York #2

We had timed our visit to York, by pure chance, to coincide with the opening of a joint exhibition on the Vikings put on by York Museum and the British Museum. So we had a slow start, pottered the 400 metres or so through the gardens and the ruined Abbey, and we were there when the doors opened​.

York does tend to go in for the entertainment experience in it's historical displays - I guess it keeps all those people who like wearing period costumes employed - but the strength of this exhibition was the richness of the collection on display.

I really liked the hoards - literally buried treasure. They show just how far the Vikings engagement with the world stretched - Arabic as well as English as well as Viking coins, and demonstrate that they were ready to deal either by currency or by weight of silver.

Another cool part of the exhibition was the use of VR. There were a number of different helmets shaped like a viking amulet on display round the corner, each with a different scene. When you put the helmet on, and viewed the scene of the Vikings encampment, with the Vikings gathered round their fires, the helmet had a distinct wood smoke smell.

The museum itself is built over and includes sections of the Abbey ruins. It is very atmospheric - a sense of the layers of history, right down to the skeleton of a chap from roman times the builders discovered when they were digging the drain for the downstairs bathrooms.

The only downside was the soundtrack - the same few bars of the March of the Valkeries can do your head in after a while, and we had to flee to Betty's Tea Rooms, a substantial establishment about the same vintage as the Majestic in Lisbon. I feared it might be a bit twee, but the food was excellent and the service really nice. We have found the people here in the shops to be very friendly and a lot less stressed than London.

  Anne wanted to look in some shops so I headed over to the Castle Museum, which I mistakenly thought might have something to do with and include entrance to the adjacent Castle.  Unfortunately not, I discovered 10 pounds later.

We explored more of the tiny streets and lanes, then headed home for a rest. The York Museum ticket is good for the whole day so I headed back to check out the rooms pre Roman York and of Roman artifacts from their occupation.

Late in the afternoon we wandered down by the Ouze - a largely different collection of narrow boats down there tonight, and explored a different corner of the city before finding our way to the Chinese restaurant we'd picked for dinner.

We were forming some unrealistically Rosey views of York as some sort of modern Utopia, but the walk home brought us back to Earth - a succession of homeless people looking wretched on chilly rainy evening, a person slumped unresponsively in a doorway while a paramedic worked away and some deadbeat looking associates watched on, some really stoned or drunk people lurching across the road arguing vociferously. We were glad to get back through the park to commune with the squirrels and the pigeons, and to hunker down for the night back in our room.

Still, while clearly not without its share of social problems York is still a lovely place. I think if I lived in the UK, somewhere round would not be too bad.

Tomorrow we are up early and off to Durham, continuing our progress northwards.