Be Excellent To Each Other

MrsChap and I are off to York for two nights - this Thursday and Friday.

Apart from the Minster, which will provide ample fodder for my camera, what else is there to see and do that you people can recommend? Any fine eateries or watering holes?

Any good museums and what-not?

Railway museum.

Is the Jorvik centre still open?

Obvious

There is a nice Italian. It is on the shambles near the Minster end.

Do a minster ghost walk.

The York Brewery, is good. It also has 3 pubs in the city.

The boat and bus trip are ok.

The Shambles are always worth a visit. There's an attractive old church hidden away behind everything on Micklegate.

While I don't think the Fudge Kitchen is unique, there's not many of them so it's interesting to see the fudge made. And as it's just a shop it's free to go in and watch the demonstration. You may feel a desire to buy lots of fudge though.

Under no circumstances should you visit the chocolate 'experience' type place. It's hugely expensive, takes no time at all and is highly uninformative. Rarely have I ever been so angry after coming out of a place.

Clifford's Tower and nearby museum are an obvious tourist attraction but the tower is significantly better in the summer.

Just generally wandering around York can be quite nice.

Oh and there's a big warehouse like junk shop that I quite like to visit, it's called Banana Warehouse and is on Marygate. It's just fascinating seeing all the furniture and such piled on top of each other up to the ceiling.

Closed at the mo due to flooding.

Go to the York Castle Museum as it is wonderful.

Definitely do a ghost walk, but do the one that starts at The Shambles, because it is by far the best. Russell and I went a month ago and had a wonderful time.

Definitely go up Clifford's Tower. Lovely views.

And Little Italy is the best Italian in York. Check that out.

The Ghost Hunt, not the ghost walk is the one you want. Other than that, echoing the castle museum for having the underground period town.

http://www.ghosthunt.co.uk/

That one

http://www.ghosttrail.co.uk/

Is the one I prefer..

The ghost hunt is good too

Who ya gonna call?

Tourist Information?

They are rather good at this.

You could do the "micklegate run" of pubs on Friday

Also Ziggys night club is worth a look, could have closed now though, I moved from York about 12 years ago.

I want to go to York.

York is nice. I recall something about a late night carvery/sandwich place. Meat sandwiches, essentially.

Also an un-named drinking establishment that was good with the whisky. They had Auchentoshan.

I'm not great with the names, I realise. Beware the cash machine that said I'd failed to take out money on my first attempt. So I tried again. I went off with my £20, and the bank took £40. Cursedpoint.

You can live in my house! I'll move out. It's horrible.

The house, that is. Not York.

We're actually planning on finally moving in January by the way. Thoroughly done with paper thin walls.

The Hogroast! There are two! It's basically a meat sandwich shop. I'm a regular.

http://www.yorkhogroast.co.uk/

Always accept the crackling. They'll offer it.

Also, their roasties are lovely. Get them with gravy.

Much better than a shite pizza or kebab. Especially in York!

Meat? In sandwiches? It'll never catch on.

Hot meat! And applesauce! Man, I want one now.

Oh, as for pubs, check out Roman Bath on a Friday night. It's better than you think it'll be. A tad grotty inside, but good music, usually a band or two, and everyone is friendly. It's more full of locals than tourists.

There are dozens of "lovely" pubs with fancy beers and interesting architecture, but Roman Bath is genuinely friendly, even though it's pretty by-the-numbers drinks-wise. The food is shite.

But it does have a fucking museum downstairs, so swings and roundabouts.

If you want cocktails, Evil Eye is great, but it's VERY popular with tourists and you'll often have to queue. The House of Trembling Madness is good for your obscure beers. They serve Kwak, which is always good. It looks like a shop from outside, because it is. The pub is upstairs.

Pivni is a fantastic pub as well. If you can find it! It's down an alley behind a church. They sell all manner of beer you've never heard of.

The Habit is worth a visit, too. Irish pub I think. They always have live music provided by the same couple of blokes. One plays a fiddle and sings and that.

The Kings Arms is always popular, down the stone steps by the river, and it's a Samuel Smith pub so it's cheap. Probably flooded at the minute though, so just go to The Hansom Cab instead if you want Samuel Smith cheapness.

Judge's Lodgings is good if you want to sit outside. For example, to smoke like a chimney.

There are places like the Golden Fleece as well (the most haunted pub in the world blah blah), but I'm personally not a fan of those places. Dark, damp, always busy with tourists, seem atmospheric when you first enter but then you wonder why you went in at all after half a pint. Meh. Most of those-sort-of-pubs, the ones in the really, really old buildings that look great from outside - they tend to be run by people who don't give a shit/have a clue. They offer your standard beers on tap that you get in every pub in the country and little else. They survive by luring tourists into their interesting looking buildings.

Avoid shite like the Slug and Lettuce. There are over 365* pubs within the walls. Don't waste your time!

*Apparently it's less than that since the recession hit, but it sounds good.

There are LOADS of great pubs, but the ones above are where I go on a regular basis after trying most of them over the past 18 months. Still discovering new ones to date, though.

IDGI

I was using that as a "stating the obvious" Dimlie. Of course you accept the crackling!