Opinionated London: Day 3 (York)
 

Today was daytrip day. After looking at the options, we settled on York over Oxford and Cambridge. It is fairly far but only 2 hours by train, not much longer than going to say, Bath. Unfortunately, York was a bad decision.

I'll admit the fact that it was freezing and windy may have affected my opinion, but the entire town is little more than a very genteel, and nicely packaged tourist trap. We went to the famous Betty's and stood in line for the same so-so tea, pastrys and surroundings that you can get anywhere. We went to the Castle Museum, which was dark, forbidding and rather amateurish. We walked around and saw lots of cutesy shops selling useless junk. We went to the shambles. A narrow street with more tourist shops selling more useless junk. The biggest disappoint was a place that advertised itself as the biggest cat paraphernalia store in the UK. Given all the potty UK cat ladies, I expected a feline Harrods. No, it was just a little hole in the wall store. I've seen many much bigger, better cat stores at home. Oh yeah, they have walls in York. (The train museum is too far off the beaten path on a day trip).

About the only reason to go there is the York Minster. Its main virtue is that it is very large. It is has some interesting bits too, I suppose. They run a very nice escorted free tour (after you pay to get in) and spent several hours there. We forked over extra to wear out our legs climbing up the tower so that we could see a few rooftops and freeze our cookies in the biting wind. Definitely not worth it, even on a good day.

With the free minibar, there hadn't been any reason to go out to drink, so this was our first chance to hit a British pub, The Golden Fleece, which is Probably the perfect name for a pub in York. It also got out of the weather and a chance to fortify ourselves for the trip back. We love British pubs. The UK might be expensive, but pubs are the one thing that are cheaper than at home, so we feel compelled to visit them as often as possible. The alcohol is just a bonus. We were also looking forward to getting some Cornish pasties, which I dearly love, to take back on the train for dinner. Unfortunately the real stores all closed early and we were forced to grab some rather blah Cornish pasties at the train station.

They didn't think much of York Minster
Twas boring though not very small
No one got poisoned in Betty's
In fact nothing to laff at at all

Grin. I don't think that they are planning to go to Blackpool although there are lions in London Zoo.

You'd think that the stained windows in York Minster would have attracted attention.

Mind you, if our enthusiastic friend had visited on 9th July 1984 he might have been stirred from his apathy.
Is it really so long ago?

<<The train museum is too far off the beaten path on a day trip>>

It's right next to the train station.

What exactly were you expecting from an English city? It has museums, tick. It has a cathedral, tick. It has history, tick. It has shops, tick. Should it have had ye olde peasants wandering round in sackcloth? Jesters and troubadours? Knights in armour, jousting? Sounds like you want Disney rather than a real place that people live and work.

missprism, it is ironic you brought that up - we were there about less than a week before that fire - I remember reading the news articles and being amazed how we were "just there".

wow... almost 30 years. that does date me.

And we loved York. The train museum is right by the train station and can easily fill 2-3 hours even if you are not a train enthusiast.

The Castle museum is dark in certain spots-wasn't part of it a jail? The Victorian street changes between night and day every 20 minutes. The gadgets throughout the decades area like washing machines, vacuum cleaners etc. is not dark and dingy. It was quite fascinating.

York Minster--stained glass, the treasurer's chamber, the choir practicing for a concert, the sheer size of the place--how can one not be impressed?

This "I wasn't expecting much" from the first installment may be this man's general outlook although he sometimes seems to like London. Regular references in the 3 episodes to minibar, liquor, alcohol, drinking, etc. may indicate it wasn't York's fault.

Cornish pasties in Yorkshire..... now call me old fashioned (you're old fashioned) but wouldn't Cornwall have been a better destination? :-)

I agree - all that beautiful Yorkshire food ignored for a pre packed 'Cornish' Pasty, very sad.
I suppose it's horses for courses but at least most discerning people find York very beautiful, packed full of history etc.
As a Yorkshire local I have a 'pass' to the Castle Museum and never tire of the place. I'm really looking forward to next year's 1914, When the world changed forever exhibition.
http://www.yorkcastlemuseum.org.uk/Page/1914.aspx

Ooh, Morgana , I could murder a curd tart. I haven't had one for years.
I pity poor Mrs. Popov. She seems to want to pop into shops and enjoy herself seeing England. It must be no fun travelling with somebody who is determined not to be impressed by anything.

I could frequently murder a Fat Rascal ( I LOVE Bettys!).

I'm enjoying this, in a perverse sort of way. It's the sort of report that Cholmondeley_Warner would have written if he had ever made it to the United States. :-))

Sorry the UK isn't all you were hoping for, popov.

Lee Ann

Horses for courses. York is a tourist city that's why people go there. I for one loved all the higgly piggly lanes the narrow streets and the little out of the way churches. Holy Trinity is my favorite uneven stone floor and pew boxes. I also liked lousy walking the walls and getting a new perspective on the city.

And yes, I have to laugh that he hates everything about England but the tourist pubs.:). I hope he saw the exhibits of York Minster showing the Roman fort and how the church was built upon it. I hope you find a place you enjoy on your trip.

...It's the sort of report that Cholmondeley_Warner would have written if he had ever made it to the United State...

Yes. He would have scorned the main tourist sites and would have enthused about things that many Americans might not even have heard of. I can imagine New York cops having a lot of fun with him.
BTW, I have discovered that Betty's by Post have curd tarts and fat rascals. http://www.bettys.co.uk/
I see that they now do macaroons.

