Woke today to clear skies but it was a bit crisp. Fortunately, as we are on holiday we don't have to venture out-of-doors bright and early. By the time we did leave it had started to warm up and we had a pleasant, mild day.
First stop was the York Castle Museum which had been recommended to us by Ben, our guide from yesterday. It was well worth a visit. It is actually housed across two buildings - the old Womens' Prison and Mens' Prison. It was organised by themes rather than display case after display case of items. It had recreations of rooms from various periods - Georgian, Victorian and two rooms from earlier periods. It also had a recreation of a Victorian street that you could walk down and go into some of the shops and living spaces behind them. Some of the shops had museum staff dressed up in period costume who could tell you about that particular shop and life in Victorian times in general. There was also a display of clothing through the ages, with the opportunity to try some things on (we didn't).
That was the Womens' Prison. The Mens' Prison had had an exhibition on the First World War. Again, lots of recreations - including a trench you could clamber around in and a train you could sit in and watch out the window as it took you from your home to army. It was well done but we didn't spend long here. The last part was in some of the original cells with short videos of actors dressed up in period costume, telling you about how they came to be locked up in prison and what became of them. Very interesting and very grim.
After the museum we climbed up Clifford's Tower to admire the view over York and surrounds. I like heights, Mary is not so keen.
We then went to Duke of York pub for lunch. Another recommendation by Ben and another winner. Good pub grub and good, local (-ish - from Leeds) beer.
After lunch we visited the Holy Trinity Church on Goodramgate which dates from the 12th century. It had box pews, which I had never seen before. These date from after Henry VIII and each box could be rented by a individual family. It had high walls (about chest height - on me) and seats all around facing inwards. The idea was you just listened to the pastor who was giving the sermon rather than having to watch him, as in the Church of England you don't need a priest to communicate with God on your behalf.
We then walked along the city walls to the Museum Gardens where we came across an Owl & Raptor sanctuary which had a visiting zoo set up in the gardens. There were half a dozen owls which are just amazing creatures, plus a falcon and a hawk. For the princely sum of 3 pounds you could get your photo taken with one of the birds. I chose the falcon of course. Her name was Lady and she reminded me a lot of Pete. Greedy and demanding and surprisingly heavy.
We then had a remarkably good coffee at a nearby tea shop before tackling our last museum for the day - the Yorkshire Museum. This had displays on Roman and Viking settlement in York. Again, along with the standard display cases full of stuff, there were short videos from experts talking about particular items and things to try on or handle. But the absolutely best bit was the VR display of a Viking camp. We almost walked out of that room as we didn't understand what we were supposed to do. They had these big wooden masks on stands. We poked at the various button-like spots on the front and were about to leave when Mary had the idea (who knows from where) of picking one up and putting it in front of her face. It was amazing. You got a 360 degree view of a particular spot in the camp. You could also look up and down and see different things. There were sounds of people talking, horses walking about and birds calling. Just fabulous.
They do good museums here.
After all that culture we repaired back to our apartment for a wash and a rest before heading out to dinner. We planned to go to an Italian restaurant specialising in Sardinian cuisine that was a little bit out of the centre. When we got there were discovered they were on holiday so had to tramp back. We had our hearts (stomachs?) set on Italian food and after a bit of searching stumbled across Marzano Italian Grill. I had goat's cheese and caramelised onion bruschetta to start and then penne with spring vegetables for main. It was adequate.
Back to the apartment for bed and our nightly 3am wake-up call when the local nightclub closes it doors.
No comments:
Post a Comment