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Finishing the reviews of things we did in York last weekend.
The Biltmore
Had a bit of a lucky escape here, to be honest. We walked past one lunchtime and it looked nice so we went in and booked a table for that evening. It took them ages to find someone who knew how to take our booking and we were on the verge of walking out. When we got there in the evening, it was completely different. It was like the set of Footballers' Wives - full of really tacky and loud people desperately trying to impress each other. Not our kind of place at all. We changed our mind and walked out.
Four High Petergate
Having walked out of the Biltmore, we went here instead. And we were so glad that we did. This was exactly our kind of restaurant. Top quality modern British food served by knowledgeable and friendly staff. The place just exudes class from the second you walk in. It's apparently a hotel too. We'll definitely consider staying there the next time we're in York.
Jorvik
It's over thirty years since I was last in York. And Jorvik wasn't there then, so I really wanted to go to see it. It was ok. I suppose that when it first opened it was revolutionary. But I've been on so many "dark rides" that they stop being exciting. I thought it was quite expensive for what it was. It would have probably seemed better value for money if we had spent more time in the bits of the exhibition after the ride. But it was quite crowded so we wanted to get out pretty quickly.
York Castle Museum
This was a bit of a spur of the moment thing. We saw the signs as we came out of Jorvik so we decided to have a look. And I'm really glad that we did. We spent about half an hour in Jorvik and for a pound less we spent about two hours in the castle museum. I particularly enjoyed their Sixties exhibition.
Wilde's
Nice little wine bar that we went into for lunch. Particularly enjoyable plate of nachos.
El Piano
Very interesting restaurant that we popped into for a quick bite before going off to the concert on Saturday evening. Almost like a tapas approach - all the food turns up on small wooden boats - but completely vegetarian. Another place where we would have spent more time had we discovered it earlier.
The Black Dyke Band
This was completely unplanned, but on our first evening wandering round the city we saw a poster advertising the Black Dyke Band playing in the Minster on Saturday night. It's not really my kind of music but I thought that we couldn't turn down the opportunity to see one of the world's best brass bands in such a great venue. We managed to get restricted view tickets for a tenner each. The concert was largely enjoyable - although we both agreed that it could have been a piece or two shorter. I was surprised at how much of the material was classical pieces. I didn't realise there was such a bit crossover between brass bands and symphony orchestras.
York Art Gallery
It was raining heavily on Sunday morning, so to kill a couple of hours before our train left we decided to wander round the city art gallery. Unfortunately, it was the kind of art gallery that takes about half an hour to see. There was a big Stubbs exhibition on, which would have been great if you like Stubbs - which I don't. There was an interesting exhibition about political cartoons and some nice stuff about still lifes. But it didn't engage our attention for long enough so we ended up back in the Guy Fawkes Inn.
The Biltmore
Had a bit of a lucky escape here, to be honest. We walked past one lunchtime and it looked nice so we went in and booked a table for that evening. It took them ages to find someone who knew how to take our booking and we were on the verge of walking out. When we got there in the evening, it was completely different. It was like the set of Footballers' Wives - full of really tacky and loud people desperately trying to impress each other. Not our kind of place at all. We changed our mind and walked out.
Four High Petergate
Having walked out of the Biltmore, we went here instead. And we were so glad that we did. This was exactly our kind of restaurant. Top quality modern British food served by knowledgeable and friendly staff. The place just exudes class from the second you walk in. It's apparently a hotel too. We'll definitely consider staying there the next time we're in York.
Jorvik
It's over thirty years since I was last in York. And Jorvik wasn't there then, so I really wanted to go to see it. It was ok. I suppose that when it first opened it was revolutionary. But I've been on so many "dark rides" that they stop being exciting. I thought it was quite expensive for what it was. It would have probably seemed better value for money if we had spent more time in the bits of the exhibition after the ride. But it was quite crowded so we wanted to get out pretty quickly.
