York: So. Much. History.

We had a fantastic time in York—Eboracum to the Romans, Eoforwic to the Saxons (and readers of The Last Kingdom), Jorvik to the Vikings—just the plethora of names tells you how rich its history is. And since history is very much this family's jam, we knew we were in for a treat.

After checking in to our really fabulous Airbnb (possibly the best of all of our generally fantastic lodgings, although wait for Wales!)...

...first up was a jaunt along the medieval city walls. Like a playground for our young-uns, just knowing how much history those stones had seen made it a magical walk.

stairs up to the ramparts

It was a great way to work up an appetite, and we took care of that with a good dinner at the Hole in the Wall pub, which is, as its name suggests, right next to the wall and Bootham Bar (thanks to Rick Steves for letting us know in advance that, in York, "bars" are gates and "gates" are streets; he says to blame the Vikings).

Bootham Bar

The next day we started off with our third boat ride of the trip—a cruise on the Ouse. This harmoniously-named stream is the larger river that runs through York; the other one—the Foss—is the one in the picture at the top of the post. Their confluence is partly how the city became such an important center of trade and, later, industry.

Here's the lovely bridge where we boarded our sight-seeing craft:

Most of the trip was through the urban areas, with fine views of handsome riverfront development...

...more attractive bridges...

...and interesting architecture:

But upstream just a bit, at the beginning of the cruise, you could almost feel you were out in the countryside. The city has done a nice job of making Ouse-side parks in this area:

Since we hadn't gotten a particularly early start, by the end of the cruise it was time for lunch. So we duplicated our routine of the day before by having a picnic in some ruins. No Morris dancers this time, but plenty of history and photogenic structures.

These are the grounds of St. Mary's Abbey, left in ruins by Henry VIII's power play in the late 16th century. It's much older, though, dating from Norman times, and must have been pretty impressive (and wealthy—hence a target of Henry's desire for church riches) before its Dissolution.

Nicely re-fueled, and since it's right there on the grounds, we headed next to the Yorkshire Museum, which turned out to be a gold mine—almost literally—of York history information. The layout is a little odd, making it somewhat difficult to be sure you've seen everything and aren't doubling up. But it's got lots of really great stuff: Roman, Saxon, Viking. I particularly enjoyed learning about the various "hoards" that have been found in the area and are displayed in the museum's basement. Here's the Bedale Hoard, thought to be the most northerly Viking hoard yet discovered in England, probably buried in the early 900's! And the stuff is beautiful, too!

Rick only gave this museum a single triangle (his must-sees get three), but we thought we'd rate it higher than that. Another tourist tip: the girls didn't think much of the ghost tour they took after dinner; grandparents were glad we skipped it and stayed home with the little one  .

Readers familiar with York might be wondering how I could leave out the primo attraction...

York Minster from the city walls

Don't worry! We made two visits and I'll tell you about them next time.