21st & 22nd July

After two days of good intentions, I finally managed to walk the city walls. Approximately half the distance of these walls are built on the original Roman walls from 71AD. These are the longest medieval town walls in England. Each gate has information on the history of that area of the city. Several hundred years of English politics is hard to wrap your head around in one afternoon.
Tim, my friend and host, has explained that all the roads are called “Gates”, and all the city wall gates are called “Bars”. To complicate this, one of the city gates is an actual bar, set inside one of the towers.

The Richard III experience is found at Monk Bar. One of the men working there showed me a wooden structure behind the desk, made from a tree some centuries ago. At one section of the wall, it’s explained that the nearby car park is built above a Jewish cemetery. The Jewish community in 12th Century York was one of the largest in England. They were expelled from England in 1290, by order of the King. The street outside this wall is called Jewbury, after the cemetery.

The entire distance is only a little more than 3km, and it didn’t take long to cover. I headed back up to the city centre, where two women inside a fudge store waved samples at me and beckoned me in. I told them I don’t eat dairy, and they promptly served me up a large mouthful of vegan caramel fudge. Of course I bought a block, how could I refuse? One of the girls is from Brisbane, but she’s adopted the local accent easily, and it took several minutes of conversation for me to hear it. I wonder if I’ll come back with an accent?

Back to El Piano for the third day in a row, this time for fresh carrot cake and ice cream. That place is amazing. Took a thirty minute walk back to Tim’s place, before heading out again to Ye Olde Starre Inne for another open mic.
The singer here was the full package. He had a head of hair that rivalled Robert Plant’s, moves like a rock star, and a voice that could imitate both Bob Dylan and Tom Waits so well, that most of the audience had their jaws on the table. The only oddity in his rock star get up were his sandals. England is in the middle of a heatwave, after all.

Friday, I’d intended to see the inside of the Minster, and the museum gardens. At 10:45am I stopped in front of the Minster, when a man asked if I was there for the free tour. I’d stopped right next to a sign advertising a walking history tour of York, which happened to start at

11:00am. I changed my plans and found myself immersed in history for the next three hours. Our guide knew his subject matter inside out, and from the Romans right through to modern day York, he was full of stories and good humour.
It was a lot to take in, and I have a lot of reading to do to make sense of it all. I need to find a good chart with a visual map of Royal history, as there are so many different titles, names and overlaps.
I did learn how the castle walls worked as defense from a practical point of view. Apparently hot oil was as valid a weapon as a sword. Nasty stuff. The defendants would stand at the top of the tower, having locked the enemy in the tower below, and simply shower them with oil and arrows. I don’t think I’d have lasted long in the medieval ages.
We stopped for tea in the Vanilla Tea Rooms, which is a small, quaint building, decorated in English florals, and gave me the feeling of eating in a doll’s house. My new friend and I listened to a disgruntled Kiwi man discuss American politics with an over-zealous American woman. She liked Ted Cruz and was so vocal, Mr Kiwi began quietly agreeing just to shut her up. We weren’t the only ones (unintentionally) eavesdropping. Ms. America was so loud it was hard to avoid.

We did a quick visit to the museum gardens, where we saw the remnants of an abbey (a rather large remnant!). Parts of the stones had been removed by earlier looting, and are now used to decorate the garden. Below part of the city wall you can still see the original Roman foundation wall, as well as Roman coffins, which would have been used for dignitaries, given how far away the stone had to be quarried. One girl in our tour had been leaning against an empty coffin, until the guide explained what they were. She tried very subtly to stand up and move away. Even after so many centuries, it still seems odd to sit on someone's coffin.

My basic summary of today, is that the majority of wars here, both civil and international, have been a fight over either religion, land, or titles of power. Lots of people were rounded up to fight for the interests of a smaller number of richer, or more powerful people. Lots of people died. Money could buy you a place in heaven, (money could buy you lots of things), and Richard III was a much nicer person than Shakespeare made him out to be.
Has anything changed, really?

In case you’re ever in York, the tour is called “White Rose York Tours”, and I highly recommend them. Look for the enthusiastic man, self-described as looking and sounding “like a pirate”, and don’t block the tour sign from view by accidentally stopping on front of it.

Finally made it to Goji, the other vegetarian restaurant, after the tour. Their Mediterranean platter for one was amazing, and *almost* as good as the chocolate ale cake with raspberry ice cream. Yes, I did take a photo. I took my shoes off, re-hydrated, and listened to a terrible reggae version of “Tainted Love” while I stuffed my face. There’s still one more day to go exploring. I was going to head out to Scarborough, but I think I’ll see the Minster and gardens instead. There’s still plenty of time for travelling.