York Castle Museum
This was a bit of a spur of the moment thing. We saw the signs as we came out of Jorvik so we decided to have a look. And I'm really glad that we did. We spent about half an hour in Jorvik and for a pound less we spent about two hours in the castle museum. I particularly enjoyed their Sixties exhibition.
Wilde's
Nice little wine bar that we went into for lunch. Particularly enjoyable plate of nachos.
El Piano
Very interesting restaurant that we popped into for a quick bite before going off to the concert on Saturday evening. Almost like a tapas approach - all the food turns up on small wooden boats - but completely vegetarian. Another place where we would have spent more time had we discovered it earlier.
The Black Dyke Band
This was completely unplanned, but on our first evening wandering round the city we saw a poster advertising the Black Dyke Band playing in the Minster on Saturday night. It's not really my kind of music but I thought that we couldn't turn down the opportunity to see one of the world's best brass bands in such a great venue. We managed to get restricted view tickets for a tenner each. The concert was largely enjoyable - although we both agreed that it could have been a piece or two shorter. I was surprised at how much of the material was classical pieces. I didn't realise there was such a bit crossover between brass bands and symphony orchestras.
York Art Gallery
It was raining heavily on Sunday morning, so to kill a couple of hours before our train left we decided to wander round the city art gallery. Unfortunately, it was the kind of art gallery that takes about half an hour to see. There was a big Stubbs exhibition on, which would have been great if you like Stubbs - which I don't. There was an interesting exhibition about political cartoons and some nice stuff about still lifes. But it didn't engage our attention for long enough so we ended up back in the Guy Fawkes Inn.
We were in York last weekend, so here are some quick reviews of some of the things we did. Only time to do half of them today. More tomorrow.
Galtres Lodge
The hotel we stayed in. It can't really be beaten for location. It's right in the centre of York less than five minutes walk from the Minster in one direction and the Shambles in the other. Location is about all it has going for it though. The room we had was very small and cramped. When we first arrived we thought it didn't have a toilet. Then we found it hidden in a cupboard. Had it cost us £50 or so a night we'd have been quite happy, but it was double that and not really worth it.
The Olde Starre Inn
Pretty much the first pub we came across and as it is the oldest pub in York we though we'd try it out. Not very impressed to be honest. It was a bit dingy and there was a strange smell. The selection of drinks was ok and the staff were friendly enough, but it didn't have much of an atmosphere. Of course that might be because we were there at about 5pm on a Thursday afternoon.
The Bengal Brasserie
We quite fancied an Indian on our first night. The sign in the window said that this place had been listed as one of the thirty best curry houses in the UK. The award was in 2005. Things have obviously changed a bit. It wasn't the worst curry we'd ever had, but I'm sure there were far better places to go.
The Old White Swan
We thought we were going for a quite drink. Then we saw the band setting up in the corner. Turned out it was a jazz band. Not a bad jazz band all in all, but we left when they started getting their mates up out of the audience to sing. It felt a bit like we were intruding on a private party. The pub seemed nice though. And their sausage selection looked very impressive. We would have gone back to try some if we hadn't discovered the Guy Fawkes Inn.
National Railway Museum
Does exactly what it says on the can. Lots and lots of railway engines in a couple of huge rooms. And it's free to get in, so you can't say you don't get your money's worth. We spent an enjoyable hour or so there. They have a "Yorkshire Eye" there too. We didn't bother with that.
St William's Restaurant
We had a very nice lunch in the restaurant at St William's College, which is attached to York Minster. Had it been just a little warmer, we would have sat out in the courtyard, which looked like a really nice place to spend an hour or so.
Richard III Museum
This was one of the highlights of the weekend. The tiny museum is in one of the gatehouses in the city wall. It's a really strange museum, mainly because it doesn't have any exhibits. Mostly, it consists of a load of posters on the wall which explain why you shouldn't believe a word you read in Shakespeare's play. It's obviously a passion of the chap who set it up. On the day we went, he was manning the shop and was very pleased when my wife bought most of the stock to use as material in English lessons.
