York

Yonder to York...

I arrived in London late on Saturday night and after my super nutritious late night dinner I decided to have a nice hot shower before going to bed. I had to be up early for my train ride in the a.m. and wanted to save time! I went into shower room number 1.....yikes! The tiny bathroom was moldy and old. It definitely needed some TLC, but I always wear my trusty Old Navy flip flops so I never worry too much about the state of the shower. After 4 unsuccessful attempts to get warm water I threw on my night shirt, gathered all my belongings and shuffled to shower room number 2, where I start the whole process over again. Icey cold aqua sprayed the floor but that is it. (did I mention room #2 was smaller and grosser than #1?). Figuring I will just rush in the morning, I get ready for bed and head to my room. Standing in the hallway is a poor girl whose key won't work. Oh man! It had taken me a couple of tries to get mine to work the first time too. I spoke too soon though because I soon found out that my key doesn't work either. I try for a good 5 minutes with no luck. Everyone in my room is sleeping so I head down to reception, in a bar, in my pyjamas. The bar man blames the key problem on me and my inability to work a key card (ya right!), and you know I also don't know how to turn on hot water! What a tool! Anyways he is "kind" enough to tell me about the best shower room on floor 1 so I head there for my shower before going to bed. After a sleepless night filled with the music of snoring I get ready for my uneventful trip to York.

Arriving in York I am greeted by HUGE geese. You would think they would be Canadian Geese by their size but they have orange beaks and a lighter colour. I head up to my hostel and find it is an old house they've converted. Outside each room is a plaque telling the former use and/or occupants. I am on the top floor, so 3 long stories up from the lobby in the attic. It is a quaint room with exposed beams and....a shower room. Basically the bathroom looks like one from an airplane but there is a shower head and drain added to the corner. It is a plastic room that they have built a wall around. I hope they at least have hot water. I drop off my bag and head out to explore the city. It is Sunday evening so I know it won't be long before the shops all close. I wander down the road and find a cute area filled with shoppers. I am soon ready for dinner so I walk to the Slug and Lettuce which has a set price menu (another word for cheap). I order the pasta and make use of their wifi. I enjoy the walk back to the hostel where I work on planning the next portion of my trip before heading for an early bed time.

Breakfast here is early, ending at 9 so I wake up and head down around 8:15. They have peanut butter! It is the first time I have seen it since I have crossed the ocean for my trip! They also have tea, orange juice, oranges and bananas! Yum! Afterwards I head to Exhibition Square for a free walking Tour. Our older York guide takes us around to the Abbey Ruins and King's Manor before leading us to the old Roman Walls where we walk to our next stop, the Shambles. It is a tiny narrow road with little shops and places to eat. It is thought to be one of the oldest roads in York. We go into an old church not in use any more as well as see the Treasurer's House where he tells us a ghost story of Roman Soldiers. He is very informative and walks away at the end before anyone can give him a tip. A true free walking tour! I find a deli and take my sandwich with me as I wander around. I head to the Jorvic Viking Centre where they uncovered a Viking settlement. I was taken on a little motorized car through the rebuilt Jorvic. York is such an old city with so much history. This year it celebrates an official 800th birthday but unofficially this area has been settled for over 2000 years. Afterwards I head to Cliffords Tower. It is built on a hill and is part of the original castle in York, thought it has been rebuilt a number of times. Today it is roofless due to a fire. It is also tied with a red ribbon, which is in celebration of being open year round starting today!

Heading back to my hostel I spend a little longer planing or trying to plan my trip before I go for dinner. I found a restaurant with a 2.99 menu on Monday's so I head there before going on a Ghost Hunt! Our guide whose name is "unimportant" was hilarious. He was creepy and scary but had us laughing the whole time. I thoroughly enjoyed my evening and went to bed unafraid! Phew!

When I woke up (and even throughout the night) I felt a cold coming on. A tickle and a thickness in my throat. :( I spent some time organizing my plans this morning and headed out late. I went to York Minster, one of the biggest cathedrals in England. It was beautiful. They have a huge stained glass window they are restoring and had a learning centre about it that was really interesting. I stopped for lunch and had some soup. It was very tasty. I started to feel weary but didn't want to come back to hang out in the hostel so I wandered some more before getting a tea and warming up. After some more wandering of the city I stopped for a yummy dinner and now I am back at the hostel where I am planning another early bed time. Off to London tomorrow, Paris on Thursday and Tours France on Friday!

