Welcome to York!

Yesterday, October 13, Alissa, Jamie, Rob and myself ventured into York. We took the train at 8:30 in the morning, and it lasted about an hour. Yesterday was the earliest I have woken up since I have been here! The sun rises around 7:15 these days, but it will continue to rise later, and later into the Winter. We didn't have much of a game plan before arriving, but we knew there was tons to see, so we were excited!

After our arrival, we got a map and brochure with things to do from the train station. We decided to go to the Viking museum at first. York has a ton of history starting before the Romans. The Romans came to the area, and "founded" the important city of Eboracum. I am not exactly sure when it became known as York, but it went through Norman invasion, Viking invasion and colonization, and then the rest of typical British history, I suppose. So we learned that York has been an important city for a long time.

Back to the Jorvic Museum. Archaeologists discovered a bunch of Viking stuff under the city in the 60's. The museum itself was a little hokey, but educational. We first had to go through a "time machine" to get us to the date in the 9th century when the Vikings settled there. We then had to get on a Disneyland type ride that took us through a re-created Viking village/settlement. At the end of that, we got to peruse the real artifacts that were found there. It was a stinky place, on purpose. I don't know if they re-created smells, or that is what it smells like from the dig. At one point on our Disneyland ride, there was a re-created Viking pooping in the back yard, and a whiff of the stench was sent our way. I guess they were going all out on the sensory front. One of the big finds there in fact, was a whole piece of human poop. It is on display, and it shows what the Vikings ate, and I guess some other important information that poo-ologists look for. I was excited to find however, that the Vikings used a type of sea shell to ward demons away. They would hang this shell outside their homes to catch the demons. And if you put your ear to it, you could hear the demons inside of it. Of course I bought one, and I am very happy about that. (For those of you who don't know, I am a HUGE shell freak. In San Carlos this summer, I found so many shells and was so obsessed, I feared I needed shells anonymous!) There were also Viking skeletons on display, and bones that showed weapon injuries. It was pretty cool. The museum was informative overall, however much different from what myself, and my friends were expecting.

We then decided to go to York Dungeons, which I had heard was a must see. Now when I am told that I have to go see the York Dungeons, I think I am really going to see an old dungeon, and get some pretty cool history. Wrong, it was more like a cross between a haunted house and some kind of hokey show. It was informative, however it got a little old after awhile. It discussed the plague in York, and what they did to plague victims. It also went through Roman times, the Guy Fawkes plot, a torture room, a Tudor period court room and we witnessed the "hanging" of a fake body that was supposed to be some notorious highwayman. It did go through the history of the town and it's sometimes unfortunate inhabitants, but I was looking for something a little more serious I guess. There were lots of people dressed up in character to demonstrate to us certain things.

After this, we had worked up quite an appetite. So we wandered around trying to find a place. We ended up at a Greek restaurant, and we all ordered pizza. It was quite good. So we then went to go find Shambles Alley, which looks like it could be Diagon Alley from the Harry Potter movies. It was a tiny little alley with shops all along it, in really old buildings. It was good fun.

Then we decided to track down the castle, or Clifford's Tower. It is not really a castle, but a tower. It was built in Norman times, and it's pretty cool. It sits on top of a hill, so it has a good vantage point of the city. We walked around and took pictures. I like being in old castles like that. So far it hasn't gotten old!

We then decided to go to the York Minster, which was glorious! It was really pretty, and my pictures don't do it justice. It is pretty big, much bigger than Durham Cathedral. We paid to tour the Minster, and it's crypts and treasures. We didn't have enough time to climb the tower, so if I go back, I will probably do that. Inside the minster, it was beautiful. Amazing carvings and artwork. It was hard to take it all in. Below, there is an audio tour of the history of the place, and the treasures and crypt. There was a Roman basilica built on the same site. Then came a Norman cathedral, and lastly the medieval minster. It was neat to see the progression of the history of the place. And there were beautiful treasures like silver cups and holy things. It was beautiful, but at the end of a long day, a little bit overwhelming.

One of the things I wanted to do was a ghost tour that I read about in a book that my aunt Julie gave me. It started at 8 at a famous pub on the river. We decided that we could just eat and hang out there till the tour started. Oh wait, they stopped serving food. That is one thing that I don't understand about England. It is impossible to figure out when food is served, and I don't know when the appropriate time to eat is! We have gone to many pubs that say they serve food all day, and then once inside we are told that they stopped serving. It's kind of weird. Anyway, we found another restaurant to eat in, and killed some time before the tour.

The ghost tour was awesome. It was an older gentleman who gave it, and he was a fabulous story teller. It wasn't so much a ghost tour, as a very informative history tour that happened to deal with ghosts or strange things. Like the story of the blood flowing from the walls at Clifford's Tower. I am glad it wasn't that scary, cause I am a baby when it comes to that.

We then made our way back to the train station, it was around 9:30. There was a train getting ready to leave for Newcastle, but we didn't make it in time. So we had to wait around an hour for the next one. Alissa and I decided to get some beer, because it is perfectly legal to drink in the train station, and on the train. In fact, EVERYONE was drinking. I guess England beat France at I believe rugby yesterday, so everyone was all riled up. People were of course loud and drunk, falling everywhere, etc. It was good people watching.

Once we got on the train it got a little worse...or perhaps even more entertaining. The drunkards were loud and a little obnoxious, but more funny than anything. Walking through the train, many people were passed out in a drunken stupor. There was garbage everywhere, most of which was empty beer cans. The bathrooms however were disgusting. I needed to go, so I went to the nearest one, and someone had puked all up in it. Then I tried to find another one, but needless to say the drunks were all over the bathrooms, so I decided to wait. It was definitely an experience, and I take it that it is quite a common experience. A little taste of some culture for me!

We got home around midnight, and dragged ourselves to our rooms. It was a long, but awesome day!