Yes, I do get fed up with the 'Bettys is a tourist trap' line that I see on here.
My local branch is Northallerton and we often go on a winter morning for brunch. It's always packed full of locals - and Yorkshire folk wouldn't spend their hard earned cash in a 'tourist trap', believe me.
Bettys by post is excellent. I have used it several times for birthday presents and for a friend going through a tough time who was so pleased to received Bettys tea, chocs, cake etc in a beautiful parcel.
As for macaroons - the Harrogate Harlow Carr branch has been selling raspberry ones with fresh raspberries in the middle of them and they are divine.

Morgana, PLEASE! I am trying to lose weight and your descriptions of sweets are mouthwatering! Good thing I live out of town now or I would be running down the street to buy something bad for me.

<<The train museum is too far off the beaten path on a day trip>>

<It's right next to the train station.>

It's in the opposite direction from town.

<What exactly were you expecting from an English city? It has museums, tick. It has a cathedral, tick. It has history, tick. It has shops, tick. Should it have had ye olde peasants wandering round in sackcloth? Jesters and troubadours? Knights in armour, jousting? Sounds like you want Disney rather than a real place that people live and work.>

I was expecting *good* museums and real history, not tourist trap crap. If I just want a real place where people live and work, I could have gone to Cleveland. And they have better museums, too.

The train museum is about 5 mins walk from the train station in York...o a return trip to the train station to get back to town would have been 10 mins tops. We did it on our day trip and it was the highlight for sure...my dad is a huge train fan, but even my hubby and I enjoyed the few hours we spent there.

The train museum is probably one of the *best* museums I have been to in England (from a non train fan) so it's a shame you thought the short 5 min walk was too far...

Raspberry macaroons with fresh raspberries! How delicious! I may have to learn how to bake macaroons. My raspberry bush is flourishing so have the berries.

Oh dear! The "Whinging Poms" have to relinquish the title. After all these years, Popov has wrested it from you.

>>I was expecting *good* museums and real history, not tourist trap crap. If I just want a real place where people live and work, I could have gone to Cleveland. And they have better museums, too.<<

Are they better than the British Museum too, as you thought that was 'meh'?

Am chuckling along with these trip reports...

"Real history" is what you saw and didn't like. You weren't impressed by the 13th century Minster. You weren't impressed by the city centre shops where you can see architecture from the Medieval Shambles through sites rebuilt after WW2 bombing to 21st century plate glass shopfronts. You weren't impressed by the social history of York presented at the Castle Museum. You weren't impressed by the Roman city walls (many of those in Cleveland?). How much more "real history" can you get? What a shame you didn't spend your money at the Jorvik centre.

To be fair the Jorvik centre is like a pleasant Disney version of vikings. So pretty "meh" to me too

>>real history, not tourist trap crap. If I just want a real place where people live and work, I could have gone to Cleveland.<<

Okay, this is what I don't get. You don't want tourist crap but you don't want a real place where people live and work. So what do you want, to step back in time to the 13th century, free of the modern world and any other tourists?

Sorry we haven't turned one of our cities into a history theme park for you!

OOOOh, some people re soooooo sensitive.

"Sorry we haven't turned one of our cities into a history theme park for you!"

Yeah, you did. And it was just a really poor one.

"The train museum is about 5 mins walk from the train station in York...o a return trip to the train station to get back to town would have been 10 mins tops."

I'm going to guess that the day you were there it wasn't 45 degrees, the wind blowing a gale and raining.

" You weren't impressed by the city centre shops where you can see architecture from the Medieval Shambles through sites rebuilt after WW2 bombing to 21st century plate glass shopfronts."

So they were recreations, selling tourist junk. Wow. Never saw that before.

"You weren't impressed by the social history of York presented at the Castle Museum."

It was a very amateurish excuse for a museum and the social history of York was boring. Who cares?

"You weren't impressed by the Roman city walls (many of those in Cleveland?)."

As far as wall are concerned, I've seen exactly the same walls in Luca, Avila and half a dozen other cities. A wall is a wall. Seen one, seen 'em all.

Cleveland has the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, which makes it a clear winner over York right there. And Cleveland's famous burning river is far more of interesting than anything in York.

"How much more "real history" can you get? What a shame you didn't spend your money at the Jorvik centre"

It couldn't be worse than the Castle Museum.

"Yes, I do get fed up with the 'Bettys is a tourist trap' line that I see on here."

That's because it is a tourist trap. It York in a nutshell. You take an ordinary place and continue to say over and over that it is special and pretty soon everyone believes you. There isn't one thing special or noteworthy about the place and certainly nothing to make it worth standing in line for. Just like there is nothing in York aside from the minster. And it is hardly worth 4 hours of train travel from London.

I was a bit like that when I first moved to York - but must admit I was also rather thick in those distant days - it was only later and when I began to mature that I really started to appreciate the place. You would have to be pretty blinkered not to notice that there is more to York than York Minster,

In the future, why don't you skip Europe and go to Vegas and Epcot. Both places are closer to Cleveland and may be more enjoyable for you than the real deal across the pond. Just a thought.....

Don't bother with this thread, the OP is a "wind up merchant".

It's easy to see why the OP chose York over London and Cambridge. He feared if he visited the university cities he might inadvertently learn something.

The first thing he would have learned is that trying to visit both cities on the same day would involve about 6 hours on the train.

If the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is what rocks your boat, then perhaps you'd have been better off going to one of the open-air music festivals held in the UK. Mind you, that would have meant getting out in the open air, regardless of the weather. I believe your famous Burning River is a 2-day open-air festival - sounds pretty similar.