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satyrica) wrote2025-08-26 07:48 am
satyrica) wrote2025-08-26 07:48 am
York 05/08/25 - 08/05/25
I was still on leave after getting back from the festival: N was off too and we viewed a property we liked the other side of Bruce Castle Park on Tuesday morning, then headed down to Stoke Newington for lunch in one of the delis along Church Street, before a wander around Abney Cemetery. Otherwise it was a mostly chill, recovery day, with a Zoom with my parents in the evening. Then on Wednesday we headed out fairly early to get the train up to York: it had been my New Year's Resolution for both 2024 and 2025 to visit the city, which neither of us had been to since we were children (and I had no memory of at all). The train was quick and efficient, getting us there in less than 2 hours: we quickly found somewhere we could stow our luggage and headed straight for York Minster. Having been to a fair few cathedrals now, I spent a while thinking that York Minster, whilst impressive, was just more of the same (albeit the Chapter House was a highlight) but right near the end the trail took us down into the Undercroft and we suddenly discovered a great exhibition detailing all the history of the site, including the discovery of the Roman remains that the Minster was built on. It gave the context I'd been craving to everything we had been seeing and contained some great artefacts.
Ready for lunch, we succumbed to a Yorkshire pudding wrap along Stonegate [every road seemed to be something -gate, but the four actual gates to the city were called bars] then had a little bit of a wander before walking all the way wound the city walls, which were extensive and impressive, as well as a good vantage point to spot sites and peek into gardens. Once we were done it was time to collect our bags and check into the Travelodge, which was situated above a Wetherspoons, although we never really felt disturbed by it. We spent some time chilling out until we were ready to head out for the evening and first had a couple of drinks at the House of Trembling Madness back on Stonegate, which we loved, then some food at Fat Hippo (a burger place I had remembered from our last cathedral visit, in Durham). We were both pretty knackered and ready to head back and crash once we'd eaten.
Thursday was our only full day in the city, so we wandered out fairly early and wandered up the Shambles before they got too busy (we'd deliberately gone mid-week but it was clear that tourists (such as us) were a huge factor in the city. We were also booked at the Jorvik Centre fairly early: I hadn't been quite clear what the set up was and started to worry it might be a but tacky, but we had a wonderfully clear and articulate guy doing out initial spiel, then the 'ride' through a reconstructed Viking street was actually pretty interesting, before we wandered through a few galleries of artefacts (including the much-vaunted coprolite) at the end. We went for a pleasant wander along the Ouse (getting the news that our offer had been accepted on the house we'd viewed as we did so), then back into the centre for lunch.
After lunch we went our separate ways for a bit: N went to visit the Railway Museum, whilst I went up Clifford's Tower and to the York Castle Museum which, take note, had nothing at all to do with the castle that once stood on the site. It was a pot pourri of social history, really: the initial collection being old objects a doctor had collected from poor families in lieu of payment; there was a reconstructed Victorian street, an exhibition about World War I and a history of the prison that the buildings had been, including some nifty projections in the cells. We met back up at Over the Rainbow, an amazing neurodivergent-friendly queer cafe and bookshop, for tea and cake, then back to the hotel for some chill time. In the evening we sandwiched an amazing meal at a vegan East Asian restaurant with drinks in a couple of the endless supply of historical pubs that the city had to offer.
Friday morning we checked our bags back in at the shop in the centre, then finally poked around the Museum Gardens until the Yorkshire Museum opened, which also turned out to have a great collection of items, especially from the Neolithic and Roman eras. We were ready for lunch afterwards and had lunch at a pub that the friendly owner had just taken on: they did traditional, hearty meals (pork belly, shepherd's pie etc.), which you bought (very reasonably) just as the main, then you could get the trimmings as add-ons, so we shared plates of cauliflower cheese, veg and Yorkshire pudding, everything accompanied by lots of peppery gravy. We had a bit more of a wander around the centre, popping into a couple of incredible, historical churches (especially Holy Trinity, Goodramgate with its box pews) that could have easily gone under the radar. I then popped into the small Roman Baths museum (under the pub of the same name) before we reconvened, collected our luggage and went to the station in plenty of time for the train back to London.
