’t as interesting for me as the Henry VII one, and I had a bit of trouble finding the walls again by the King’s Pool. Otherwise, it was a very enjoyable walk.

On Sunday I tried a self-guided walk from a brochure that took me around a number of cat statues on buildings. The cats themselves were underwhelming, but it provided some structure for my wandering around the city’s snickleways. I finished the walk with a good chunk of the afternoon left, so I went to the art gallery – it had a fairly interesting selection of old paintings.

The following day I went to York Castle Museum and climbed Clifford’s Tower. While an excellent museum, the York Castle Museum had mostly recent and social history (not really my thing). I enjoyed it, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing back. The museum is next to Clifford’s Tower; there’s not much to see in there, but the views from the top are spectacular.

I started Tuesday with the Jorvik Viking Centre. I had been expecting something geared more towards children, but it was really very interesting. From there, I wander along to Pavement (the first paved street in York) and bought some doughnuts for lunch (so yum). The church of All Saints Pavement was right there, so I took a look before going to the Merchant Taylor’s Hall.

I spent more time at York Minster on Wednesday than I had thought I would. I arrived right on time to join one of the free tours (great!). I liked hearing all the stories and having various details pointed out, but my favourite part was going around afterwards by myself and spending as long as I liked looking closer at things.

On Thursday, I joined the “free” guided tour by White Rose York. Our guide was called David, and aside from being a bit odd (with dreadful teeth), he was a brilliant guide. He was particularly good at altering the tour to suit the group. I made friends with the dog that joined the group with her owner (Jo – such a sweet, well behaved dog).

Friday started at Bar Convent, a building just outside Micklegate that hid a convent of catholic nuns during the late 17^th and 18^th centuries. The exhibition was alright, the chapel even better (despite the elderly volunteer guide who was so bored he kept offering one-on-one tours of the rest of the exhibition). In the afternoon, I went to Barley Hall. It was a bit difficult to find, but was appropriately authentic (so cool!).

I went to the centre of York, to the Roman Bath Museum, on Saturday morning. It was a tad underwhelming, but I had great fun with the dress-ups at the end. From there, I walked around looking at medieval churches that I hadn’t been to yet. My favourite was St Denys Walmgate, with Holy Trinity Goodramgate and its box pews a close second.

After a late start on Sunday (thanks horrible Spaniards in my dorm) I wandered down to the National Railway Museum. I didn’t find it interesting, but it was free. In the afternoon, some of the guys at the hostel I was staying at (Astor York) held an Australia Day BBQ, with funds raised going to the bushfire relief efforts. I spent a lot of time standing around and talking to various people; it was really lovely.