England 09/5 - 10/05

One place R wanted to see was the interior of  York Minster. Only our first breakfast was included with our hotel accommodation, so we visited a close by Wetherspoons for some morning nourishment. I wanted to take the tourist bus with its route encircling the city and stopping near tourist places.  We combined both. Near our hotel was a stop for the tourist bus and at 11.35 (note the time as it is relevant in the next later) we boarded the bus and bought our twenty four hour tickets. 

We weren't on the bus for long. A ticket seller at York Station sold us tickets at what must have been about 11.45. We left the bus at the stop nearest to York Minster. The stop was a short walk away and we followed the crowds to the main church door and paid our £16 to see the church interior. I fear I've seen too many English churches and I find them depressingly gloomy and far from uplifting. Even in Bavaria, I saw a church or two that were bright and welcoming. 

But having said that, there was much beauty within York Minster, and so much history.

I think this was a mould for the statue of Queen Elizabeth II, with the statue placed in a niche on the exterior of the church. 

From the city tour bus, Blood and Fire, at the Salvation Army. The tourist bus trip was well worth while. 

See the small cat on the ledge? It was an architect's symbol piece, added to quite a number of buildings in York. 

Bye bye York.

The next day we were at the tourist bus stop again to catch the 11.35 service to get to York Station. You will remember we had a twenty four hour ticket from yesterday, which should be fine for today's 11.35 service.  I am still stewing over this. The bus arrived three minutes late and the driver said to us, you are past your ticket expiry time, but I'll let you go anyway. Since we did not have to pay more, I said nothing but in my head I was screaming, 'If your fucking bus was on time, then we would not be past the 24 hours'. Now I am going to wake up in the middle of tonight feeling angry as I remember. I should have sounded off. Actually, I should contact the company and complain, which is what I would normally do. 

Our train trip back to Newcastle was luxurious, with two seats opposite us at the table vacant as Sister 1 had not cancelled their booking. That was after we glared at a woman sitting in our booked seats under the digital sign that said seats booked, York to Newcastle. 

We had decided to stay at Sister 3's high rise apartment for a few days and we needed bus 10 when we exited the station to Sister 1 first. Google maps and an app told me where the bus stop was and we stood at the shelter that said route 10. Two buses passed us by. We decided to get a taxi. Infuriating and I am still waiting for a proper response from Stagecoach who run the service. Really though, there was no signage at all at the station about catching buses. It is so poor compared to much of public transport wayfinding in England. 

I am not sure what we ate that night but I am sure we did not go hungry.