York

So apart from my moving to the UK to work all by self York was my first solo vacation/trip It was only four days, but I’ve met new friends and had a blast. Now in the cooking and hospitality world, you work long grueling hours days on end. So, it is healthy for your mind and body to take a vacation away from it all. In February I surprised my family in Canada for a week and then my parents came up in May to visit for a week but they did two weeks where they explored England but that week that my parents came to the hotel I worked my body decides to be sick so we didn’t do very much. It was still a lovely visit.
Now its end of June and I’m feeling a need to vacation even though I was leaving at the end of August. But my chef was understanding and let me book it off, so I had a week of holiday.
This trip was weeks away and had no clue where I was going and then I mad the decision to go to York and Edinburgh because I’ve always wanted to go to Scotland. Booked a train to York it was 9£ so 18$ Canadian and then a train from York to Edinburgh which was also cheap. My next dilemma was where do I stay, I looked at hotels, Airbnb and then hostels. I had a few coworkers that have stayed in hostels and helped me make that decision to go with the hostel and I do not regret it at all. I talk about my first hostel experience in hostels-yes-or-no

Saturday, July 14th

I set off form the staff house early in the morning to get to the train station the taxi to the station is longer and more expensive than the train to York but there is no bus to the train station that early in the morning. This weekend was also final for the world cup (football/soccer) and in York there is a big horse race track and on Saturday there is a race. People come from everywhere London, Briton etc. for this race. The laws on drinking in public are much different than North America so when I got on the train at 10:30 am people had a bottle of beer open and pre-drinking before they get to York.
Once in York, I walked around and came across some sing saying Barely Hall this way and it was down a narrow ally that brings you to a clearing in the middle of buildings and this Barely Hall it is a museum of the medieval period. This collative of buildings are thought to be Merlin’s housing and his many apprentices. If you have watched the TV series, Merlin, you will recognize some of the room setups. It was a wonderful hour of my day learning more on this subject. They also had information on different plants and herbs that they used in medicine that we use today in everyday use like thyme and rosemary and others. They also talked about that Mandrake (Harry Potter fans out there).

I didn’t do any research before coming to York my plan was to just walk around and do that, I felt like doing. That afternoon after lunch I found a street with lots of shops and people and then at the end there are tow shops all Harry Potter themed, I didn’t know this but apparently this street is quite famous for its resemblance to Diagon Alley. Now, these shops are small so there is a wait to get in. they are named The Boy Wizard ,The Shop That Must Not Be Named and World of Wizardry. These shops are filled with harry potter merchandise. I only bought one or two things and just looked around.

This street I the Shambles there is also a market called the Shambles Market you can get fresh vegetables and fruits to clothing. It the middle of this market there are I’d say 10 food stalls. Where there was a lovely Thai stall that sold five things and that is it, but it was delicious. In Canada, I have aces to Thai restaurant more than where I lived in England so when I found this place, I was quite happy.

The night the streets were filled with people from all ages having a good time dancing and singing along to street performers jamming away.

For some reason all the guest staying my room in the hostel where all in bed by like 9h30 10 o’clock which sucked for me since I was going out to have a few drinks. The week I chose to take off was quite hot like 40c and in the UK and most of Europe don’t have air conditioning, so it was hot in the rooms.

Sunday, July 15th

Everyone apart from me and this other person was left in our room and the room was scheduled to be renovated so we were moved to one of the tree apartments that they have available for free of charge which was awesome. I did a little bit more exploring

To all chocolate lover York Is big player in chocolate history it is that birthplace of some of the most beloved chocolate like KitKat and York peppermint patties and chocolate Orange and more. You can take a tour of the factory where it all started and eat lots of chocolate. In there shop they sell brymor ice cream it’s delicious if they happen to have Cinderella ice cream get some it’s worth it.

After my chocolate tour I found this delicious restaurant called Humpit – Hummus & Pita Bar it’s a vegan restaurant where I had a falafel sandwich in a pita. I love meat but sometimes you just need something new and different. Also, if it’s tasty I don’t care if it is vegetarian, vegan or not the flavour is what matters.

That day was hot so I hung out in the main commune area because it’s was hot. I met new friends from Australia and Germany.
I also walked by the York Minster I did not go in because it was like 15£ entrance fee even though I was not on a budget I was not ready to pay that much. I also did a little bit of shopping at this German Christmas store where I bought an ornament for my mom and my grandmother. For dinner I stumbled upon a wonderful restaurant called Ate O’Clock it’s a Mediterranean restaurant.

Monday, July 16th

The night before me and my new friends decide to meet the next day and explore the city together. We did lots of walking around the city we toured about five museums. Fun fact about York is that if you are under the age of 25 your entry is free or half price which is wonderful for budget travellers. We also spent our afternoon in a book store and coffee house reading and talking.

That night we had dinner at the restaurant that is owned by the hostel owner and you got a discount on food if you were staying at the hostel. That night I meat up with a lovely lady from France that was also doing a year working abroad and we are both parts of this privet travel group and she reached out to me when I was asking for any recommendation, we had a drink and talked.