Day 8 - Edinburgh > York

We got ourselves packed up and ready for the train back south.  After acquiring 3 bottles of scotch, my bag was considerably more full and heavy!  I'm glad we had reserved seats because the train was crowded.  After a two hour journey, we arrived in York. 

Rather than doing Airbnb for one night, I decided to splurge a little and get a hotel.  The Milner York was directly next to the train station - super convenient!  It first opened in 1878 (the year after the current train station was built).  York was very much a rail hub as rail travel grew greatly in the late 1800s.

The hotel was quite beautiful and we had the largest hotel room and bathroom I've ever experienced in the UK.  The walk-in shower was more than 8 ft long!

We dropped our bags and took off to explore the city.  The station and our hotel were just a short 3 minute walk to the river, the city wall, and the center city.

We had tickets for entry to Yorkminster Cathedral at the end of the day, so we wandered through the streets of the old city, stopping to look at whatever caught our fancy.  We stepped into this church, All Saints Pavement (named after the street it was on: Pavement - the first paved street in the city).  This building dates back to the 1300s, but archeological evidence indicates a church was here in viking times, with burials dating to the 900s.  The octagonal lantern tower is a distinctive local landmark.  It is claimed that in medieval times, a lantern was hung in the tower at night to guide travelers through the dangerous Forest of Galtres. The lantern light was enhanced with glass lens that were on display inside the church.

My eyes were drawn to the pretty blue ceiling, but I eventually made my way up front to the pulpit which dates to 1634.  I was startled to find nothing blocking people from stepping up into it (I chose not to). 

There was so much beautiful architecture.  Often you see cities with some restored buildings next to very run down, or modern buildings.  My impression was that most buildings were old and well preserved, or new, but done in an old style to keep a very pleasing look in the center city. 

This building included a sign that [someone locally famous] was born here in 1606 ;)

I absolutely loved the giant gold painted ewe hanging in front of the Golden Fleece pub.

"The Shambles" is a shopping district in the center city with narrow lanes, quaint shops and hoards of people.  It was fun to explore, but I got tired of people pretty quickly.

There were several 'witch' themed shops that were fun.  This was a magic-themed putt-putt golf venue (The Hole in Wand)

We grabbed nutella crepes for a snack.

The Three Tuns has stood for over 300 years.  First licenses in 1782, it was names after the three "tun" barrels which were housed at the rear of the pub, each "tun" held 216 gallons of beer.  In a recent renovation, builders discovered a stunning cache of gold coins hiddne in one of the original wooden beams, the newest of which dated to the time of Charles I (early 1600s).

Merchant Adventurer's Guildhouse (basically international businessmen)

As we did some pre-travel searching for things to do in York, the York Chocolate Experience came up multiple times.  I didn't think much of it at the time, but once we arrived, it became clear that York had a history of sugar confections going back hundreds of years.  Terry's confections was founded in 1767 and Rowntree's in 1862.  The city produces millions of chocolate bars a day, including Kit Kats and Aero bars. I had a hard time picking which bars I wanted to bring back to the family, but I picked the mint one for me!

I always love street performers.  This guy was great!

York claims to be the "most haunted city in Europe". Based on a history filled with violent and volatile events that have contributed to its ghostly reputation. "The city's rich and often tragic past, from Roman origins to Viking invasions, the Norman Conquest, and the English Civil war, has left a legacy of ghostly encounters and spectral sightings".  There were walking ghost tours and several stores with very cute miniature ghosts (Maybe 2").  I liked this one with a chainsaw and the one below with the 12 pk of beer. lol.

We finally wandered our way to Yorkminster.  A wedding party was just exciting and the tower bells were ringing like crazy.  We headed inside for our visit and a Tower tour (see separate entry).

After climbing over 275 stairs (21 stories) - we were beat and ready for food.  We stopped in a 'haunted' pub for dinner.  This pub supposedly had 3 ghosts.  We did not see anything, ha.