York-ishness

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We didn't get as much accomplished yesterday as we wanted. Everything closes so damn early! I guess that's how they keep the tourists here longer.

I have noticed, however, that the people here are MUCH friendlier and more polite than in Luton, St. Albans, and London. I've always heard that it's friendlier in the north, and I see it. People actually get out of your way, when you're trying to pass by. People smile. People don't stop in the middle of the damn sidewalk to look at something; they step aside and then look. People hold doors and make friendly comments. People here actually see you. It's nice.

Walking Tour & New Friends

After a full English breakfast (eggs, bacon, baked beans, roasted tomato, sausage, hashbrown patty, and sauteed mushrooms) in the downstairs restaurant of our B&B, Deanna and I start the day with a guided walking tour of York. We're led to the University of York which seems nothing like a university, but more like random buildings that have nothing to do with each other.

Interestingly enough, most of the other tourists are American or Canadian. Like a total dork, I'm excited by this for some reason. I try to strike up a conversation with an elderly couple from Kentucky, but they're not having any foolishness. They're here to listen to the tour. So I shut my mouth and join Deanna, who is lagging behind the group, snapping pictures relentlessly.

A young Canadian couple, Briana and Will, are also behind taking pictures of everything. We find out that they're both teachers in Buckinghamshire, brought here by the same lying agency that brought me here. This is their second and final year in the UK, because they'll be moving back to Canada to get married and start their life. I feel a twinge of envy.

We walk through the city, under medieval archways and atop Roman walls. Deanna videos and I take blurry pictures. It rains on and off the entire time. Deanna and I lose the group twice because we're taking pictures or reading something. We have to run to catch up.

When the tour is over, we join Briana and Will in walking down the Shambles, the most famous street in York. After snapping some pictures, we trade phone numbers and agree to meet up for dinner later that night.

Jorvik, the Viking Museum

Deanna and I grab a quick sandwich and eat it while walking over to Jorvik, the Viking Museum, which is where we've planned to meet up with Meera, our Indian colleague. Meera has family in Leeds, which is really close to York. As we stand in the line, Meera calls, and we spend about fifteen minutes trying to find her in the crowd. This week is the annual Viking Fesitval in York, and the square in front of the museum is packed with tourists and families. Tables and booths have been set up where people dressed as Vikings try to sell little trinkets to tourists. Someone has randomly brought a row boat to display with other Viking shields and things.

We stand in line for about 45 minutes before we finally get to the door for entry. Deanna and I show our York Pass, which we bought at the train station, and we get in for free. We're directed down some stairs, into a small waiting area where a dude dressed as a Viking informs us that we are about to enter a time machine that will take us back to the medieval times. A little boy stares at him with wide eyes. The automatic doors next to the Viking slide open dramatically, and we're ushered into a tiny room with backless benches facing a movie screen.

The short film shows a teenage guy and girl wearing modern fashion in front of modern city. The date below them says 2009. Then the date begins to roll back and stops at 1995. The guy and girl are now wearing flannel and listening to the Gin Blossoms or something. The date rolls back to the 80's, and the fashion and music change accordingly. Slowly, the time machine rolls us through the decades until it gets to the 20's and the girl is dressed as a flapper and they're swing dancing. I would so be a flapper if I lived back then, I think.

Then the time machine start to skip huge chunks of time. Quicker and quicker, we're thrust into the Middle Ages, and when the side doors finally slide open, we step into a medieval village. We get into a cart that looks like an amusement park ride. Giggling, we snap pictures in the darkness as the ride slowly rolls us through the village. An automated announcer tells us about what we're seeing in the village: a marketplace, a church, homes, people, and what's going on in the village that day. Every now and then, we smell something that has to do with the village. I'm not sure how they do it, but when we pass by the pig farm, we smell pig and manure. When we pass by the carpenter's home, we smell fresh wood shavings. I think I feel a fan blowing the scent our way.

After the village tour, we get off the ride and walk through the rest of the museum. We meet Vikings who show us their weapons and board games. We read information about Viking life and culture, as well as the history of York. Artifacts displayed behind glass cases draw tiny gatherings of parents while the kids run around pushing buttons that cause an automated voice to drone on about Viking history. There's a little quiz you can take to see how much of a Viking you are based on your opinions of things. It's interesting, but not as cool as the village.

Cliffords Tower

Built originially in 1068 to help fight off the Normans (men from the north is where the word "Normans" comes from), who were Vikings. However, one Norman, William the Conquerer, conquerered the tower anyway! The tower has been burnt down in battles and rebuilt numerous times before finally being built with stone in the mid-thirteenth century, and--believe it or not--it caught on fire AGAIN, but didn't burn down. Instead the stone became red-tinted where the fire licked the walls. Those sections of the walls are my favorite.

We tour the tower, climb up the steep, narrow stairs into the royal chambers where kings and princesses once slept. From the top of the tower, we get a nice view of the whole city and the river.

"I can see why William the Conquerer chose this site for his castle," I say. "You can see the river and the whole city from up here."

As a misty rain begins to fall, I stare at the river and the huge parking lot at the base of the tower, imagining fields and trees and soldiers guarding their settlement.

I bet those soldiers never would have imagined what would happen to their castle. Or that this land they were on would become its own nation and build its own empire--one of the biggest empires in the history of the world. Or that York would become so important that it almost became the capital of England. Or that an American teacher would stand here 1000 years into the future, thinking about them..

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Photos

University of York, King's Manor
Above the door is the Coat of Arms of King Charles I.

Random Cow Statue
In dormatory courtyard of University of York.