York

Our visit to York was such an incredible history lesson from way back since the Roman times all the way up until the Cold War. 

On the first morning, we took a bus into the centre of town and wandered through the narrow Shambles, visiting the many Harry Potter memorabilia shops. (York has seriously capitolised on the fact that the Shambles resemble Diagon Alley.) At the potions shop, the boys and I sampled some yummy butter beer.

Afterwards, we broke up into teams to see who could spot the most cat sculptures around town. Ollie and I were having a horrible time finding even a single cat so we decided to be cheeky and use a map that we found online. 

We lunched in the York market and then made our way to Dig, an archaeology museum where we got to dig for artifacts and learn about the Roman, Viking, medieval, and Victorian history of York.

We wrapped up the day with a stroll around the city walls and a stop in a watch tower to learn all about the War of the Roses and just how unbelievably power hungry and vicious the royals could be. 

The next day, we continued our history lesson. First we visited the Barley House a medieval house which housed a fantastic exhibit on magic, religion and science and their intersection over the years.

In the afternoon, we visited Jorvik, a Viking museum complete with a ride that took us back in time to see what life was really like back then. I was surprised to learn that the Vikings were known for their cleanliness and vanity; the boys were fascinated by the largest fossilised human poo ever discovered.

On our way out of town the next morning, we stopped by a Cold War bunker. The place was amazing! It has been left just as it was the day they locked the doors in the early nineties when the bunkers were deemed unnecessary. We learned all about the folks who volunteered to man the bunker in the event of a nuclear attack on Britain. Life in the bunker was pretty dreary; there was very little space and absolutely no contact to the world outside the bunker (except for taking reports from satellite bunkers). Should a nuclear attack occur, volunteers were expected to report to the bunker immediately and man the bunker for thirty days without any contact with friends or family. I was happy to be able to leave after 90 minutes. 

We hit the road south; next stop Norwich to meet more of Paul’s family.