York Minster
Of course, no visit to York would be complete without a visit to the Minster. We bought the "see everything" ticket, which was cheaper than usual as the Treasury was closed for maintenance. Our ticket included a visit to the tower which involved climbing 275 steps up a really narrow spiral staircase. I'm glad I did it, but I won't bother again. By the time I got to the top I was too knackered to really appreciate the view.
Guy Fawkes Inn
I didn't know that Guy Fawkes was born in York. Apparently this is the house where he was born. It's right in front of the Minster and therefore only a few minutes walk from our hotel. Once we discovered this place we didn't visit any other pubs. It had a really nice atmosphere, very friendly and helpful staff, a decent selection of drinks and great food. I can't really think of any way it could have been improved. Oh, and it's a hotel too. So you can actually stay in the room where Guy Fawkes was born. Room 10, I'm told.
Galtres Lodge
The hotel we stayed in. It can't really be beaten for location. It's right in the centre of York less than five minutes walk from the Minster in one direction and the Shambles in the other. Location is about all it has going for it though. The room we had was very small and cramped. When we first arrived we thought it didn't have a toilet. Then we found it hidden in a cupboard. Had it cost us £50 or so a night we'd have been quite happy, but it was double that and not really worth it.
The Olde Starre Inn
Pretty much the first pub we came across and as it is the oldest pub in York we though we'd try it out. Not very impressed to be honest. It was a bit dingy and there was a strange smell. The selection of drinks was ok and the staff were friendly enough, but it didn't have much of an atmosphere. Of course that might be because we were there at about 5pm on a Thursday afternoon.
The Bengal Brasserie
We quite fancied an Indian on our first night. The sign in the window said that this place had been listed as one of the thirty best curry houses in the UK. The award was in 2005. Things have obviously changed a bit. It wasn't the worst curry we'd ever had, but I'm sure there were far better places to go.
The Old White Swan
We thought we were going for a quite drink. Then we saw the band setting up in the corner. Turned out it was a jazz band. Not a bad jazz band all in all, but we left when they started getting their mates up out of the audience to sing. It felt a bit like we were intruding on a private party. The pub seemed nice though. And their sausage selection looked very impressive. We would have gone back to try some if we hadn't discovered the Guy Fawkes Inn.
National Railway Museum
Does exactly what it says on the can. Lots and lots of railway engines in a couple of huge rooms. And it's free to get in, so you can't say you don't get your money's worth. We spent an enjoyable hour or so there. They have a "Yorkshire Eye" there too. We didn't bother with that.
St William's Restaurant
We had a very nice lunch in the restaurant at St William's College, which is attached to York Minster. Had it been just a little warmer, we would have sat out in the courtyard, which looked like a really nice place to spend an hour or so.
Richard III Museum
This was one of the highlights of the weekend. The tiny museum is in one of the gatehouses in the city wall. It's a really strange museum, mainly because it doesn't have any exhibits. Mostly, it consists of a load of posters on the wall which explain why you shouldn't believe a word you read in Shakespeare's play. It's obviously a passion of the chap who set it up. On the day we went, he was manning the shop and was very pleased when my wife bought most of the stock to use as material in English lessons.
York Minster
Of course, no visit to York would be complete without a visit to the Minster. We bought the "see everything" ticket, which was cheaper than usual as the Treasury was closed for maintenance. Our ticket included a visit to the tower which involved climbing 275 steps up a really narrow spiral staircase. I'm glad I did it, but I won't bother again. By the time I got to the top I was too knackered to really appreciate the view.
Guy Fawkes Inn
I didn't know that Guy Fawkes was born in York. Apparently this is the house where he was born. It's right in front of the Minster and therefore only a few minutes walk from our hotel. Once we discovered this place we didn't visit any other pubs. It had a really nice atmosphere, very friendly and helpful staff, a decent selection of drinks and great food. I can't really think of any way it could have been improved. Oh, and it's a hotel too. So you can actually stay in the room where Guy Fawkes was born. Room 10, I'm told.
