Family Vacation in the U.K., 9th October 2016, Day 10: York to Durham

We checked out of Bootham Crescent and drove to Durham today. The drive was unexciting, but we were aware we were now proceeding to visit a castle that was part of the shooting of Harry Potter movies. Hannah was excited as well. Imagine our disappointment when we reached Durham to see that the castle visits were not on for the day as the castle was hosting a college cultural event! 

We had plenty of other things to do - so we made the best of the day with visits to the Durham Cathedral and an outdoor visit to the Angel of the North. Here are some pictures from the day. I would consider that this was among the most unexciting days we had on this otherwise glorious trip.

This photo was of a plant arrangement in the outer area of the cathedral. I think that the cathedral edifice here was really grand. They did not allow us to take photos inside, but we did manage a few of the structure from outside. 

Within, there was a section of the cathedral devoted to ex-soldiers, policemen and other public servants that was quite interesting. 

A model of the cathedral in the gift shop

From the cathedral, we decided to first have lunch. We went to the Bistro Italiano, which we found accidentally while searching for an appropriate location to have our food. This place is located on Claypath road. This place is on the first floor of a building but is easy to find as they have posted a sufficient number of signposts. The restaurant was delightful. They found us a table near the glass front of the restaurant. A young man called ?Tony served us. 

After lunch, we decided to visit the Angel of the North, which is a huge public edifice located outside Durham at Gateshead of the Newcastle upon Tyne area. One can read a lot about this place on either Wikipedia or on TripAdvisor as well, but the best thing to do is to actually go there and experience the sheer size and beauty of this structure. It has the wingspan of a large jumbo jet and is nearly seven to eight stories high. It is believed to be the largest sculpture of an angel in the world and it was planned under the supervision of Antony Gormley. It stands here since 1998 and welcomes over 150000 visitors each year. We spent over two hours here, taking photos and enjoying ourselves. Around the sculpture are gardens where people have traditionally created places of worship for their pets and children who have passed away. We saw a great many such memorials here. Some pictures follow:

Having visited this place, we went to the Gilesgate Moor Hotel. where we spent the night. 

Family Vacation in the U.K., 8th October 2016, Day 9: York

We reached York on the evening of the 7th, and proceeded to drive to where we had booked a flat through Booking.com, at Bootham Crescent. 

The place was called Clearly Apartments, and we were at #62. This was a narrow lane, and after I had allowed the family to disembark and take the luggage with them, I had a tough time finding place to park my car. In the event, I nearly ran into parking trouble when I tried to reverse park the car into a very small space and accidentally touched the rear bumper to the front fender of the car that stood behind the small space. I triggered the Neighbourhood watch CCTV because a guy came out from nowhere and confronted me. I showed him that no damage had been done either to my car or the car behind and eventually, he was pacified. Parking anywhere on this street was at £12 per night, and I had to retrieve a parking pamphlet from the flat and put it in front of the dashboard so that the car would not get towed away!

We went a long way off to get food for ourselves from an Indian restaurant. It was across the railway line at the back of Bootham Crescent. Food was good. We slept overnight.

In the morning, we set off to explore York. It is, in a way, a lovely place to see, but we really enjoyed it for its great people, friendly atmosphere, street activities, and the amazing attractions. 

We went to see the York Minster, but it was open to visitors only after 2:00 p.m. Hence, we skipped this for the time being and proceeded to walk to the Shambles Market. This market is known for its narrow lanes, interesting shops, and the general ambiance. 

We had lunch here. After this, we strolled around the town, 

Presently, we arrived at the back of the shambles, where we witnessed a remarkable street performance by a young man who did acrobatics, swallowed a full-length straight sword, ate fire, and cycled on a tall-shaft unicycle with his eyes and face blindfolded. Here are a few photos of him:

From here, we went to visit the National Rail Museum. This was a unique museum that showcases the entire history of British railways from its inception down the centuries to where it is today. A few photos:

Following this, we also visited Clifford's Tower. This is an imposing structure that commands a view of the entire area from the top. Which is what we did. We climbed up the long flight of stone stairs to go to the top and view the area below. The views were really very beautiful.

We returned to the hotel to spend the night. Tomorrow, we would go to Durham. However, before that, I had to call up the pilots for the Virgin Balloon Flights that I had arranged for all of us and kept as a surprise for everyone. According to this plan, we would start early morning to reach the Balloon flights centre near Durham and take the balloon rides. 

Disappointingly, inclement weather cancelled this marvellous surprise. In any case, we would still be staying a night at Durham before proceeding further on our journey.

Family Vacation in the U.K., 7th October 2016, Day 8: Cambridge

The drive to Cambridge was accomplished without much fanfare yesterday itself. We stayed at a place called Worth House - an expensive place to stay, as most hotels in Cambridge are expensive. However, Worth House, for which we paid over £200 for one night, was quite well-kept and worth the amount we paid, because the family room we took was well-appointed and spacious. On the morning, we were served breakfast in a large dining room by Guido and his partner Maria. 

They were a wonderful couple and they served food with a smile. Nishrin wasn't feeling too well, so we left her at the hotel, and we all went out to explore Cambridge. We decided to hire bicycles, since this is a student town that favours cyclists. We got the bikes for a sum of around £50 for the three of us for 2 hours. We went around to a lot of places. We explored the market area, and visited the famous Trinity College with its exquisitely trimmed central lawn, the giant cupola, and the petite but beautiful college hall and cathedral. Here are a few pictures we took of us and of the sights we saw:

We returned our bikes, and then walked back to the hotel. We set off for York in the afternoon, and arrived there in the late evening. We would spend the next two nights in York - and this would probably be the best part of our entire trip, as York is a lovely place to visit, as you will see in my next post. Thank you for reading this post.