The Haunted City - Day 2 (contd)

From York Minster, we wandered into the Shambles that are narrow, winding medival streets housing quaint little shops on either side. It's been in existence for 900 years, and if not for a few designer labels, you'd think you'd been transported to the past.

We encountered numerous street performers here.

We got ourselves some lunch, checked the map, and walked in the direction of the York DIG. We crossed the amusing Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, which is the shortest street in York. Known in 1505 as Whitnourwhatnourgate, it was later changed to its present name. According to local legend, this is where men whipped their nagging wives (hence Whip-ma-whop-ma). This place turned out to be Ro's favorite spot!We also found the home of Margaret Clitherow, who fought for the abolition of slavery and for women's rights. She was martyred in York, and later canonised in 1970. Then, we were off to the Dig, where we found "real" archeologists who proudly displayed the results of their five years in the site. We saw tiles, pipes, tanks, and bones; all from the distant past.

A few minutes later, we were out again, looking for the York dungeon. Along the way, we crossed the famous Black Swan, a 15th century house that supposedly houses a few ghosts today. It belonged to William Bowes, who was the mayor of York in 1443.

Right across is a church where interesting christenings take place. The church has two doors, one that is normal sized so people can enter, and the other, a small door to let out evil spirits.Notice the small door towards the right.

York dungeon was mere entertainment. We were led into a makeshift dungeon filled with moving skeletons, a door that screams when you attempt opening it, and several actors dressed as ghosts. The children ahead of us seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were cheeky with the actors who worked hard at scaring us, and laughed aloud when the actor glared at them angrily. I was perhaps the most easily startled. I held on to Ro's hand, and jumped screaming when a skeleton screeched into my ears. Phew! Here, we got a peek into what the plague did, the dead, the torture chamber, a court that sentenced people for the smallest crimes, and the hanging of Dick Turpin. The entire exercise was entertaining, but it had eaten into our time. There was little else we could do.

However, we still had time for Clifford's Tower. The remains of the York castle, this is where William the Conquerer first built a wooden castle in 1086, overlooking the river Ouse. It was burned down by the natives and this second castle was built. The castle has witnessed some of the most horrific moments in history, such as the massacre of the jews in 1190. We climbed up the winding stone steps and went on top to view the city from it.

By the time we were out, there wasn't much we could do. All the other museums had closed for the day, and we had time to ourselves. We were tired, so we got some fruit juice at an interesting little joint called Le Place Verte. Adjacent to the river, this tiny place once had the machinery needed to open up the bridge next to it, whenever a vessel had to pass.
By the time we were done, it was only 6, and we weren't too keen on going back to our bed&breakfast just as yet. So we decided to walk along the city wall. We began at one end, and before we knew it, we were close to where we were staying. We couldn't believe just how small the city was. However, before we began this walk, we marked out places on our map and planned the Day 2. We wanted to see as much as we could, and waste little time.

I'm glad we planned day 2, because we managed to see a LOT more than we did on day 1.