York

July 2006

In July 2006, we ventured on a brief trip to York for Lynne's birthday on a sunny weekend.  We got the taxi over for a cool £100 because I had to work late, leaving the only train option getting us there at midnight, which was less than satisfactory.  (It's ok, we could claim it back on expenses.)

As with most weekends away, it comprised mainly of visiting many of the local pubs.  Of which this is one.  Of them.

We headed down to the river and decided to hire a small motorboat.  It felt unusual that we were allowed to go out on to the water unaided.  You expect a member of staff aboard these days.  Lynne took the wheel first (despite never having driven a car).

I stuck to the back, taking snaps.

We then switched, and it was Lynne's turn to... er... take in the scenery.  Well, it is her birthday (at some point during the weekend).

Ah, she did get hold of the camera at one point, which means of course that I am now your captain for the day.

And here is a shot of our lovely boat as we left it.  Our beloved Josephine, you will always be in our hearts.  Etc.

Back to the good stuff, and the Biltmore Bar & Grill, which Lynne seems to rate highly, based on her thumbs up.

This is a building, don't ya know.

Whilst Lynne is afraid of heights, I didn't think that the upper deck of an open-topped bus would require her to hold tightly to the railing so.  The colours are very vivid in these shots, aren't they?  They were actually taken by a disposable camera.

This is York Castle, with yours truly posing casually midway up the stairs.

This is an olden days reimagining of York Castle and its surroundings.  The moat is now a roundabout of course.  Almost as tricky to get across too.

Looking down from York Castle to the Hilton hotel, where in fact we were staying.  We don't rough it, you know.

Some more nice buildings.

Lynne seems quite happy heading up this darkened spiral staircase.

Another evening, another pub.  Wait a moment, I think that's me in the shadowy depths of this photo.

Lynne poses in front of something.  Not sure what.  A bus stop?

We went to a pizzeria!

And another bar!  (Look, we didn't take many photos in York, hence the interest threshold is much lower.)

Lynne was enjoying her birthday weekend at least, first supping a pint whilst munching on some crisps, and later selecting songs on the jukebox.  Looks like a pretty good night out to me.

We were delighted to note that Dave Hallam had made his name in the area.  Not to mention the hilariously-named Simon T Crack.

Here is York Castle taken from the hotel side.  Lovely weather still.

More pub action.

This is meant to be famous, I think.  The oldest pub in ages or something.

And onto York Minster, a gothic cathedral apparently.

A menacing shot of York Minster, reminiscent of Notre Dame (or, at least, one of my photos of Notre Dame).

Yet more of York Minster.

And finally, Lynne posing on the pedestrianised street where the really old pub is.

It was a fun weekend, only partially spoilt by the presence of drunken idiots from York Races (we stayed mostly in the hotel bar on the Saturday night, but even that didn't free us from a near-fight from boozed up fools.  But York itself was lovely, full of nice little streets, pleasant cafés and inventive shops.

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