Off to York!

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Woke up early this morning to snow! There was not much and by the time I went outside to go to the train station it was mostly slush on the ground. I spent the morning on the train and arrived in York around 12:45 in the afternoon. Check-in time was not until 2 p.m. so I went for a bit of a walk to familiarize myself with the town. My bag got quite heavy so I went back to the hostel and I was able to check in a bit early. The Ace Hostel (where I am staying) is a Georgian townhouse from 1752. Instead of packing my large suitcase I managed to condense everything I needed for 10 days into a large red carpet bag, a medium shoulder bag that I got in Paris and my purse. It is a good thing too because the ‘lockers’ in the rom are very small and even my condensed packing won’t all fit into the ‘locker’. I am in a 10 bed female dorm. There are only two other girls in the room at the moment so I was able to get a bottom bunk, which is nice because my tailbone is still bothering me off and on. After dropping off my bags I went for a walk through the Shambles. The Shambles are York 's oldest, and Europe's best preserved Medieval streets. It really is a very special place. There I found a few interesting stores. There was an overflow bookstore where extra copies of books go, I went in and, even though I don’t have room for anything, I bought a book. There was also a cooking store which I spent a fair bit of time in, lots of baking and cooking things, it was like Williams Sonoma and Michaels put together. Even though I was tempted I did not buy anything there. I made my way through the Shambles, past the Christmas fair booths to York Minster. I went inside but there was an evening service and it was late so I will go back tomorrow to take a look around the church and crypt. I stopped at a cafe type restaurant for a nice dinner of cottage pie and chips, before heading back (only getting a little lost) to the hostel.

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Photos

Micklegate Entrance
The Micklegate entrance into the city centre.

Dorm 1
My 10 person dorm room.

Dorm 2
This room used to be a Dressing Room in the 18th century.

My Bunk
My bottom bunk, by the bathroom. (Which is why you can see the door in the picture)

Bathroom
Our bathroom, which while handy is really small. I can stand with my back against the door and reach my arm out to touch the far wall!

Lockers
The really tiny lockers underneath the bed.

Cooking Store 1
This store had a lot of neat things including a three tier cooling rack.

Cooking Store 2
I saw these coasters and thought that they were cute.

Cooking Store 3
If someone wanted them for Christmas they should let me know soon!

Cooking Store 4
While not exciting in and of themselves, these are the corn on the cob holders that we use to have growing up!!

The Shambles 1
A walk through the Shambles.

The Shambles 2
With its many narrow streets.

The Shambles 4
Christmas lights are going up everywhere.

Christmas Market
Some Christmas stalls. At least I think that they are here for Christmas although I suppose that there could be stalls all the time.

York Minster 1
The famous York Minster.

York Minster 2
It is a huge church this picture shows about half of it. While my camera takes great pictures it is not the best at landscape photos.

Comments

[Dad]

Off to York
What a fabulous place. The coasters look real cute. They would be a neat reminder of the birds we've seen together. I hope Santa puts them in my stocking. Have a great trip. Love you