London & York trip report, part II
 

We'd prearranged a trip to York for Saturday until Monday. We might not have chosen to go on those days, but we wanted to go with our son--who wanted to get out of London for a bit--and his job schedule limited us to the weekend.

We'd bought train tickets ahead of time via National Express--some of you may have seen my posts about that, as we were never able to get the purchase to go through on their Web site. After trying about fifteen times, till the dates and times were engraved in my brain forever, I wised up and just phoned them. Tickets were 33 GBP per person each way; the trip is about two hours.

We'd had big discussions about whether or not to rent a car. My husband doesn't mind driving in the UK, but I am a terrible navigator and didn't want the worry of all that. On the other hand, we were interested in going to Fountains Abbey and other means of transport seemed complicated. The car was not inexpensive, 100 GBP for the span of time (because the Hertz rental office was closed on Sundays, we had to take the car Sat.-Mon.), and we worried about the weather. Finally, at the last minute, we decided to go for it, and we're glad we did. One thing that sweetened the deal, unexpectedly, is that they ran out of the class of car we'd requested and were forced to give us a Mercedes!

We'd looked at many different B&B's and finally chose the Ascot House, http://www.ascothouseyork.com, which is about a mile outside the city wall. We paid 90 GBP per night including VAT and full breakfast.

We chose the Ascot for several reasons: it had a triple room, so we didn't have to book two rooms to accommodate the three of us, and it had offstreet parking, whereas at some of the other B&B's you had to park on the street, using an inn-supplied permit. Also, I really wanted to stay at a B&B and not a full hotel, partly so our son would have the experience at staying at one. Our hosts, the Woods, were very pleasant and informative, and the room was charming and comfy even if the beds were a wee bit lumpy--but then we were used to the extreme comfort of the beds at the Park City. Much to my delight, the room was furnished with an electric teakettle. :>) There was wireless Internet access, but you had to pay--I think it was 4 pounds for 6 hours or 6 pounds for 24 hours. You could either use their computer or a laptop in your room.

The Ascot is fully licensed but the only thing we consumed there was breakfast. They had a huge cold buffet with cereals, yogurts, granola, juice, and fruit, and also would cook eggs to order. The full breakfast was eggs, toast, mushrooms, tomato, fried bread, and black pudding. We were game and tried the black pudding and each took a bite, pronounced it interesting but didn't have any more. I was pretty sure it had blood in it, and I've just confirmed that on Wikipedia.

We walked into York and looked for a place to eat lunch. The city was full of tourists, mostly British, and seemed to be bulging at the seams. It was so busy that we were happy that we were staying slightly outside--I kept seeing B&B's that we'd looked at online and saying, Glad we didn't pick that one: it would be too noisy.

We ended up eating at the Crossed Arms pub for lunch, which was fine. When planning the trip, I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of pubs and restaurants in town and thus didn't write down specific recommendations. Indeed, it seems that there are plenty of places that are more than OK, and you really kinda can't go wrong.

The first thing we chose to do was visit the Minster. Like the Duomo in Florence, it looms over the entire town and is truly beautiful and impressive. It costs 6 GBP to visit the main part of the cathedral, and 8 to visit both the main part and the tower OR the main part and the undercroft. There's a separate price for touring all, I believe 9.50. The guys chose to climb the tower: 275 narrow winding stairs. I wasn't daunted by 275 but the narrow bit worried me, as I have a fear of heights and didn't fancy facing the descent. So while they did that, I toured the undercroft, which I found extremely interesting, as it contains remains of a Roman basilica (including some mosaics and a cistern that's still in use) as well as some later remains of an earlier Norman cathedral on the same site. I spent nearly an hour down there. The main part of the cathedral is breathtaking and nearly defies description. If you do only one thing in the town, this would be what I would choose.

We then walked around the old, medieval part of York and loved the crooked buildings and narrow streets. There are many, many shops but we didn't take the time to look in any. (I dare say if I'd been there with our daughter instead, we would have found the time!) We found an entrance point to the city wall and walked around it, getting many interesting views of the minster.

