8 sleeps till Christmas – 17 December 2016

Well we are now both back from our trips to the UK. For those of you who read Pat’s blog you will know his flight back was cancelled and he got back after I departed. Thankfully we had a friend on hand to look after Siena. On Thursday last week I flew to Manchester and then got the train to York, I had a lovely evening with one of my work colleagues and then on Friday went for a dog walk with her, and then off to meet one of my clients. J is a lovely client who I’ve had for 2 years but never had the opportunity to meet face to face. So this year we finally got to meet, she is lovely and fully of energy. We had lunch and then headed off on our separate ways – me to go check-in to the Youth Hostel and J off to get home in time for a skype meeting.

After checking in, finding my room (a twin bunk room with an en-suite – youth hostels have changed) I headed back into town to meet with all my work colleagues from Kaleidoscope Services for our Christmas do. We went for a lovely afternoon tea at Betty’s (a York institution). We were upstairs and had a piano being played in the background along with a lovely afternoon tea and Rosé champagne; which was lovely. It was great to catch up with everyone from my work as we all work remotely and hadn’t been all together since March 2015! When I last did a trip to York. I’m currently thinking it may be good to try and get a couple more short trips back to the UK for work next year. We shall see.

On Saturday (after I had met up with my friend T who travelled from Leicester to come and visit) we had a fabulous cooked breakfast and then off into York. We went to the Cathedral first and climb 275 stairs to reach the top of the tower. I think it nearly killed both T and I, however the views were fantastic. We explored the cathedral and then headed off to find a cup of tea (consumed along with a cup cake).

Proof I made it to the top

A view from the Cathedral tower

After our tea break we decided to head to the Christmas markets, we had been informed about an ice sculpture trail around the town that day so we made sure that on our journey around the town that we kept an eye out. We didn’t get a map of the trail just took photo’s as and when we stumbled across the sculptures. Found some very impressive ones. We also found a tiny little church (Holy Trinity) tucked away near the minster which was open a very interesting place. The markets however were full to overflowing and made for difficult shopping, however T did very well. I thought about a couple of items but decided that they wouldn’t survive the flight back.

A special raindeer	Skating anyone?
I liked this one	One we found on the way home after the Ghost Walk

Saturday night we headed off on a Ghost walk of the town. This was fun but not all that historic. I did however love the black cats that are on houses throughout York. Most are sculptures a few are painted but the cats are believed to have been on houses throughout York since medieval times. Though no one is really sure how the tradition started. However I don’t have any photos of these as it was night. After our slightly damp ghost walk we headed back to the hostel for a cup of tea and then off to bed.

Sunday was an early start, me to get the train back to the airport, T to get her bus back to Leicester. But we did it in plenty of time (we did book a taxi). I got back to the airport on Sunday afternoon to be greeted by my wonderful husband (10 days apart and we realised the longest we have been apart since we started living together) and Siena, who was very excited to see me and having her pack all back together.

The rest of the week has just been busy and it continues into the weekend. We have a lunch to go to with friends today and tomorrow we are off to a Christmas market!

Have a wonderful week and enjoy Pat’s blog next week http://patblog.patbell.co.uk