Vacation Plans -- United Kingdom

Oh? I don't suppose you have the url? That would be fantastic!

I think this is it, I always just Google for it and find it somehow This seems like the format has been changed a little. If this doesn't work right, I'll look some more.

StreetMap UK

I bet that it true. Remarkable. I need to do that for some of my seeming background. Many of the houses of my own life are gone now, strangely enough.

Piff, that bally hous, how ere you spell it, place looked really cool. Pictures, pictures, please.

On packing. Almost nothing is heavier, or more important than, shoes. May the shoe god bless you.

Depends, what vehicle you take, Misti :wink:
(By car, it's about four [presumely: more] hours to Cornwall!)

Osso -- Thank you from the very soles of my feet! It is awful how a pair of seemingly perfect shoes will suddenly turn on you and no longer be comfy. My plan is to take my Oz-made Blundstone boots, which are surprisingly light and wearing clogs for the plane and security's ubiquitous shoe searches.

The Bally house comes highly recommended. It is a bed, breakfast & dinner establishment near enough to Oban for a distillery visit.

If you are passing nearby on the way north from London, may I recommend my town as a stop-off? It seems very popular with foreigners...!

Thanks, Graham. York is one of the oldest cities in the north, isn't it? I would love to visit, if only we had more time! Since I started this thread, it turned out we could only get away for a week, which has been extremely frustrating! The trip has turned into a mission to introduce our son to Scotland. (Ross -- Scotland, Scotland -- Ross). He'll be attending some classes in London for Fall Quarter and has never been to the UK or Europe before.

I don't even think we'll be going through York in the Caledonian Sleeper... if so I'd be sure to wake up, look out the window and wave.

But tell me, what would you recommend seeing in York? I expect to be going back to the UK in the next year.

The usual tourist stuff is pretty good. There's the Minster (800 y/o cathedral, massive, impressive), the Bar Walls (circles most of the city centre, mediaeval defenses), narrow cobbled streets, the Yorvik Viking Centre (indoor educational mini- theme-park) and loads of other stuff. I'll find a few links for you for the better stuff and post them here. I would recommend 1-2 days to see stuff properly. To be honest I could see that kids (depednding on age) would get restless after that.

Thanks Graham! I have seen a postcard view of the Minster. I adore old buildings... I don't know why. Anything prior to 1700 and I'm pleased, if it has pre-1200 roots, I'll swoon.

Are the Minster & the Bar Walls within the center of town? I've heard of the Yorvik Viking Centre but didn't realize it was in York. (Good lord, Yorvik & York are close enough in spelling -- are they related words?) I can't believe those Vikings got so far south.

I've lived in York for 2 years now and used to walk past the Minster twice a day to work & back and it still greatly impresses me. It may actually only be about 700 years old, but it took 200 years to build!

The Minster is within the Bar Walls, which circle the city centre. It takes about an hour to walk all the way round, and about 20 mins to walk across the city centre at the widest point.

As far as I know, the name York is derived from the Norse name for the city. It was originally founded by the Romans, then used by the Vikings as their main base in England. Many of the streets in the centre are from Viking times, and the shop widths can be matched to known Viking construction units of measurement (although the orginal wooden buildings are long-gone). Every time there is building work in the town they find some bones etc. and need to call in the archaeologists.

definitely more - especially when you get to Cornwall and the roads are narrow and twisty.

mcdonalds??????? I thought better of you!

Graham, Thanks! You've opened up a whole new area for me. I've been checking out the York Visitors Guide and enjoyed a tour via the York Minster Webpage

Castle Howard and the Fountains Abbey look very interesting, too.

Piffka, I noticed that the York Visitor's Guide link does not include the Train Museum (it includes the Mininature Train Museum), which I think is a very good museum. Mr P might enjoy it. c.i.

York is sounding a little bit like Lucca to me, and the Romans were in Lucca too, in 180 AD, after the Ligurians. Not sure when the walls were built...ah, I see, in the seventeenth century.

Anyway, I'd like to see York too.

WH & Viv:

Thanks for the input, it didn't look that far, then again, it never does on the map!

Sounds like a beautiful place, I love those narrow winding roads:)

Piffka, thanks for the url, I'm on my way there now:)

York is crammed with old buildings. The building where I work was the original railway station, built in about 1840 or thereabouts. It's now converted into office space although it has listed-status so there is a limit as to how much can be changed architecturally. Most of the buildings within the Walls are at least 100 years old, and those range from 100 to 600 years or so.

Grand Duke (did you change your name from Graham somehow?) -- next time... next time, I'm going to go to York!

I've been searching all sorts of website and found this:



I think it would be a neat avatar... it is the Big Wood entrance at Cawdor Castle. There's something about a door slightly ajar that is so appealing to me. Only a couple of weeks now.

I was kinda wonderin' where you were, Piffie.
Do you realise you are taking a posse of vicarious travellers with you?

Your door picture is reminiscent of the Scottish play:

"All hail, Macbeth! Thou shalt be Thane of Cawdor hereafter!"

(or words to that effect)