Dateline: York England Saturday 9th April 2011

York England, a walled city with a rich heritage.  Founded by the Romans in 71AD and captured by the Vikings in 866AD.

York Bridge

We decide to "survey" the city via a hop-on hop-off bus.  We pass the statue of George Freeman a former mayor.  Actually the head of the statue is George Freeman's but the rest belonged to a different former mayor who got himself involved in some corrupt dealings.  They recycled the statue by changing the head.   Nothing wasted in this city.  But wait there's more!  Several years ago the bridge over the river collapsed killing some of the workmen.  The city of York then sold the salvaged parts to another town for their bridge.  Strangely this bridge now has the highest rate of suicides in the country.   That's spooky!  
They say that when Queen Victoria visited York she not amused when the hotel owner presented her with a bill for the lunch.

Streamlined vehicles at the Rail Museum

York Minster

We head for the National Rail Museum.   An extensive display of trains and train memorabilia.  Some really interesting things to look at.

Next a stroll through the shambles, a street in the city with buildings dating back to the 14th century.  We do a walking tour past The Merchants House, Yorkminster and other parts of the city.  Plenty of tourists to keep us company.


Trivia:  Several of the buildings had some windows bricked up.  This dates back to the time when buildings were taxed according to the number of windows they had (over 5) as windows let in daylight.  Hence the saying ... daylight robbery.

Next: Chocolate and Fries as we arrive in Bruges, Belgium

If you throw a cat out a car window, does it become kitty litter?