Today was a day at leisure prior to starting the organising tomorrow for the start of our trip. We took the opportunity to head to York to soak up the history and culture.

My sister kindly volunteered to drive us to York but then unfortunately had to work so we would be catching the train back. The good news is that the roads were much quieter than I remember the A64 so we made quick progress out through the suburbs of Leeds and across to York.

We decided to make our way to York Minster first of all. It was wonderful to walk through the old historic byways of York. Despite having worked in Leeds for most of my time in the UK, I have to say that York is still my favourite. And it was great to enjoy it without the usual weekend crowds.

There was a service on with it being a Sunday so it wasn’t possible to go inside. However, we made our way around the back of the Minster and enjoyed walking through the grounds. The Minster itself was completed in 1472 after several centuries of building. It is incredible to think how it was built given what was available in those days. The Great East Window (finished in 1408) has the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the world.

After the Minster, we took a walk along The Shambles as we made our way to the Jorvik Viking Centre. The Shambles itself strongly resembles Diagon Alley in Harry Potter and there are a few shops playing up to the wizard crowd. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the Leaky Cauldron anywhere. The Shambles has some beautiful overhanging timber-framed buildings, some dating back as far as the fourteenth century with buildings from circa 1350-1475.

It was then sadly time to say goodbye to Tina who had to head back to Leeds but we headed on to the Jorvik Viking Centre. I have strong memories of this growing up when I was young and, whilst it hasn’t changed much, it was good to revisit. The centre itself was built after a large archaeological dig before the Coppergate shopping centre was built revealed extensive remains of the timber buildings of the Viking city of Jorvik from around the period 900 AD. The centre itself is enjoyable to visit, with all the sights (and smells) of Viking-era Jorvik recreated.

We had then lunch at a cosy little pub called The Three Tuns which dates back to the 18th century. It was good for Ben to have a proper, warm English beer and for us to have a decent English pub lunch.

Finally, it was time to head to the last stop of the day being the Castle Museum. Again, this has strong memories of childhood for me and it hasn’t really changed in all that time. It’s main attraction is the recreation of a Victorian era street, along with period rooms furnished according to the time period from an early Victorian moors cottage through to a 1950s lounge room.

We then decided to call it a day and head back to Leeds. The train trip itself was really quick but our bad luck with the Leeds buses continued. Yesterday, we had to all get off the bus as another vehicle took off the wing mirror! Today, the bus we were waiting for didn’t turn up! So, in the end, we arrived back at the hotel tired and ready to take it easy for the next day.