A few day ago, I noticed this Russian blog entry which used one of my photos of Montserrat. When adding the link to Delicious I commented that it would be good if could read Russian so that I understood what was being said.
(Another) Dave reminded me that Google has a translation service which claims to do Russian to English translations. So I tried it, and the results were really pretty good.
City after volcanic eruptionIn summer 1995, in one of the islands in the Caribbean eruption occurred. As a result, Plymouth city was almost completely filled ash. A layer of ash in a half meters.
In the town of 4000 people lived, and was the capital of the island. Clear solidified lava flows and ash was too expensive. The capital is moved to another city. A Plymouth declared a zone of exclusion.
The single comment just says "terrible". Of course the translation isn't perfect. But it's a lot better than I expected it to be.
About nine years ago I was on holiday in Somerset with my wife and stepdaughter. As part of that holiday we visited Cheddar Gorge and, in particular, the caves there. Whilst wandering round the show caves is all very interesting, my stepdaughter's attention was grabbed by the fact that they also ran "adventure caving" trips where a guide took you deeper into the caves. We pointed out that the minimum age for the trip was 12 and that she was therefore too young. We promised to bring her back when she was old enough and promptly forgot about it. Until this year.
This Christmas we went back to stay in the same cottage in Somerset. When we asked my stepdaughter (who is now 20) if she wanted to come with us, one of the first things she asked was "can we go adventure caving?"
And that's how on the day after Boxing Day the three of us found ourselves entering one of the Cheddar Gorge show caves in boiler suits and wellies, wearing hard hats with lights on the front.
This Christmas we went back to stay in the same cottage in Somerset. When we asked my stepdaughter (who is now 20) if she wanted to come with us, one of the first things she asked was "can we go adventure caving?"
And that's how on the day after Boxing Day the three of us found ourselves entering one of the Cheddar Gorge show caves in boiler suits and wellies, wearing hard hats with lights on the front.
Continue reading Colossal Caving Adventure.
Yesterday I was late getting to the Tube station and unfortunately got involved in this unpleasantness. I arrived at about 7:55am to see a train just pulling out of the station. It turned out to be the last one for about forty minutes.
All of that time, the Underground staff were advising us that service was suspended at that we should use alternative routes. They always say that. No matter how trivial the problem is, as soon as service is suspended for whatever reason, they start to encourage people to use alternative routes.
Now I've been using the tube pretty regularly for about twenty-five years. I've seen a lot of tube suspensions and in all of that time there have been maybe five occasions where taking an alternative route was the right things to do. Most of the time the right choice is to ignore the tube staff and stay put. Usually the service will restart and get you to your destination quicker than any other option. Think about it. If the alternative route was any good you would probably have taken it in the first place. And now it's just going to be overcrowded from the people who are talking TfL's advice and switching from your original route.
And that's how it worked out again yesterday. Yes I had to stand about for forty minutes. But there's no way that either getting a train to Victoria or a bus to Stockwell would have been any quicker. They would have both been massively overcrowded.
So that's my advice. Always stay put. Of course, it would be nice if we could get a bit more useful information from the tube staff. But they always seem to think that the current problem could potentially drag on for ages. And, to be fair to them, sometime it can. But on more than one occasion I've been on a tube that has finally been given the signal to move on when the platform announcements are still saying that they can't say how much longer the problem will last.
There was something else that struck me yesterday. And this might be a bit more controversial. Yesterday's incident was caused by someone banging their head on a tube. We were told that some had been taken critically ill which might be overstating the case a little. The tube was held up for over half an hour whilst they got medical attention for this person. All that time there were thousands of people waiting for a tube to take them to work. In that situation do you leave the person on the tube waiting for medical attention that might take some time to arrive. Or do you get the person off the train as quickly as possible in order to minimise the effects on the rush hour tube service? Maybe they need platform staff who are better trained to make that judgement call. Personally, I think you need a really good reason to bring the kind of chaos that we saw yesterday to one of London's main transport routes.