Beautiful Bath

Some with my new camera! Notice the milk bottles on the doorstep and the year on one of the buildings!

Stonehenge

Roman Baths

Bath Blues

Thursday was a sad day. We got up really early and had breakfast in our London hotel. Dad left after that and I went back to bed. I relaxed for about an hour before getting up and having a long shower, repacking my bag, and getting organized. As I was leaving I got a little emotional. It was so nice to have company and I don't know when I will see another familiar face. I headed to the Victoria underground only to find that it was packed and the ticket machines weren't all working so there were huge line ups. I got in one and waited my turn. I arrived at Waterloo station just in enough time to check the board and within minutes get on my train. I had left so early but with all the traffic in the tube it took much longer! And it wasn't even rush hour!

I arrived in Bath a mere 2 hours later and headed to my hostel via their online directions, which weren't as clear as I thought, so I stopped at tourist information for help! Oh boy! I checked into my hostel and dropped off my bag and headed back out. Within a few minutes it started sprinkling, which is no big deal since I am now a weather pro. I simply whipped out my umbrella and continued along. It seemed to be getting pretty dark so I checked my watch...3:45 and it was night time dark. As I wandered down the streets of Bath it suddenly started to downpour and gusts of cold wind started to blow. My umbrella turned inside out and I was freezing. I stopped for an early dinner as I hadn't had lunch and to wait it out. It let up for a bit and I wanted to get back to the tourist office to book a Stonehenge tour. I headed out and found my way to the Abbey square and booked my tour. The rain dissipated enough to wander a bit more but when it started up again I decided to head to the hostel and dry off. It was early evening at this point and after some online time I headed back to my room and met my roommates. I chatted with an Australian traveller, with stinky fert (I tried not to judge), for the rest of the evening before bed. He gave me tips on where I am going and told me some of his crazy tales.

I woke the next morning and went to the Roman Baths, built over 1000 years ago by the Romans when England was a Roman empire. People came to use the natural hot springs which they turned into a huge complex of buildings and rooms. People also went there to worship the goddess; appealing to her to cure illness or to curse a wronged deed. It was a beautiful complex work of art that they had built before the tools we have today. It amazes me what the Romans had the ability to do. They created steam rooms by stacking tiles in columns and building a floor overtop so the steam would heat the floor and the room. They created piping systems to get the water into several different pools at different temperatures. Truly amazing to be standing where people stood thousands of years ago.

After the Roman Baths I grabbed a quick lunch and loaded onto my Stonehenge bound bus. My driver had a radio voice and repeated everything twice. Lol He pointed out the home of Jane Austen. We drove through a beautiful valley called Bradford on Avon and passed cottages with thatched rooves. Along the way we saw the Westbury White Horse, a famous chalk hill carving of Ancient Wessex. In the distance we saw Cley Hill which is the remains of a 2000 year old Celtic Hill Fort with renowned UFO and crop circle sightings. As we reached the last hill before Stonehenge I held my breath. Reaching the top amd seeing the standing stones in the distance I felt a sense of awe. They are beautiful. I head towards them and can not believe I am here, seeing them in person. As I lift my camera for another shot, it slips from my hand and crashes to the ground. I let out a small scream and reach for it quickly. It is dented but otherwise looks ok. I turn it off....nothing. The lens stays as it is. I turn it back on, the screen remains black. I stand there in front of Stonehenge trying to fix my camera and trying not to cry. I manage to continue my way around the circle, listening to my audio guide. But to be honest, I couldn't really focus. It was freezing out and I was feeling really upset so I headed back to the bus, the wonder of the stones forgotten. As we drove back to Bath, I felt sick to my stomach. When we arrived in town I headed straight to the camera store. The "camera first aid" sign in the window gave me hope. It soon faded as the guy tells me they would have to send it away as there is some serious damage to my camera. He said it would take weeks to get it back, and seeing as I am leaving the next day and don't have a permanent address in the UK......

