Shambling down the Shambles and lunch!

When I was a young history buff, I had a particular affinity for medieval history.  I mean, why wouldn't I? It's easy to get caught up in the romanticized vision of castles and nobles and all that guff. But I wanted to know what it was really like. I read books like Life In a Medieval Castle, which focused on the reality of the time, and came to realize that living in the 14th century certainly wasn't a fairy tale. Yet even knowing the grim truth of it all, I became even more interested. One of York's best selling points for someone trying to put their feet in the shoes of the past is that so very much of it remains intact from the 12th century on.  No major fires, no major destruction during the bombings of World War II - in short, none of the many things which disrupted the living-history of London and many other European cities. Stepping out of York Minster in many ways felt like stepping back in time.

Sprawling outside of and around York Minster is a neighborhood of narrow, crooked, medieval streets that still bear names going back to the Viking era. Those names are often indicative of which merchants used to sell their goods here: go to Spurriergate to buy spurs, Colliergate to buy or trade coal, and my personal favorite, Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, which literally means "neither one thing or another". 

Looking back towards York Minster from Stonegate, I was shocked at how easy it was to imagine this narrow, crowded street of 21st century tourists filled instead with 15th century merchants and shoppers. It almost felt like a movie backdrop!

Although none of the shops remain as they once were, small details survive.  In a time when very few people were literate, the importance of the street names being reflective of the wares sold there is obvious. But then there's the Red Devil at number 33 Stonegate. This was neither a dark magic shop, nor a simply quirky decoration - it was a printer's shop! Anyone looking for the printer in the 16th century would have known from this on the facade that they had found their spot. Printers would often blame typos, spilled ink, etc. on a mischievous spirit - the printer's demon - and soon the red devil became associated with the printer's shop. And now you know! Very useful should you find yourself transported back in time and desperately need to find a printer.

Even though literacy rates by the 19th century were much higher, some merchants still used exterior decoration to indicate their wares. The statue of Minerva on the corner of High Petergate once adorned a bookshop.

Probably the most famous of York's winding medieval streets is the Shambles. Formerly the go-to place to find butchers in the city, the name derives from shelves, called shambles, that were used to display fresh meat. It is one of the best preserved medieval-era streets in the world. While it's unclear when it was first established, or when it first became a butcher's market, the Shambles can be found recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086.

The street seems almost impossibly narrow at some parts

Many of the shops along the Shambles still have butcher's hooks and rods outside their doors

Honestly, the whole street made me think so much of Diagon Alley, someone should really think of opening a Harry Potter themed shop along it!

Oh.

 Anyway, off to lunch! It had been recommended to me that we try to find the Golden Fleece and stop in for a nice lunch, so we did. It's one of York's oldest and (allegedly) most haunted pubs, so we pretty much had to give it a try.  It's easy to find - just look for the giant golden fleece...

... right next to the half-timbered building that looks like it's about to collapse on itself. 

Lunch (and a couple of ciders) was pretty good.  We may or may not have sat in the alcove which hosts the pub's "grumpy old man ghost". Rested and refueled, we wandered back out into the city. Adam and I are both big believers that if a boat tour is on hand, a boat tour should be taken, so we set off for the river. 

Along the way we found Clifford's Tower, the keep of York Castle. 

Let's take this opportunity to talk about a few things. First off, one of the reasons I wanted to travel to the UK was - and I'm not kidding here - I hate the sun. If the sun is in my eyes, I am almost instantly in a bad mood. Sun goes behind clouds - boom, my mood is much improved. I was promised overcast skies and clouds, and look at that sunshine and perfect periwinkle blue! UGH. Second, that tower appears to be up a rather steep hill, no? YES. And you have to climb a rather steep flight of steps to get to it. And they don't tell you it'll cost £5 to get inside until you get to the TOP.  Third, well isn't that just gorgeous?

Around the side of the tower, we came to this fascinating sign. It's a terrible and sobering reminder that humankind has long had the ability to be dreadful to each other - something I am sorry to say we have not outgrown.

With a more serious air we continued on towards the riverfront. We hadn't gone far when we encountered this spirit lifter. Not sure what's happening here, but ... yeah, ok!

We reached the boat dock on the Ouse and found a lovely pedestrian path along the bank. Many families were out for a walk in the sunshine, including this one.

The river itself was humming with activity. We saw a boat that had clearly been overtaken by pirates and Labradors.

Look at these people, clearly frozen in fear.

 Adam, who does NOT hate the sun, was enjoying the warm day.

Soon we were underway and enjoying the on-board narration of the sites and history along the Ouse. It wasn't the best boat tour we have ever done (Amsterdam I think still wins that one) but it was a relaxing way to spend an hour or so. And we did learn some things! Such as how to pronounce Ouse, which we were both shocked to learn is "Ooze". Because nothing says "delightful natural beauty" more than "the River Ooze". 

One of the tidbits I do remember from the tour, was that prior to there being bridges over the Ouse, there were ferries. Of course, those ferries were operated by people who collected coin for ferrying travelers. When bridges were built, those people found themselves out of business. However, in at least this one case, the city of York built a house for one of the former ferrymen, and allowed him to use his new residence as a tollbooth to charge people wanting to cross the bridge. The house is still there.

At one end of the river, the tour was impeded by a regatta, which meant the boat couldn't go down into the area of St. Mary's Abbey (more on that in the next post) and instead we got to see some of the quieter, more residential areas.

Sailing through an area of waterside pubs and restaurants, we had our first encounter with a Slug & Lettuce, which is, as it turns out, a fairly popular chain of pubs. But here's my question - who wants to eat or drink at a place named "Slug"?! 

I saw this one at at a distance and said "Chicken Dinner!" then laughed at my own cleverness, only to discover that yes, they do in fact serve chicken dinner.

We disembarked at the regatta's finish line and decided to explore the area on foot. 

This was also our first encounter with an ice cream house boat. Or would that make it an ice cream shop boat? We were so full from lunch we actually passed on sampling any. If you know anything about the Grimm obsession with ice cream, you know that means we were FULL!

If you look at the picture above, you'll see that behind the bank and the walking path there's a fence with a lot of greenery on the other side. That's where we headed next, but you'll have to wait I'm afraid. The next post will wrap up our time in York in spectacular fashion!