London and York

How can we be on the last Friday of the month already? It doesn't seem any time at all since we were excitedly waiting and welcoming Christmas and that's nearly a month ago!

So the end of January and I didn't get round to write about Matthew's tenth birthday this year. He wanted a Playstation 2, yes, TWO so we got him that, most other family gave him money. We went for a day out in London. Taking in a few sights, a trip on the sightseeing bus and plenty of rides on the tube. We went for dinner at the O2 arena which unfortunately goes down in history as one of the worst family meals out ever, but Matthew seemed to like it even if hubby and I found it incredibly disappointing. Matthew also got to have a go at presenting a special Sky Sports News show that they had set up at the O2. He and James were behind the special news desk and Matthew read the autocue. They gave us a lovely little video to show for it. The day flew by but we had a lovely time. Matthew got to spend most of his birthday money and we all had a lovely day out.

Last weekend hubby and I went to York for the weekend. Wow! What a beautiful city! Certainly a place any visitors to the UK should visit if they like their history and architecture of days gone by.

First stop after getting off the train was to the adjacent Railway Museum. It wasn't my thing but hubby wanted to see it. It was ok but very repetitive. All trains look the same to me but we zoomed around it and saw everything before venturing into the main part of the City inside the city walls.

We took a look at York Minster. The big Cathedral in the center. It was very busy so we chose to just have a look and leave and admire the architecture from outside.

York has a bit of a dark history. So much so that it features the York Dungeon. 

A center where you can relive the gory history of York. You go round in groups of about 30 from room to room and watch a little "re-enactment" of each display piece. Guy Falkes was from York so there's a fair bit about the Gunpowder Plot and his death. There was also a showing on a glass maze with lights behind to scare the shit out of you occassionally to see another ghastly figure in your place. There was a little chamber room where they discussed torture methods and weapons. 4 "shows" from the end, this is where our little tour ended as hubby fainted. At first I was panicking with him being diabetic. He said he didn't feel well. Really hot, light headed and moved to the back of the room before passing out. The room was cleared and a first aider was called in. We waited for him to stabilise, took off his coat and jumper and waited until he felt a bit more with it before exiting through the fire escape. He explained to the First Aid lady that he knew it wasn't the diabetes side effects as he normally has a couple of hours warning and normally does have plenty of chance to eat before he feels too bad. I was just the worried wife.

There we sat in the fresh air whilst he cooled down. The rooms where everything was happening were small and cramped, had all sorts of smells wafting in (part of the atmosphere) and were rather warm so being in the cooler corridor he started to look better. He didn't look so pale and after a rest and a bottle of water we were given the option to go back in where we were or have our tickets validated for another time. Staff were brilliant and really helpful. We decided to leave it and went off to get some food.

Talking about it later, hubby told me he had fainted once before. First time when standing in confined spaces with a fairly large amount of people when they were having a meeting about his school. So we're now thinking it could be a form of claustrophobia.  The only thing we missed that I wouldn't have minded seeing was about the witches of York.

Before going the Dungeon we had already had a drink in The Golden Fleece.

York's most famous pub renown for it's hauntings. The ghosts of The Golden Fleece were covered in the Dungeon and the bar, hotel and restaurant was once shown on tv's Most Haunted. A ghost seeking type program which shares the haunted stories of places across Britain. It was nice to say I've been in there. I loved that show when it was on tv even though you know the stories are real stories and the "dramatics" are as fake as a Rolex off a market, I love the old dark history and tales. I never saw anything creepy in there whilst drinking my half a pint of Carlsberg, but I didn't expect to. A tiny little bar, it must only seat 20 in the actual bar yet the pub clearly trades well with the massive advertising board outside stating that it had been on tv. The restaurant was full and the food looked great. Once I explained to Matthew we had been there he was so "OMG, I have to see that episode! I can't believe you went in a haunted pub!!" Bless him! :)

The evening meal in York was BEAUTIFUL. We visited The Whippet Inn.

A new trendy steak house that had really good reviews on Tripadvisor. It was the high end of budget at £85 for 2 of us but one of the best meals out ever. Scallops with cauliflower and horseradish puree, apple crisp and pea shoot start for me. Mussels for hub. Steaks for mains with potatoes, salad and onion rings followed by Grilled fresh fruit salad with a splash of rum and homemade icecream for me and lemon tart and sorbet for Sir with a glass of good quality wine and ale. It was expensive but AMAZING! That's all I can say.

The hotel was a lovely. A short walk from the station and City center. Comfortable, warm and a lovely place to just chill at the end of the night. Breakfast in the morning had a great choice and then it was time to get the train home.

I would certainly go back to York. Another time for the full weekend so we can see York Minster, the museum of Yorkshire, the walls, the gardens, the other visitor attractions. Maybe it's an idea for our anniversary this year. I'd love a proper bit of time to see a bit more than what we did as it was a really lovely little break with so much to see and do.