But maybe I'm a bit of a heartless bastard.
Did ya miss me?
Been off touring New Zealand for a few weeks (Mr Torkington, that's a beautiful country you have there). Got home just before midnight last night (about three hours later than expected due to flight delays).
Not entirely sure what time of day it is, but I'll be catching up over the next few days. There will be photos. There will be stories. There may even be an update to Movable Type 4.
My main problem currently seems to be that my spam filter broke about two days after I went away and I've been getting undiluted spam in my inbox for the last three weeks. I'm being rather cavalier about cleaning it up so if you sent me something important in the last three weeks and you don't get a reply in the next couple of days, then you might consider resending it.
I mentioned yesterday that we're off to New Zealand in ten days time. If anyone's interested, here's the itinerary (all dates in August):
| Sun 5th | Leave UK |
| Mon 6th | Arrive Singapore |
| Tue 7th | Singapore |
| Wed 8th | Leave Singapore |
| Thu 9th | Arrive Christchurch |
| Fri 10th | Christchurch |
| Sat 11th | Christchurch to Queenstown |
| Sun 12th | Queenstown |
| Mon 13th | Queenstown |
| Tue 14th | Queenstown to Fox Glacier |
| Wed 15th | Fox Glacier to Christchurch |
| Thu 16th | Christchurch |
| Fri 17th | Christchurch to Wellington |
| Sat 18th | Wellington |
| Sun 19th | Wellington to Rotorua |
| Mon 20th | Rotorua |
| Tue 21st | Rotorua to Paihia |
| Wed 22nd | Paihia |
| Thu 23rd | Paihia |
| Fri 24th | Paihia to Auckland |
| Sat 25th | Auckland |
| Sun 26th | Auckland to Singapore |
| Mon 27th | Singapore |
| Tues 28th | Singapore to UK |
I've tried to list the whole tour on my Dopplr account, but it doesn't recognise some of the places.
Martin makes some very good points about the unpleasantness of current airport security procedures. And, of course, once you get past security spending any amount of time in a plane is no fun at all.
I'm seriously considering cutting back on the amount of flying that I do. Not because of global warming, and not because I'm scared of terrorism, but because flying is just such a deeply nasty way to spend time.
We're booked on flights to New Zealand in August, but apart from that I really can't see myself wanting to spend more than a couple of hours in a plane. Cruising is definitely the way to go. And only cruises that leave from Harwich :-)
Scientists really need to get cracking on developing teleportation.
The highlight of my holiday was the helicopter trip that we took to Montserrat to see at first hand the damage done by the Soufriere Hills volcano since it became active in 1995.
The trip is organised by Caribbean Helicopters on Antigua. I only found it because I was idly flicking through my copy of The Rough Guide to the Caribbean and looked at some of the islands that we weren't visiting. The tour costs $220, which seems expensive, but it's worth every cent.
We almost didn't make it though. We arrived at the arranged time, got into the helicopter and set off. But halfway across the sea, the pilot decided that the clouds were too low and we wouldn't be able to see anything so he turned back. As this was our only day on the island, the company did all they could to rearrange the rest of their day so that we could try again later. We wandered off to have some lunch and then set off again.
And I'm so glad that we didn't just give up and get a refund. The trip was fantastic. I've put up a set of photos, but they can't convey the effect of actually being there. It's incredible seeing busy towns completely destroyed and covered in metres of volcanic ash.
We were there on December 22nd and our pilot, Greg, was taking photos too as he said that there were some changes that the scientists at the Montserrat Volcano Observatory would be interested in. Seems that he was right as two days later the MVO raised the volcanic activity level to 4 (on a scale of five) and early in January a village was evacuated as the volcano was getting a bit feisty. This bout of activity is still continuing. I wouldn't be suprised if flights over the island are restricted at the moment, so we're lucky to have gone when we did.
If you're ever in Antigua and have an hour to spare, then I strongly recommend that you contact the nice people at Caribbean Helicopters and arrange a trip. You won't regret it.
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