We went home but I turned around and pretty much headed straight back out again to a gig down at Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes as I was really keen to catch Bennie Jetz, first on the bill there: he had his band behind him this time and sounded much heavier and more alt than he had by himself. Gig-regular B and his new girlfriend S were both there as well and incorporated me into their group, which was lovely: especially with Bennie being as friendly as ever. Soft were next up, so it was a double-whammy of acts I was excited by, although they rise and fall a bit depending on the energy in the room. I stayed for headliners Chest, who were fine but didn't make as much of an impression.
Ready for lunch, we succumbed to a Yorkshire pudding wrap along Stonegate [every road seemed to be something -gate, but the four actual gates to the city were called bars] then had a little bit of a wander before walking all the way wound the city walls, which were extensive and impressive, as well as a good vantage point to spot sites and peek into gardens. Once we were done it was time to collect our bags and check into the Travelodge, which was situated above a Wetherspoons, although we never really felt disturbed by it. We spent some time chilling out until we were ready to head out for the evening and first had a couple of drinks at the House of Trembling Madness back on Stonegate, which we loved, then some food at Fat Hippo (a burger place I had remembered from our last cathedral visit, in Durham). We were both pretty knackered and ready to head back and crash once we'd eaten.
Thursday was our only full day in the city, so we wandered out fairly early and wandered up the Shambles before they got too busy (we'd deliberately gone mid-week but it was clear that tourists (such as us) were a huge factor in the city. We were also booked at the Jorvik Centre fairly early: I hadn't been quite clear what the set up was and started to worry it might be a but tacky, but we had a wonderfully clear and articulate guy doing out initial spiel, then the 'ride' through a reconstructed Viking street was actually pretty interesting, before we wandered through a few galleries of artefacts (including the much-vaunted coprolite) at the end. We went for a pleasant wander along the Ouse (getting the news that our offer had been accepted on the house we'd viewed as we did so), then back into the centre for lunch.
After lunch we went our separate ways for a bit: N went to visit the Railway Museum, whilst I went up Clifford's Tower and to the York Castle Museum which, take note, had nothing at all to do with the castle that once stood on the site. It was a pot pourri of social history, really: the initial collection being old objects a doctor had collected from poor families in lieu of payment; there was a reconstructed Victorian street, an exhibition about World War I and a history of the prison that the buildings had been, including some nifty projections in the cells. We met back up at Over the Rainbow, an amazing neurodivergent-friendly queer cafe and bookshop, for tea and cake, then back to the hotel for some chill time. In the evening we sandwiched an amazing meal at a vegan East Asian restaurant with drinks in a couple of the endless supply of historical pubs that the city had to offer.
Friday morning we checked our bags back in at the shop in the centre, then finally poked around the Museum Gardens until the Yorkshire Museum opened, which also turned out to have a great collection of items, especially from the Neolithic and Roman eras. We were ready for lunch afterwards and had lunch at a pub that the friendly owner had just taken on: they did traditional, hearty meals (pork belly, shepherd's pie etc.), which you bought (very reasonably) just as the main, then you could get the trimmings as add-ons, so we shared plates of cauliflower cheese, veg and Yorkshire pudding, everything accompanied by lots of peppery gravy. We had a bit more of a wander around the centre, popping into a couple of incredible, historical churches (especially Holy Trinity, Goodramgate with its box pews) that could have easily gone under the radar. I then popped into the small Roman Baths museum (under the pub of the same name) before we reconvened, collected our luggage and went to the station in plenty of time for the train back to London.
We went home but I turned around and pretty much headed straight back out again to a gig down at Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes as I was really keen to catch Bennie Jetz, first on the bill there: he had his band behind him this time and sounded much heavier and more alt than he had by himself. Gig-regular B and his new girlfriend S were both there as well and incorporated me into their group, which was lovely: especially with Bennie being as friendly as ever. Soft were next up, so it was a double-whammy of acts I was excited by, although they rise and fall a bit depending on the energy in the room. I stayed for headliners Chest, who were fine but didn't make as much of an impression.