York

One of my favourite things about Christmas in Europe is the Christmas markets. I didn't make it to the German ones, but instead took an overbooked train with 3 other girls to York.


We stayed in a lovely B&B (are B&Bs here anything but lovely?) and spent the weekend walking and eating. We rambled along the wall, then joined an informative, but very long, walking tour until we finally gave into our frozen extremities and took refuge in a restaurant. On the tour, we did learn what it takes to stop large supermarket chains from expanding... apparently constructing buildings and walls under the site thousands of years earlier will do it, as historic sites do not have to bow to commercial pressures.


The rest of the day we wandered randomly around York - but it's the kind of place where after wandering randomly for more than an hour, you're certain to end up in the same spot. Our walking was broken up by several food stops: Betty's Tea Room, sharing platters, hot chocolates, warm ciders and everything else food-related we could find at the market.


The highlight of Sunday was the Jorvik Museum. We were probably not the target audience, but who can resist a time machine failure, resulting in a ride through York's streets in Viking times, complete with sights, sounds and smells.

Overall, York is just how you imagine a smaller English town to be - pretty with cobbled streets and cosy places to escape the cold.