York

It is hard to put today into words ...

It started lying in bed at 7:30am listening to the torrential rain and wondering if we should just stay home. Maybe we should have. If we hadn't prepaid the tickets to Jorvik we would have bailed for sure.

But Ian didn't want to disappoint me, and I was just hoping it would be worth the effort. We had about an hour's drive to a Park and Ride just outside of York (which turned out to be 1.5 hours due to roadworks). Then the 20 minute bus trip turned out to be 30 minutes and we were wedged in like sardines. A ten minute walk in the pouring rain and we made it in time for our 12:20 booking but had to wait 15 minutes in the rain before we could enter. We were so wet! At least my £34 jacket earned its keep. Ian's turned out to be not as waterproof as he thought and he had a wet shirt for the rest of the day.

When we finally got inside, it was so cramped and noisy I started to feel overwhelmed and had to fight the urge to escape. It seemed like a giant queue ... to what? Then I realised we were being ushered onto a carriage, like a very slow roller-coaster carriage. I actually had no idea it was that kind of attraction! It was extremely well done. The centre was built on the original excavation site. The wax figures are very lifelike, but there was one guy who was actually real pretending to be fake. 🤣

Then we headed back into the pouring rain to try and find somewhere dry to sit. We felt like Mary & Joseph trying to find an inn - everyone was full up! We did find a Starbucks which was passable.

We popped into an antiques store and then to York Minster. What an AMAZING edifice! And that organ - wow! I would have loved to hear the choir or organ rehearse, but we were out of luck.

The bus trip back to the Park and Ride was another nightmare trip. I got a seat, but Ian had to stand down the back of the bus. Why is traffic so slow in the rain? It took forever.

So, York: was it worth it? Ask me another day. I think it is a very interesting city, but today it was too crowded and too wet for us to enjoy it. I had a slight stress headache all day. You just can't predict the weather. At least we got there and back safely. Hopefully we don't wake in the morning with a cold.Read more