York Without My Camera

Day 2

May 31 

JORVIK to the Vikings, EOFERWIC to the Saxons and that's YORK to you!

This Is What England Looked Like When Everyone Was Fighting Over It

If no one wants that little piece on the lower left, I'll take it.

Our room faces the street and has a first hand view of the Minster which has been a mixed blessing.The Minster is the second largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe (the biggest, as any pub quiz champion will tell you, is the very-big-indeed Kolner Dom in Cologne). It took 200 years to build. Its impressive stone carvings  date back to the 13th century – although there have been several churches on the site since 627AD. The Vikings, very rudely, burned one of them. For all its ornate grandeur the scale of it is really very human and small. It doesnt dominate, it inspires. It doesn't say "Come to me or suffer the consequences" it says "Come to me and enjoy." 

More on the Minster when we go there.

The first night in our room the streets were filled with drunken louts being loud and sick. I can sleep through anything especially sleep deprived, but poor George went sleepless.  More importantly is the plumbing. Its Victorian. The sink has the 2 spigots - hot and cold - and the toilet is pull chain. But the bathtub is for giants. Very nice. 

Our Dated Bathroom, Functional But Needing

The next morning cute street and sidewalk sweepers traveled up and down cleaning up after the louts, like giant Roombas. I havent seen people litter like this since 1960, and its ongoing. Wrappers, cups, take out food containers, bags, paper. Everything just gets tossed on the ground. 

We're walking, walking everywhere. The bells never stop ringing on Sunday to the point of madness.
Lunch at Bettys Tea Room (over-rated) , dinner at the Golden Fleece - the most haunted inn in York (great traditional food). 

I was really looking forward to the JORVIK CENTER & MUSEUM, built on the site of a Viking settlement. You walked on a plexiglass floor seeing the excavations below you. In Jurassic Park fashion (except the ride didnt break down and the Vikings didnt come alive and eat us) we rode gondolas on a track through a model of the settlement with hokey yet disturbing  talking inhabitants. After the ride there's an extensive museum with archaeological finds from the site such as tools, clothing, jewelry, food, clothing and skeletons like this guy. 

Dead Viking

He was only 20 and died from basically being hacked to death. Nice teeth though, 33 of them! I guess Vikings didnt eat chocolate.
And speaking of chocolate, York is the home of Joseph Rowntree, England's Hershey. Theres a Cocoa Walk that might be on the list......