Saturday night dinner: we should have had a reservation somewhere, and I wish we'd realized how busy the town would be. We headed out at about 7 and tried to walk in a few places, only to find that we'd have to wait at least an hour and, at some places, two or three hours! We finally found a seat at a great Italian place called Bella Italia. I see that it's a chain, but it sure didn't seem like it. There were parties going on, and the place was full of happy people having a great time--and the wait staff was friendly and happy and helpful. They seated us first in a room with a large private party--and when we said we felt like we were intruding, they immediately found us a spot on the main floor. It was just as noisy but we didn't feel like the fifth wheels in the room.

Sunday was the day appointed for driving to Fountains Abbey. We left at 9 with the intent of arriving about 10 when the grounds open, but it took us nearly 1.5 hours because of fairly heavy traffic. The Michelin guide had given Fountains Abbey a really high rating, and rightly so. It's a spectacular set of ruins on beautiful grounds. Free tours are given Sundays in the early afternoon, but there we were shortly after 10. We bought a guidebook and gave ourselves a pretty excellent little tour. It was on this trip that i really started to understand that part of what Henry VIII did after his break with the Catholic church was grab a lot of land. That's what seemed to have happened here--after Henry broke with the church he wrecked this abbey.

The adjacent "water garden," Studley Royal, is only mildly interesting--just some overly manicured bodies of water without any really interesting plantings. Maybe it's prettier when more is in bloom? Nonetheless, there's a long walking path around the grounds, where you can get some fine views of the abbey. That was definitely worthwhile, and we were pleased that most of the people we encountered on the path seemed to be English daytrippers.

We had lunch at a little tea shop on the grounds, which was quite nice.

We wanted to do at least one more thing in downtown York before things closed for the afternoon, so we headed back in to town, arriving around 2:30 or 3. We considered all our choices and made a seat-of-the-pants pick of the York Castle Museum. We were misled by its name and didn't research it enough. It has nothing to do with a castle, really, and doesn't really cover that period of York's history. Instead, it's a museum of everyday life, and has exhibits on things such as--I kid you not--hygiene. There is actually a little display of Hoovers. Taken as a whole, it gave us a certain kind of picture of life in York through the years, and I found the display on the Civil Wars and on WWII interesting. But we wished we'd read brochures more carefully, and perhaps gone to the Jorvik Viking Museum instead.

Just a little aside here to say that we usually plan trips pretty well beforehand. But with our increasing reliance on the Internet, we tend to read guidebooks less, and I found I just hadn't taken adequate notes. We didn't take a laptop with us--though we had our son's with us in York--and I really missed being able to look things up at the moment. Next time I'll take better notes, or bring along more guidebooks.

Clearly York was emptier Sunday, so we knew we wouldn't have trouble with dinner. Also, we were eating a little earlier, at about 6. We headed directly to an Indian place we'd wanted to try the night before, the Bengal Brasserie, http://www.bengal-brasserie.com/ It was excellent, with very good service.

The ghost tour was next. This idea had captured our son's imagination, and we figured, why not? Our host at Ascot House had also recommended a particular one, which leaves from the King's Arms at 8 p.m. The guide was very, very good--a real ham who was a great storyteller. I was glad that one of the stops was Clifford's Tower, as we hadn't had time to go by there earlier. And winding around those medieval streets in the dark was fun . . . and not too scary.

That was really our whole trip, as we had to leave by 9 the next morning so our son could get to a class by noon.

High points: the Minster, the wall, the city as a whole, Fountains Abbey, the ghost tour.

Wish we'd done: Jorvik Museum

Ideally, we'd have taken one more day to really "finish" York. And although we would stay again at Ascot House, it would be worth looking for deals at the Best Western Dean Court, which is directly across from the Minster. If you didn't spend money on a car, that might just be affordable. But if you had a car and more time, and it wasn't early March, you could also go to Castle Howard. . . .

I'll make a separate post about our final five nights in London.

Loved reading your report. Can't wait for the London part. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

Loved this report, penel! But can you please give me more info on that ghost tour (the company, the cost)? My son and I are going to be there for one night, a Tuesday, in June. And that ghost tour sounds like something we'd love!

Forgot to mention on your London report how impressed I am that you're posting this report so soon after your return!

Thank you!

