"Life is a Dual Carriageway" -- Ladies' Trip to York

In mid-November, I got the chance to take a girls' weekend to York with 3 friends! Paul was awesome enough to watch Charlotte for the weekend, and he and his friend Jerome took the kids to the Imperial War Museum in Duxford to check out the airplanes. (Perfect, as I don't have much need to see hangars full of planes.) 

Charlotte at IWM Duxford

We met on base and Jess was kind enough to drive us to and from York in her car. It took a little over 2 hours to get there, and was a pretty easy drive on a Saturday. We checked into our hotel, then headed out to explore the city! We passed Betty's Cafe and Tearooms early on our walk, which is a famous spot in York -- the line was really long, but we ended up waiting in line the next day for about 45 minutes to get lunch there. It was really tasty!

That afternoon, we found a cute little cafe and enjoyed a full meal there. Although the food and drink was good, the most entertaining part was when a early 20-something man wearing only a French maid's outfit (it was COLD and rainy out!) stumbled in. He was clearly part of a larger "stag do" (British for bachelor party), which had been going on for quite some time, given the state of his drunkeness. He sat down in a chair at a random table with strangers, while the young ladies running the shop attempted to reason with him to leave. He started to get belligerent, but luckily one of his friends came in to shepherd him out at the same time as a man from another table had stood up to try to be a more intimidating force. We were glad to have not had an empty spot at our table to accomodate him ;)

After the late lunch, we walked to The Shambles. The Shambles is *the* famous street in York to visit. It is now lined with tourist shops, but it was originally a meat market of sorts. The street was designed with a slight slope toward the river so all the blood and offal from the meat markets could just be tossed in the middle street and it would slowly make its way down to the river for disposal. (Shudder.) It is a pretty street to walk down, especially at dusk, as the houses lean toward each other. It feels a little Diagon Alley-esque, for you Harry Potter fans.

The Shambles

One of the shops on The Shambles... reminded me of my mom, who loves Earl Grey tea :)

We then made our way to York Minster, which is an absolutely enormous cathedral. We were lucky enough to get there a few minutes before Evensong, which meant we entered the cathedral for free. It was a wonderful experience to hear the beautiful singing, which was chiefly done by a lot of fairly young singers (late elementary through high school). The echoing acoustics gave me goosebumps at times. I hope to get to more Evensongs while living in England; it is such a neat experience.

Beautiful interior of York Cathedral as we waited to enter the back chapel for Evensong.

We went back to the hotel for a bit, and ordered some delivery pizza to the hotel as we found out that room service didn't run on the weekends (huh??). After some pizza and wine, we called a taxi to take us to the starting point of the York Ghost Bus tour. It was an enjoyable experience, but got pretty silly at times and I wished it had been more clear what was actual York history vs. folklore vs. whatever the tour guide made up to "spook" us. I loved my seat near the front of the bus, as it gave me a great view of the bus driver who was dressed up in a very ghoulish outfit and mask. (I'm actually not convinced wearing a mask is the safest way to drive a bus, but it was entertaining and he waved at me.)

Our bus driver (the bluish-grey part is his face mask with dreadlocks flowing).

On Sunday, we slept in a bit and then enjoyed a full English breakfast buffet at the hotel, complete with baked beans on toast! I actually enjoy it :) We then went out to wander around town, see the ruins of an old abbey, and walk the city's walls. It was a rainy day, but we made the most of it. After walking around town and popping into a few shops, we went to York Castle Keep (Clifford's Tower) and Museum. Clifford's Tower is the site of a disturbing historical event in the 13th century where hundreds of Jews were under siege in the tower and massacred.

Erin & Jess in front of York Minster

Ruins of a church (or abbey?) in York

View of York Minster from the city walls

York Minster

The oldest building in York... now home to a Chinese restaurant

Kayla inside Clifford's Tower

View inside Clifford's Tower

The York Castle Museum was really neat; I had two favorite parts. First, I really enjoyed the exhibit where there are several rooms set up to peer into through a removed wall. Each room was a household room from a certain period of English history; for example, a parlor from the 17th century, or a Victorian dining room. It was very easy to imagine living in that time by looking in those rooms. My other favorite part was the quite large recreated Victorian street, complete with shopfronts full of Victorian items, recreations of Victorian plumbing, contemporary transportation methods, etc. Very cool!

The four girls on the Victorian street within York Castle Museum

After finishing up at York Castle Museum, we went back to the car and headed back home. It was a very fun weekend with friends!