Touring York

We all had a great sleep at the Cedar Court Hotel last night.  We will need to stay at this hotel again in the future – and stay more days.  Everyone at the hotel was extremely courteous, especially the concierge as Karen indicated in yesterday’s post.

I (Jeff) got up early to get in a workout in the gym downstairs while Karen and Josh slept more.  The gym was small but quite nice. Had 2 of everything I needed.  Although I could have used a sleep in day too!  L

We had a light continental breakfast at the hotel and then packed up (yes, already!) to check out. We were only staying here one night.  Our bags are now extremely tight and heavy but we still managed to cram everything into them.  The hotel stored our bags for us while we toured York for the day.

The Halters woke up very early (6am!) to get on the 8am train to York. They arrived just before 10am – with Josh jumping up in down in excitement as they arrived.  It was as if the three of them hadn’t seen each other in ages.  It was funny listening to them talk after they met up.  They were taking turns talking and waiting patiently for their turn to glab about their greatest trip stories so far.  (the Halters had been in London for a week already)

The plan for today was to tour York together.  York is a middle-sized town – much much smaller than London.  They have a decently sized pedestrian-only area downtown which is packed with eateries and pubs.  Have we mentioned how they love their cakes and sweets up here?  The Halters said they didn’t notice it that much in London, but we have noticed it everywhere in Scotland and now here in York. Nobody is complaining!

Several people said we needed to take a Viking tour called Jorvik.  It is a museum and underground tour (with motorized moving seats) explaining the time period when the Vikings ruled this area.  Many years ago, they uncovered new Viking artifacts as they were digging/preparing for a new building.  The tour was actually very well done.  The motorized portion took you through mockups of actual Viking villages and how they lived. (complete with motorized people – like in the Disneyland rides!)  The kids enjoyed it fairly well.  I think the adults liked it more – and of course Karen could have spent forever there looking it all over.  (so could I)

Next up was the York Castle Museum which also was highly recommended by several people. This one was a complete dud for all of us.  It was a hodgepodge of different themes stuffed into two museum hallways.  Nobody liked it and we got the heck out of there once we realized it wasn’t going to get any better. It also didn’t help that we had encroached a bit on lunchtime and we were getting quite hungry.

We headed down to Betty’s restaurant for lunch.  This is a very traditional and well known eatery here.  We had to wait for about 30 minutes to get in but it was worth it.  It’s a combination of traditional English and Swiss food – with fantastic baked goods as well.  Josh had pasta with melted cheese and ham.  I had the Chicken Schnitzel.  And Karen got the Sausages with Rosti.  All were very tasty. We got 5 different desserts to share among the 7 of us and those were all outstanding as well. 

After that, we spent the rest of the afternoon strolling around the quaint and beautiful center city area of town.  The weather was perfect.  Partly sunny and 72 degrees.   We had enough time to take a boat ride on the river so we did that just before leaving. 

We gathered up our bags and headed back to the train station (right down the street from the hotel) and caught the 7pm train back to London. Our train car had no A/C so it was a bit stuffy for the 2 hour train ride but we managed ok.  They handed out bottled water free of charge for us.  Got into Kings Cross on time and took a taxi to the hotel (10 mins away).  

I was using 3 free Hyatt nights and was able to get the Hyatt Churchill downtown.  It's a fantastic hotel right next to Hyde Park.  We'll be off early for Bath tomorrow.  Time for a shower and bed!

Josh in his kid's robe and slippers

York

York Minster

York City Wall

York River Cruise

York from River Cruise

York from River Cruise