(Old) York

York? Who knew? Certainly not me. When Tracy originally proposed the idea of doing a citybreak there, I pooh-poohed it on the grounds that I hadn't heard of anyone else going there. Boy was I wrong. What a lovely little town that was perfect for a short weekend getaway with Pop-Pop and JoJo. It's pretty far north in England, about half way between London and Edinburgh, so an easy two hour train ride from King's Cross.

York is an old Viking town (original name Jorvik) founded somwhere around the end of the first millennium. A few centuries on it took on all the trappings of a classic medieval town with its narrow and winding cobblestone streets. That old section of York today is a pedestrian area that preserves some of that charm, including Brambles Street (second picture) with its slanted building, antique shops, and the area's oldest pub opened in 1644. The massive stone church (last picture) still rises above the town as it did centuries ago.

It was a frigid cold weekend but bundled up we managed to traverse much of the city. We visited the Viking Museum (of course), where our begoggled kids got to play mini-archaelogists for bit. We spent a lot of time at the National Railway Museum, where kids of all ages can climb up and around a seemingl endless exhibit of trains old and new. By pure coincidence, this particular weekend was York's big winter festival and the streets were teeming with people. There were exhibits, rides, and food booths a plenty. Being in the heart of Yorkshire, I suppose we could chased down some of its namesake pudding, but failed to do so. (No terriers either, sorry.)

Tracy picked the hotel just next to the train station, which was a perfect logistical choice plus had a swimming pool for the boys to take an afternoon plunge. With the weather and lots of little people in tow, dinner could have been a challenge but we got lucky with Del Rio - where we ate both nights. A few blocks from the hotel, it was an Italian joint broken into cozy grottos where friendly servers offered a solid menu of pastas, fishes, meats, you name it.

So bully for York. It's not so nice they had to name it twice, but it's still our kind of town. Check it out.