Depressed, my stomach in knots I head back to my hostel. Holding back tears I grab my tablet and email my dad....he'll know what to do. As he isn't online and I don't want to sit there, I head out and wander the town of Bath. As it grows later, I start to think about dinner. I decide I need something wholesome to help me feel a bit better. I read countless menus in windows. I finally find a place. I can get a bowl of noodles for less than 4£...a true miracle in England, plus they have sushi so I could have that to start. I have a couple of California rolls and after a long wait I get my tiny, and I do mean tiny bowl of noodles. No wonder it was so cheap! I end up paying almost £17 for my meal and I am still hungry! :( It is not a good day. Back at the hostel, I skype dad and we both agree I need to buy a new camera. If they are to expensive here, dad will buy it and ship it to me.

I feel better the next day as I head out to hunt out a camera. I find my exact camera with a mail in rebate so I buy it and head to a cafe to switch the battery. I spend the rest of the day wandering Bath and taking pictures, thank goodness! I feel so much better. I was devestated by the thought I may not be able to take any more pictures for awhile.

It is a couple of hours before my train so I head to the hostel bar to do some online stuff and charge my tablet. When I arrive people are watching a football game and there are no seats left. I decide to take my bag to the train station and do some stuff there. Surely they have a seating area. I end up arriving nearly 2 hours before my train. I am informed there is a cafe. I grab a drink but the few seats are full so I sit outside. It isn't too bad. But about an hour and a half later I am freezing. I get up to check the board. My tain is cancelled!!! I go downstairs and the guy at the ticket gate tells me I can just take any train to London. Ok, phew. I go to someone upstairs to ask whether I will need a new ticket and they say I can't do that. I need to take the train to Salisbury, the next train leaves 30 minutes after my original one, amd then after a 45 minute wait there I can catch the London Waterloo train. Oh man. It turns out the wait is more like an hour and I arrive in London over 2 hours later than I was supposed to. I haven't eaten dinner and the tube takes forever. I am on the fourth floor of my hostel to boot. I am hungry and exhausted. I head to McD's for dinner and when I head back to shower I find there is only cold water. Giving up I can't get into my room. I have to head down four floors to the bar in my pj's. The guy gives me a bunch of excuses about the key and the cold water. Whatever! I head back to my room to go to bed. Sleep? Nope, the guy in my room snores like a Mac truck and the bed feels dirty (I am being paranoid since the bathrooms are so gross). Lol

I have just had breakfast and am leaving to catch the train to York! Here is hoping I have better luck!

Busy busy in London

After an extremely busy day yesterday we decided to do less walking today. We bought a day pass for the tube/buses and after some indecision headed to Kensington Palace. So far this has been one of the best palaces I have seen. It doesn't even look like a palace from the outside, just a big old house. But on the inside there is so much history. Queen Victoria spent her childhood here, and much of the rest of her life as well. The rooms she used were full of information and artifacts from her time. The King's chambers were the same. I was really hoping to see what the apartments looked like but unfortunately those are private! ;)

After a couple of hours of exploring Kensington we headed to the Camden Matkets. They are also full of history and have a really neat atmosphere. It was getting really windy and it was already hours after lunch time so we stopped in a little pub for a break. Despite having the pass for the tube, we still did all the walking around the palace as well as walking around the Camden markets. As it was starting to get later we headed on a double decker to SOHO. We wandered around in what we later found out was a circle as we arrived back where we had started. We hopped back on bus 24 and headed to the hotel. The bus passed by some really neat places so we enjoyed te ride.

After a short break (nap for dad) we went to King's Cross Station so I could see Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter. It was so exciting! Lol A wander around the neighbourhood sent us back on the train to Victoria station and the area around our hotel. A late Italian dinner, a stop for a rasberry tart and we were back in the hotel for bed time.

Last day with Dad and it was another busy one. I am so glad he came to meet me to share a part of my adventure.  I loved the comoany and seeing a part of the world with him. Now I'm on my own again and heading to Bath in a couple of hours.