Adding a splash of awesome: December 2015

Monday, December 14, 2015

York Castle Museum

So after the City Wall and breakfast I headed to the Viking Museum which I'd been told I had to go to. Brudda you woulda loved it, me on the other hand was in and out pretty fast lol not really my kind of thing and def not enough interact stuff. Pretty sure Missie slept the whole time (walking a wall is tiring after all).

We then headed to the Castle Museum, mostly to stay dry cos it was bucketing down, and I gotta admit this museum was surprisingly awesome (it's where Missie went to war, see an earlier post) and I coulda spent a lot longer here than I did, boo to having to catch a train lol.

Toy Musuem part

It made me feel old to see a PlayStation in the museum :(

Missie made some new friends :)

Then conquered a castle

We learnt some interesting stuff :)

Then came the old part of the museum, didn't read the sign so dunno what era it was but there was a guy acting out A Christmas Carol so I'm going with it was that era :)

Missie found a new career option

Then wanted to learn to ride a bike

She suggested some new accomodation for me...

But then decided a normal cell was enough, atlst she came and visited.

We then headed over to the WWI section and had to walk very fast through the 1960s exhibit and the dungeons (we had spent to long in the other sections lol)

We are now chilling out in first class on the train home to Edinburgh :)

Missie chilling at Dronfield Station

And enjoying the comfy first class seats

Pretty as snow around Durham :)

York City Walls

So day two in York started with me waking before 8 so I could get out exploring early. I started with the City Wall, I know there is some history to go with this but I really just wanted to walk along the wall and be taller than other people and not put up with so many tourists lol. I managed to walk about 3/4 of it before realizing that I was gonna run out of time to do other things if I didn't get down from it :(

I so coulda just kept walking it all day I think :)

To start with Missie wouldn't get out of my pocket, she claimed it was cold and wet outside and that just having her head part out was enough. I eventually convinced her that getting out was worth it. We definitely have to go back and do it again cos at each entrance they have a metal sign that you can do a rubbing of to get a map of the city.

Saw some cool sights of the city from up on the wall and saw some people running it which I obviously wanna go do now lol

York City Wall

One of the 'rubbing' signs

My dessert breakfast at El Paino (went after I walked the wall)

Sunday, December 13, 2015

El Piano - York

So after checking out the NRM I decided to google gluten free places to eat, figured no point ending up at some chain that I coulda gone to in Edinburgh.

Well the first result was GBK (Gourmet Burger Kitchen) which seeing as it was so bad in Edinburgh to not even make it onto my list of GF burger places I decided not to go there.

The next few all just looked boring so they were also skipped over, then I saw El Piano, the name had me intrigued and the website even more so when I read that everything they made was gluten free (and that you aren't allowed to bring you own food in, not even for infants, as it could contaminate the food). So I looked at the menu and it looked incredible and I could eat anything I wanted, so off I headed to find this cool restaurant.

Got a lil sidetracked on the way at the markets in The Shambles, then got a lot sidetracked at the markets lol. Some very cool stuff there, good thing it was the day before pay day so I couldn't spend too much. Was a lil surprised at the fact that not all the fudge stalls made their fudge gluten free, kinda assumed that it just was unless it had biscuits or something like that in it, oh well they do say you learn something new every day :)

Anyhow I eventually got back on track and found El Piano, it was totally worth going. The food was amazing and the staff were real friendly. So wanted a dessert but didn't end up having room :( it's ok tho cos I went back on Friday for breakfast and had dessert then hehe :)

After dinner I was gonna go do a ghost tour or something (a semi vague plan I had that was soon not happening) but once again got distracted, this time wandering around the city checking out the old buildings all lit up (do love them at night) and seeing all the Christmas lights. Wandered around for a couple hours just chilling then decided to head back to accom so I could get up early-ish the next morning, I really wanted to walk the City Walls and didn't wanna wait.

My dinner

Random photos of York at night

National Railway Museum - York

Ok so there was so much to do in York that I'm gonna post about it in bits and prob over a few days :)

First off was the National Railway Museum aka NRM (there are two, one in York and one in Shildon, I obviously went to the York one haha). This was a pretty cool museum, but when it comes to trains I am easily made happy :)

I liked the older side of the museum with the steam trains and old stuff better than the modern new ones but they were interesting in there own way I guess.

Missie tried to stowaway on a few different things but she agreed on the carriage we are gonna use when the railway line between Scotland and NZ opens and we decide to go home.

Missie's stowaway efforts