The ghost tour was "Original Ghost Walk of York," http://www.theoriginalghostwalkofyork.co.uk/index.html

The Web site gives a price of 4.50, but I thought it was 5. My husband paid, so I might be wrong. There's a lower rate for students.

Glad you enjoyed the report!

Thank you very much, penel!

Unless the Jorvik Museum has changed substantially since 2001, you didn't miss too much by not going there. We found it to be something of a tourist trap.

Pat, you know I thought it looked like a tourist trap, but people I trust have raved about it--so I'm interested to hear that you say that. That makes me feel better about having gone to the misleadingly named castle museum!

Sounds like a well paced and very enjoyeable visit. One thing I loved in York was to walk the city walls (which you can do most all the way around) and to take one of the Ouse Cruises (there are several--including a ghost cruise).

I think the Original ghost walk in York is one of the finest and glad you thought well of it as have taken it twice myself and still jumped/screamed/felt hairs on back of neck stand up at appropriate times. Plus it's only 4 quid.I like to think of myself as an avid ghost walker (I dunno--it's the dark and the medieval and just the right tang of things that go bump in the night). Re places to eat--yup--reservations on a busy weekend night--or hang out in a nice food pub and wait yr turn--hard to do with kids.

...and personally I think the Jorvik Museum is a very nice destination on a rainy day but amazingly expensive--it's a good idea to go pre-armed with a pounds -off coupon.

Do go back to Yorkshire and walk and visit Castle Howard (you can have tea in the garden and raise yr little pinky with yr cup)and explore the Dales and, and , and...

There is a very useful site for York with lots of evocative pictures. http://www.york360.co.uk/index.htm -- also has sister sites for Bath and other cities.

cheers,

Thanks for that link, opus!

One question about the ghost walks. Seeing that both of you really liked the Original one is certainly good enough recommendation for me. But I'm curious whether it's one of the more "theatric" ones or more historically based?

Have you done any of the others there, Opus? I noticed the Rick Steve's book mentioned another company as being more historically based.

I'm curious about this because of our experience in New Orleans. We took a ghost walk that was recommended as being very historically accurate in terms of the stories from which the ghost legends had grown. We loved it! The guy was a great story teller. But while we were taking it, we passed one of the more "out there" tours with masks and all. The people looked like they were having fun. But I know I would not have enjoyed that nearly as much. Give me good stories without all the hype!

I don't think you missed much at the Jorvik. I like the treasurers house (behind the minster) but if you found the hoover collection dull you would have found thisdull. Still it has a cellar where roman soldiers march though (or so I'm told)

The Shambles do get very busy, glad you liked them.

CAPH52, our innkeeper recommended the "original" ghost walk. It's the first ghost walk I've ever taken, so I am no kind of expert at all. The guide talked a bit about history--one of the stories has to do with prisoners held in Clifford's Tower, for example--but I don't know whether what he said was accurate. Primarily he was a great storyteller, with a great sense of drama and timing. And I have to say that some unexpected things heightened the mood: a few times flocks of geese flew over and honked almost as if on cue, and one other time a truck drove right by us at an ominous moment. Nothing was so scary it made us shriek or gave us trouble sleeping afterward, but we sure had a great time.

Thanks, penel! Sounds like a lot of fun. And like the type of tour I'm interested in.

I have only taken the original ghost walk in York so can't say. I am quite interested in history but felt the walk well satisfied that itch--and was great fun. Possibly worth taking more than one if time? My guess is that each is unique (although I think one is presented as v dramatic with equity actors--not my cuppa) and well worth the time. It's a great city with many stories--and hour and a half probably does small justice.

Thank you, opus! I wish we did have time for more than one. But we'll only be there one night. However, what you said about the walk satisfying your history itch makes me think it's right up my alley. I don't think the equity actors one would be my cuppa either! Judging by what I've read about the city so far, York strikes me as the perfect place to take a ghost walk!

comment re the cost of the minster. If you go to a service there is no cost. I find evensong beautiful. It is incredibly intimate yet I am alone with my thoughts.

Thanks for the York report. We're heading there in a few days. Glad to hear you enjoyed the Ghost Walk. I think we'll probably choose the Original Ghost walk, too, as it's closest to our lodging.