On Sunday we went to York! It’s like New York but older. And smaller. And nothing like New York, so scratch that.
We met our friends Sylvia and Charlie in the lobby at 10 and walked to the train station. We had already bought tickets the day before, so that was kinda nice.
We got to the station and looked for a train headed to York. Our train tickets were flexible, so it didn’t really matter when or which we got on. We found ourselves a table and we were off!
Beautiful countryside!
After about a 20-minute ride through the countryside, we got to York. Our first stop was the Rail Museum.
Now, I like trains about as much as the next guy, but not nearly as much as the engineers. They spent a lot of time looking at the inner workings of different types of trains.. Meanwhile I’m just sort of floating around admiring the colors and size of these old things. Either way you look at it, pretty interesting.
We moved on into the town. We were so impressed with just how stereotypically English this was. Growing up in America, you have visions of what England looks like and York meets and exceeds almost all of them. Tiny shops, cobblestone roads, little cafes, and hidden historical gems.
We made a beeline for food, only stopping when I dragged everyone into a shop called The Cat Gallery. No regrets.
Being the picky eater that I am, England is hard for me. Like you’re totally on board with a dish, but then they throw in some random ingredient or two that ruins everything. Everyone had luck finding sandwiches but I was being stubborn. I had an apple (which was delicious) but still disappointing because I couldn’t find something a little more substantial.
Just when all hope was lost and I had settled for nutrition, I found it. My saving grace.
If Brits do one thing right, it’s doughnuts. It’s no Krispy Kreme of course, but I have no shame in saying publicly that I ate all of these. Plus the one I was eating while taking this picture. And maybe one before that.
There were 8. Then they were ate.
This was sort of my, “ I don’t even care what we do the rest of the day!” moment because I was more than content trailing behind everyone, stuffing my face with these bad boys in true American fashion.
We also had just seen this sign, which justifies the 8 doughnuts, honestly.
Least likely to be kidnapped award goes to me!
We walked around a bit more and saw these cool guys. I won’t spoil the secret to the magic here, but people were truly in awe over this. They were making bank!
We then stopped to admire the York Minster Cathedral. It’s breathtaking. It was built over a period of 250 years (1220–1472 A.D.). The details are incredible and, as with most true beauties, pictures do not do it justice. But I tried anyway:
We went inside, but of course it cost a pretty penny to really experience the entire cathedral. We took a few pictures of what we could see from the entrance, which did not disappoint.
After this, we walked around the outside of the Cathedral to try to grasp just how massive the place is.
We found out that York has walls surrounding the city. Originally built by the Romans, they failed in protecting the city from Vikings who invaded the city. The current city walls were built in the 13th century and still stand today. Not for protection of course, but as a beautiful living piece of history.
So cool!
We found that if we followed along the wall, we’d find the castle! Obviously, I was really excited to see my first castle (unless Disney counts, then I guess my second?).
It was a very long walk, especially considering the 8 doughnuts I had. But we did find the castle!
Maybe just a little underwhelming compared to York Minster, but still really cool! We made our way up the stairs, excited to see the inside after our long journey!
…aaaaaand disappointment.
Why does everything cost money around here? In retrospect, it would’ve been really nice if there had been a sign BEFORE you climbed up the huge hill saying “P.S. bring your wallet or else just admire from down here”.
Still, it was a really cool view of the city from up here. That part wasn’t disappointing.
Here’s what I could see of the inside. Maybe we didn’t miss too much.
We were pretty tired after our walk so we headed back to the train station. By using the city walls of course!
Ah. Back to the train station. I’ll admit, it was really nice to sit down. It was a really exciting day, but it was SO almost my nap time. Back to Leeds we go!
For more of my York photos, click here! But come back and read the rest of this story too! ;)
After my hour-long nap, Jake wakes me up to let me know we’re meeting in the lobby in 10 minutes for dinner. Ughhhh. I love food but I also love sleep and this was really hard for me.
The group decided on Akbar’s, an authentic Indian restaurant. I obviously hadn’t been, but they insisted it was good! (Spoiler alert: it was.)
I’m really glad they didn’t tell me it was almost a mile’s walk away BEFORE we started walking, because then I may have just settled for cereal on the couch.
I’m kind of freaking out because I’m still the pickiest eater in West Yorkshire and I’ve never been to an Indian restaurant.
I don’t even remember the name of the dish I got (I realize now how this might be a problem in the future) but it was yummy! It was spiced chicken in creamy sauce. I also got rice as a back up because it’s hard to mess up rice.
Enough of my boring meal.
Jake and Charlie got the “Chef’s Challenge”. If you can finish the entire meal on your own, you get free dessert.
If you know Jake, you know that he can eat disturbing amounts of food in an even more disturbing amount of time. Seriously. We’ll go to a restaurant and by the time I decide which dish to try first, he’s already halfway done. How he can carry on a conversation AND eat like this is beyond me.
Anyway, if you’re like me, this looks like way too much food. But if you’re like Jake, just wait because..
Then there was the naan.
I would’ve already accepted my free dessert-less fate. But no, these guys are not giving up so fast. A chef’s challenge is exactly that- a challenge.
Jake was killing it.
The waiter came by and told him he could stop eating now; the free dessert was his. I think he was honestly just scared at how fast Jake was eating.
“I won’t accept your sympathy dessert!” said Jake, as he finished off his meal.
There was naan, and then there was naan left. (Sorry)
Meanwhile, since we knew we couldn’t share their naan, Sylvia and I got our own “family naan”. We just started laughing when it came out because OMG THIS THING WAS HUGE. Like what?!
In the end, both Charlie and Jake got their free desserts. The chef even came out to shake their hands!
They were so proud of themselves.
And if you’re wondering, they both finished off these desserts too. I even recall Charlie saying, “hell, I could still go for a beer after this!”.
I synced my Fitbit one more time after we got back to the apartment.
I didn’t feel so guilty about eating 8 doughnuts after all.
