Weekend in York

On Thursday, I headed down to England on a bus with my friend Kyle. We arrived around dinnertime, finding the city of York completely decked out for the holidays.

The B&B where Kyle, Tom and I stayed-- a five minute walk from York Minster.

The view from our top-floor room.

Kyle, Tom and I in the middle of the Christmas Fayre in downtown York, where vendors were selling crafts, flowers, and produce.

At night, the narrow streets were all lit up with Christmas lights. It was verrrry chilly, but there was no snow until Sunday. We were amazed by the hundreds of small Christmas trees attached to the store fronts throughout the city... they were all real trees!

York Minster at night.

We found so many great pubs and cafes while we were in York-- I found the best pot of chai I've ever had in my life at a tiny Mexican cafe called El Piano.

It started to rain, so we took shelter in the Railway Museum-- which ended up being pretty cool.

Our first morning, we got on a boat and headed up the River Ouse for a little cruise around the city.


...Here's that pot of chai I mentioned earlier! Everything served on the menu could be vegan and gluten-free-- interestingly, we found a ton of cafes and restaurants that offer gluten-free menus.

A few more shots of the stunningly enormous York Minster Cathedral


When I returned home on Sunday evening, I was swept off with my flatmates to a James Morrison concert in downtown Edinburgh at the Picture House. We heard some really great music and it was a fantastic end to my long weekend (although I still had a paper to write by Monday afternoon!).

Sunset view out my flat window.

Still no snow in Edinburgh! It's actually quite warm today-- about 45 degrees and sunny. But Old Town and New Town look like Christmas already with a large outdoor skating rink set up in Princes Street Gardens, a ferris wheel right on Princes Street, and Christmas lights draped all over the Royal Mile.