York - Tours and Night life

The River Ouse running through York

"I found the perfect tour for you." quipped Rob as Beth prepared breakfast. He walked into the kitchen holding a pamphlet titled ‘Discover the Historic York Cat Trail.’ "There are 21 sculptures of cats

around the city and this pamphlet maps them out as well as it winds through the major sites of the city."

Vegetarians and cats. Is there
anything sweeter?

The first two cats date back to 1920 when Sir Stephen Aitcheson placed two on a building perhaps in an effort to scare away rats and mice. A few other residents followed suit and in 1979 Tom Adams, a local architect, resurrected the idea by placing a cat on each building he designed. Following his death in 2006, a York-based sculptor inspired by the history, now takes commissions for new cat sculptures.

With pamphlet in hand, Rob and Beth set off on a crisp spring morning, under the threat of snow, to seek out the cats of York.

Cat Flatware. 

The tour was a good introduction to York as it brought them through the main areas of the old town as they sought out the iron sculptures. Additionally it was fun to strike up conversations with crazy cat people they bumped into as they looked for the somewhat elusive cats.

*******************

"Let's go to a pub for dinner."

Although going to the pub to eat was now a typical routine for Rob and Beth, the timing was unusual. Normally they were home for the night by early evening, exhausted from their daily adventure; however, they stayed home for most of the afternoon that day so off they went for a late meal.

Confectionary:
a York Tradition

Their host, Stuart, had recommended a few places in town, but the ‘Hole in the Wall’ pub they found had a decent menu at good prices and featured live music that Tuesday night. They brought along their computer and iPad as they hoped to get some reading, writing, and planning done.

They settled in at a comfortable wooden table and prepared for a quiet evening. As they ate their dinner of squash soup, for Beth, and the house curry, for Rob, they noted that the tables around them had filled up. As their dishes were taken away and they pulled out their computers they looked up to see a band was setting up for live music.

Minster  Residence

"This should be fun. We don't go out much at night except when we're out with other people."

At 9 p.m., a duo took position at the microphones and began to sing covers of popular rock hits of the 70’s and 80’s.

When the crowd livened up after a few songs, the women of the duo reached into a bag and announced that the time for audience participation had arrived. They handed out various percussion instruments including a tambourine, bells, spoons, maracas,... As they walked past Rob and Beth's table they handed Beth a cowbell with drumstick, which she readily took.

Back on the makeshift stage they called out, "Whomever has the cowbell please put up their hand."

Everyone needs more cowbell in
their life.

When Beth complied they looked seriously at her and started to give guidelines for playing it. "Please ring it with a four-four time beat. We'd rather you don't improvise with that instrument." They then looked around and said to the rest of the crowd, "Have fun with your percussion instruments...it's just the cowbell that needs to follow properly along with the beat."

Beth, lacking any formal musical training and being befuddled by the brief instructions was hit with panic and promptly thrusted the cowbell unto Rob. Rob, who was more musically competent and at times overzealous in his participation, played the cowbell with relish along with the rest of the other participating patrons. In between sets, the singing duo came over to chat with Beth and Rob. When they learned of their travels to Scotland, they suggested places to visit.

The duo sang to 11:00, much later than Beth and Rob were usually out. So, after heading home they silently crept into their host’s townhouse just after midnight to ready themselves for the next day’s adventure.

***************

Tea and scones at Betty's

On their last morning in York, they set off to join an official tour to learn more about the history of the city in a more "authentic" way. They read up on the free tours and every reviewer agreed that the guides were informative as well as entertaining. The locals enjoyed talking about their native city and readily shared folklore as well as local stories to enhance the historical information.

Unfortunately there was a misunderstanding about the time the tour started and getting to the meeting point took longer than they expected. When they arrived the tour had already departed. Beth was especially disappointed that they were missing the tour as she felt that she hadn't learned much about the town's history since they'd arrived.

WWII  RCAF Signatures

Rob suggested that they stop in at Betty's Tea House so they could see the historical café as well as take time to make new plans for the day. The 93 year-old Tea House is locally famous as during the Second World War was frequented by many Royal Canadian and Royal British Air Forces personnel. In fact, as a tribute to their bravery, ‘Betty’s Mirror’ on which many of the airmen engraved their signatures with a diamond pen is sit on display in the lower level of the building, along with a few other artifacts from the time.

One of many intricate building
details 

After their tea break, they headed over to the tourist information to determine if there was another York tour scheduled for later that day. When they were informed that there were none, to salvage their plans, Rob suggested they purchase one of the books on York and he would take on the role of guide and tour them through the town.

The Shambles

Rob read from the book as they walked through the town looking at various sights.

“Notice how the street is angled toward the curbs in the Shambles. That was to allow the blood from the numerous butcheries to flow down."

and later on…

York Minster

"The Minster is the 2nd largest gothic cathedral in Europe and its construction took 250 years. The Minister also has its own police force, the only other cathedral in the world which can boast this is St. Peter's in Rome which has the Swiss Guards."

while further along…

"York was named the most haunted city in Europe by the Ghost Research Foundation International. There are apparently 140 ghosts haunting York, with an astounding 504 recorded hauntings"

Someone doesn't know
 his own strength.

Generally Rob's tour was going quite well. They agreed the day was salvaged, until they crossed paths with the city’s FREE tour group they had missed. As it was winding up its tour, Beth and Rob eavesdropped as the guide, standing in the middle of a small crowd, emphatically told his tales to the gathering who were enraptured. Being an older chap, he lurched over for effect and bellowed out with a gravelly voice thick with a York accent, "...and then the lightning FLASHED (guide flashes his palms and ten fingers to the crowd) and the CRASHING thunder ROOOLLLED (guide swings both arms with a pendulum-like motion pointing down the lane) while the wind BLEW every which way so that the citizens of York didn't know which way was up..."

Cheers.

As they walked away from the crowd, Rob gave Beth a dejected look knowing that his ‘Sheldon-esque’ style could not compete with a local man's theatrics. They quietly finished their DIY tour and headed to the pub for a late lunch.