day 355

my, oh my, i love this city. i love london, but york has a totally different feel. small, non-touristy, less claustrophobic, less fried food, etc. i love it. i swear one day i will post some pictures, but right now i am too tired. so you get.... one. maybe two. let me just tell you about my day, shall i? i shall...

1. holy moley, i have been to MANY museums (many), but NONE as good as this one. it's called the york castle museum. the next time you plan a trip to the UK, make sure this is on your list of things to do. come to think of it, you better go get a piece of paper right now and write it down so you don't forget. i'll wait....

okay, now that that is taken care of, let me tell you all about it. if any of you have ever been to the smithsonian museum of american history, this museum is similar. TONS of cool exhibits in the form of timelines. for example, one of the exhibits talks all about hygiene from back in the day up until the 1980s. let me just say this- when you say your prayers, be sure to give a big thank you for being born in the 20th century (the late 20th century). i can't even imagine living life a few hundred years ago. 

this museum covered everything: hygiene, childbirth, clothing, weddings, funerals, furniture, decorations, etc, etc, etc. i could go on and on. 

BUT! i haven't even gotten to the good part. the most amazing aspect of this museum is the recreation of a victorian street, lined with shops. it's huge!!! they make it look and feel like you're really outside at night time shopping for candles, visiting crazies in jail, picking up a saddle for black beauty, and so forth. truly amazing. i have a picture below of how awesome it is. okay enough about the museum. on to other things. 

2. york minster- beautiful cathedral!!! one of the largest in europe, it has amazing stained glass, beautiful youth choir, tons of really old tapestries, etc, etc. it totally reminded me of the cathedrals in italy. as much as i love the united states, i sure wish we had more amazing architecture. that's not to say we don't have any. it's just that in europe they have it EVERYWHERE!!! and it is all so ornate and detailed. another site to add to your list. 

3. the next place we visited... frightened me. sigh. i didn't even want to bring it up, but it should be put on your list of places to be wary of... it is called jorvik. jorvik is "viking speak" for york. i was pretty interested in learning about these people and their way of life... until i got to the museum. now, i am known to exaggerate every once in awhile ("it took a million hours to get here!") but i do NOT exaggerate in the LEAST when i say this museum was the MOST FOUL SMELLING PLACE I HAVE EVER SMELLED IN MY ENTIRE EXISTENCE OF LIFE ON THIS EARTH. i don't want to sound crude, but there's really no other way to put it- it smelled like the entire planet (not exaggerating) went pee inside this museum and then they let it ferment for a million years or so. I KID YOU NOT. it was so overwhelming that i had to keep my face in my shirt and eventually had to speed through the end of the exhibit cos i started gagging. i'm sure this was partly due to pregnancy, but more so the smell. 

i was dying to know how the employees could work in such a place or WHY IN THE WORLD they had a museum smell like this! "they wanted it to smell authentic." excuse me? "they wanted it to smell authentic." you're kidding me. "no we're not." in fact, the company that makes the smell (can you believe there are companies that make foul smelling aromas) says on their website, "The use of aroma has been integral to the JORVIK experience since it opened twenty years ago. Our relationship with Dale Air, from the beginning, has made the smell experience at JORVIK one of the most unique memories for the JORVIK visitor." unique- yes. memorable- yes. it makes me never want to be within 100 miles of the museum. wow, i just went on a really long rant about that place. my sincere apologies to those that fell asleep reading this 20 minutes ago. i am done. 


other than those cool places we visited, here are some other interesting tidbits about our day:


1. my bag arrived. halelujah! i got woken up at 2 am to a crackling british voice saying he was outside my hotel with my bag. kinda scary. but now i have clothes. hip hip hooray!


2. the jorvik exhibition has a petrified piece of poop. human poop. weird. 


3. restaurants here are opposite of america. in america the hostess pounces you the moment you walk in and your waitress stops by your table so often, you almost feel like you should ask her to join you. in the UK, you could be standing at the front door for 15 minutes (or more) before anyone acknowledges you exist. the waitress then comes by your table 15 minutes after you have a seat. you get one cup of water unless you go to the kitchen yourself to get more. oh, and good luck leaving. getting your check is like pulling teeth. just an interesting comparison. 


4. i don't really sleep here. which is a shame since i love sleep so much. maybe by day 14 of this vacation i'll be on a schedule. 


5. today we took pictures in this lovely garden. only it was hard to concentrate on smiling cos this guy with a camera kept following us wherever we went. creeper. 

more to come tomorrow...

(most awesome museum ever)