Ever wanted to dress up as a Viking? Visit York.

As mentioned previously, our friends Brad and Kimberly joined us here in the NE last week. After they'd booked their flights, Josh and I were dissapointed to discover we were taking a train to York the day they were flying from Amsterdam to Newcastle. We had booked our train tickets for this weekend months ago in anticipation of the event I happened upon seven years ago when visiting York as a college student: the Viking Festival. Back then, the weekend held no significance for us until we got off the train to discover grown men walking around in Viking costumes. Only then did we realize we'd chosen an entertaining weekend to visit York. Fortunately this year we were able to work things out so that Brad and Kimberly could join our weekend venture!

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York his choc-full of history. From the Romans to the Vikings to the Church of England, this territory has been sought after, so the tourist opportunities are aplenty. We spent Friday wandering the city, admiring the fantastic gothic cathedral, walking the old city walls, visiting the medieval streets and market square, and stopping for our resident photographer, Brad, to snap a few more shots (see photo below). The York cathedral is one of the most impressive in the country and very interesting to study in light of "our own" cathedral in Durham, which is also a prime example of a style, Romanesque rather than Gothic. Playing it cheap, we didn't visit the crypt or climb the tower, but we did attend a (free) evensong service with a visiting choir from Cambridge. I don't think I've prayed for the queen before.


The town was packed with the festival and Valentine's Day weekend, so all the shops and streets were bustling. Some streets, like Shambles in the photo below, are lined with fantastic centuries-old, wood frame buildings, the sort that tilt one way or another and cause you to conclude that they must've been built that way and the windows framed as such because they couldn't possibly have settled so much without falling over. We treated ourselves to some sweets from one of the popular pick and mix stands, walked from one end of the city to the other looking for a restaurant we later found by reversing our steps halfway back through the city, and effectively tuckered our guests out.Saturday was more festival-focused. We checked out the river, which was conspicuously lacking in the viking boats I remembered, the Best Beard Contest (winner shown below), and various other stands showing viking weaponry, cutlery, clothing, and other odds and ends.
We then headed for what remains of the castle, a pretty, clover-leaf shaped keep high up on a hill. At the base, a reenactment of the battle between the Vikings and the Saxons was taking place at 2pm. We had fun cheering along with the rest of the crowd and laughing with our neighbors at certain individuals' fighting prowess or lack there-of. The whole thing took the better part of an hour, with various charges, fallings-back, regroupings, and re-charges before men began to fall and stay fallen. They died quite dramatically before carefully placing their shields or hands over their heads. Health and Safety, after all. I think the Saxons won in the end, despite the crowd favorite. I suppose history does have some objective bits to it.
We ended the day with some cheap (!) pub food and a long, uncomfortable chat with the inebriated woman at the next table. Although we had asked a quick question upon arrival, we were typical quiet and polite pub-goers in our corner, and she approached us to let us know that the food on our plates definately looked sub-par before broaching other odd conversation topics. Her obviously negative opinion of Americans put a bit of a damper on our day, but the embarrasment (rather than participation) of her husband made us a feel better. Josh and I were quite surprised. We've encountered our fair share of negative American stereotypes, but never so blantantly nor rudely.

Ah well, the trip to York was a success, despite and because of all the oddities!