When we finally got to York, on Sunday afternoon, we dropped our bags and checked in at the Fat Badger (more on that later – the room we got is one of the featured ones on the website). We found a coffee place with better wifi than the Fat Badger, and picked an Indian place for dinner later, then went to walk on the walls.
This was a fancy hotel or event space and we could see into their back garden from up on the wall.
The Minster – the big church in York. The timing didn’t work out for us to go to any services with music there
Flying buttresses
Mark said this view is a backdrop in several PBS shows
The Indian place was good. I caught my boot toe on a cobblestone walking there and fell, going around the Minster, so I was a little shook up by the time we got there, but I recovered.
The reason the wifi sucked at fat Badger was because it was really busy on Sunday early evening. We had more connectivity out in the hall than in the room. But by the time we got back after dinner things had emptied out and we had better wifi then. In fact I had a little trouble falling asleep because I kept thinking this is not a hotel where there’s staff, it’s a pub with a few rooms upstairs. So, when all the staff will leave – except the night porter, whose number was stenciled on the wall along with the wifi password – it’ll be pretty empty down below. And I kept thinking what if it catches fire.
Of course things were better in the morning.
I went for the vegan breakfast.
We had a four poster bed
View from the window and you can see how close the walls are – just an alley outside between us
Another view of the room
York train station – we took an Uber to get there instead of walking as we did when we arrived, arguing the whole time of we were going the right way.
Columns
On the train. It was kind of more comfortable than I look. Sitting backwards, though
Here’s my health counter showing the walk
Saturday the 3rd and Tuesday the 6th, the muddy rainy day Buckden to Ribble, are the two longest days. Friday the 9th is the day we played hooky and took the old people bus to Kendal. Saturday the 10th is the last day, Stavely to Windermere. And I must’ve done these screenshots before we started going to museums, etc. in London on Monday the 12th – now it shows we walked 6 miles in London that day.
Speaking of museums, we went to the Renoir show at the UK National Gallery.
Dance at the Moulin de la Galette 1876
After the Luncheon, 1879. It’s so crooked because I was dodging other tourists trying to get my turn for a picture. A woman about my age behind me said, “I remember when we would just look”
Woman with a Parasol in a Garden, 1875
Brothers, Charles & Georges Durant Ruel, 1882
Dance at Bougival, 1883. Not a good shot, glare at the top. they had birdsong in the gallery to make us feel we were at the outdoor dance
I wanted to go see the galleries with the red walls because they’re in so many movies and TV.
We found a Turner there
Outside the inexplicable row of NFL helmets
Then we walked back to Belgravia, and had pizza at Weezies, at Eccleston Yards, a kind of hipster shopping mall in reclaimed old warehouse space.
Garlic knots and salad
Pizza
In the morning we eschewed the B&B breakfast and went for coffee and cakes at a little place two blocks away. Then came back and got ready to go.
Relaxing before the shlep to Victoria Station to the Paddington Express to Heathrow
View out the B&B window
The trip back always seems so much longer than going because you’re more awake. My screen was broken so I couldn’t watch a free movie, and I ran out of books. I ended paying for wifi and watching Ted Lasso on my phone. They had the pilot and 2 episodes from season one.
And then, home. We got back late enough Tuesday that I didn’t unpack until Wednesday morning. This is bootbag, bought at the Mountain Warehouse in Ilkley for $10.72, and kind of a lifesaver, even though it cost over £100, $135.51 USD, to get bootbag added as a 3rd bag with our luggage to get transported from B&B to B&B. I couldn’t fit all my shoes in my suitcase, and had brought the extras in a canvas bag, and knew I needed something that zipped closed, or the pick up service wouldn’t take it. I was kind of shocked at the price, but it was pretty amazing how much stuff I could stuff in friendly bootbag.
I even took it to the hot chocolate run in Chicago on November 1, but that’s part of the next post where I tell you (ha) what’s been going on in the now almost a month since we’ve been back. And it’s a lot. Brewers World Series, Halloween, the election, 2 cooking classes …. real soon now.™
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