Day 9: Monday, September 16

So Long London…

Time to leave London! (temporarily, that is – we’ll be back later in the week). York, here we come!

We got up at 8:00AM to catch the always-enjoyable breakfast at the Euro Hotel.

Returning to our room at about 9:15, we began packing at a slow pace. We were intentionally trying to kill time as we didn’t have to check out until 11:00AM, and our train to York wasn’t departing from King’s Cross until 12:56.

We checked out of the Euro at 10:40 and walked our suitcases over to King’s Cross station:

We were very early as our train to York didn’t depart until 12:56. At 11:15 we found a table in the Pret A Manger customer seating area. Vince went into Pret and got a tea (for me) and a Lemon & Ginger still water for himself (it should help with the nasty cold he’s got).

After sitting for quite some time I needed to stretch, so I took a walk (or should I say limped – remember that nasty fall from earlier in the week?) further into King’s Cross just to look around. On the way I found this poster of some dorky-looking guy in a weird hat… not sure what he’s selling:

During my wanderings I also *finally*, FINALLY located Platform 9¾ at King’s Cross! Every time I’ve been in London I try to find the blasted thing but have never succeeded. There was quite a photo-op queue that day:

There was also a Harry Potter shop beside it – both Platform 9¾ and the store were swarming with people:

At about 12:15 we left the Pret seating area to do the typical British thing of hanging around the Departures board to wait for our boarding platform to be posted:

Finally, at the last minute, our Platform was announced and we had to hustle to Platform 4 to make it on time.

WHY, OH WHY, in the name of all that is holy, does the British rail system wait until the very last minute to announce a train’s departure platform, thus forcing you to make a mad, frenzied dash, arriving at your carriage soaked in sweat, feeling entirely undone and discombobulated…. why, British Rail, why??? Please, enlighten me.

We hurriedly found our carriage, boarded the train and found our seats. I had previously reserved two seats in First Class (sounds posh, but it wasn’t… believe me). I wedged and jammed our suitcases in the already overflowing luggage rack at the front of the car. There was nowhere else to put our cases, and I knew – I just knew – they were going to eject mid-journey and roll around the carriage.

The train left exactly on time: 12:56. On the way to York I could see that our suitcases – as predicted – had come loose from the luggage rack at the top of the carriage and were merrily rolling around the entire front of the train. I went up and retrieved them, bringing them back to the rear area where we were (behind our seats there was an unoccupied Disability seating area, which did nicely for temporary storage). They rolled around a little there too but at least I could keep my eye on the situation if it again got out of hand.

There’s really not too much to say about the train ride from London to York. The land outside London is still pretty industrial and/or residential before it finally gives way to farm fields closer to York. It was a nice train ride, though, the York fields were green and pretty.

…Hello York!

We pulled into York in just under 2 hours and disembarked from the train. The arrivals section of the York train station was very confusing, but a local woman (rail employee) directed us to the Way Out and got us up to the street. Using Google Maps we walked to The Queens Hotel, checking in there at 3:30. We were assigned Room 13 – it had a crappy street view (no river view), but was quite large and seemed cozy:

The room had a nice bathroom but I thought the faucet/taps on the tub looked slightly bizarre and a little Star Trek-ish:

We dropped our stuff in the room, then decided to go for a good-sized meal which would last us the rest of the day. We walked out and looked at the menus of a few restaurants, settling on the Tank & Paddle York pub which had a beautiful river view. We ate on their outdoor patio overlooking the River Ouse (pronounced “ooze“) – what a great introduction to York! We each had a burger here – fantastic!

Already we could see and feel that the pace of life in York is way, waaaaaaaay slower, calmer and quieter than London; almost right off the bat we could tell we were no longer in The Big Smoke:

Finishing up at the pub, we started wandering around the city, getting a little better acquainted with it. We found Clifford’s Tower and the Jorvik Viking Centre:

I, of course, stopped for ice cream at a place called Batch’d:

At about 6:30 we decided to head back to the hotel for the evening; also my knee was really starting to hurt again as I had taken a few painful missteps on York’s uneven flagstone sidewalks and cobbled streets (witness the raised and crumpled flagstones in the shot above).

When we checked into the hotel earlier I noticed our room did not have any electrical outlets on the entire side of the wall containing the bed – we each use a CPAP at night so a plug-in(s) near the bed is a necessity. I mentioned this to the staff on the front desk and they provided us with a dual-outlet power bar on a reeled extension, so that resolved the situation.

Returning to our room with the extension cord, we unpacked, settled in and got comfortable. It had been a long day, so we went off to bed at 9:00.

Signing off from York on Day 1!

Today’s step count: 9,038