Day 3 - York

Distance walked:  8km,   Alcohol consumed: 1 beer (1/2 pint), 1 wine (large glass)

We woke to the sound of rain pattering down, which was a shame.  After a leisurely breakfast we wandered off to the Jorvik Viking Centre.  We had pre-booked a 10am visit, so queued up in the fast track lane rather than the general admission queue - which moved faster than our queue.  Our queue was full of a large group of Danes from some historical society.  They take an annual holiday to a destination "visited" by their ancestors.  The viking centre is a spectacular museum.  The tour through the actual remains of the viking village was the best.  Everyone was in their own amusement car and you were driven through the village with an audio tour at a set pace.    The museum section was not so good.  The displays were fascinating too, but it was so crowded you had to elbow your way to the front to peer into each display case.  They had a museum staffer, dressed in traditional clothing, talking about various items, which was interesting too - until we were elbowed out of the way to make room for later visitors.

We next went to Fairfax House which is a restored Georgian townhouse.  Sadly, the back half of the house had been demolished in the 60s, but miraculously the front of the house was left largely intact, included the elaborate plaster ceilings.  Each of the 6 remaining rooms had a guide who would tell you all about the room and the contents.  None of the contents were original to the house.  Instead they were all on permanent loan from a mad-keen collector of Georgian furniture - whose wife had put her foot down and insisted he stop cluttering up their own house!

We went to the Three Tuns pub for lunch as it is one of the oldest in York and had good reviews. Sadly, it was a disappointment.  The building is lovely and they had real ales on tap, but after that it begins to go down hill.  None of the beers were local and the food was dull.  Soggy chips and bland food.

After lunch we wandered around for a bit.  We stopped in at craft shop, where the building was more interesting than the contents.  It was tiny, with sloping floors and narrow, steep staircases.  When doing renovations they uncovered a Victorian fireplace, a single medieval wall panel and the original vaulted beam ceiling.  As one guide said to us, you can't do any work in York without uncovering something historical.  They have more history than they know what to do with - as evidenced by the use of some old Roman stone coffins as planters in the Museum gardens.

We also visited a shop selling antiques.  The was more of a bazaar as it was a very large building (tall and thin as everything is inside the city walls) full of glass cabinets.  Each cabinet was stocked by a different antique dealer.  It had everything from Bronze Age arrowheads (with a certificate of authentication), items from ancient Rome & Greece, all the way up to the modern age.  Mainly jewellery and bric a brac.  There was so much stuff it was just overwhelming.

We ended up at York Minster and went into their shop, where I bought a pattern for knitting your own gargoyle.  I never realised how much I needed one before.

Finally, we went on a 3 hour walking tour of York lead by Ben from White Rose York tours.  It was the highlight of our trip so far.  Ben was knowledgeable and funny and charming and all of only 23. Had studied history at university but also dabbled in performing arts, which showed as he not only knew his topic but how to present it in an interesting and entertaining fashion.

We rested our feet briefly after the walking tour before heading out to dinner at 7:30pm. The first restaurant we tried claimed to be fully booked and couldn't get us out the door fast enough. Apparently we were lowering their tone.  The second one we tried was more up-market but more friendly so we ate there (31 Castlegate).  It specialised in "European fine dining" and had good reviews.  It was certainly better than the place we went last night, but Melbourne still has nothing to worry about.

We were given two (small) pieces of bread, with balsamic vinegar and olive oil to nibble on for free. Fresh bread tonight, rather than stale like last night.  For entree I had roasted beetroot and red onion tart with goat's cheese and rocket which was very good.  For main I had pigeon ballotine stuffed with black pudding with a chorizo&potato croquette  and fresh peas, which wasn't as successful.  The pigeon was tough and its taste totally overpowered by the black pudding.  We were smart enough to skip dessert this time.