I checked out at 9.45am and headed to King's Cross. The train was not yet prepared when I got there at 10.10am. My shoulders couldn't stand the weight of the backpack and I could feel the pain at my back, knees and feet! Finally, I got a seat and quickly put down the backpack - what a relief! The guy sitting next to me, as I found out, was going ot Hartlepool, Newcastle, hehe! He had a weird accent - when he's talking on the phone, I could only understand 60% of his conversation. Anyway, it's a FULL train, coz it's running from London to Aberdeen! GOODNESS! It'd be 7 hours altogether for the whole journey! York's only the 2nd stop of it!
The train arrived at 12.30pm and I rushed to ask for left luggage! :) Then, I was only carrying my small bag for this trip in York! HURRAY!!! Believe me, I was actually STUNNED by the first sight of York when I got out of the station. What I could see were huge walls surrounding some parts of the city!!! And the most amazing thing was people indeed walked on the walls to travel from one part of the city to the other! I was more appealed by the city centre with River Ouse (rhymed with 'muse') cutting through and lots of gorgeously decorated shops. I managed to get a place to have lunch - Michael's Brasserie. The main reason of choosing it was the special menu - roast beef and yorkshire pudding with gravy - traditional English cuisine!!! It cost me almost 8 quids for the food but it's worth every penny of it! (I just LOVE the gravy so much!)After lunch, I really need to get to the guest house and 'unload' stuffs (my backpack, OK?!). It's a 5-min walk from the city centre in a quieter area but loaded with B&Bs. Mine was just - EXCELLENT. Absolutely cozy with bed, wardrobe, desk, shower, basin - utterly CLEAN!!! What should I say? 28 quids with such a lovely place to stay in along with breakfast - highly recommended! The owner was nice and most important of all, he showed me how to open the window! :D

I walked back to the city centre, visiting the famous York Minster. It contained the world's largest medieval stained-glass - the Great East Window. It's also the largest gothic cathedral in Nothern Europe - amazing! However, the 'cost' of maintaining it was unbelievably high - which was about 3,000,000 pounds per year, as the 'minutes of history' suggested - goodness me! That's also why almost each major part had to receive entrance fee - the main cathedral area, the tower, and the undercloft, treasury and crypt. Well, it's worth the money but I'd better save mine! :P After all, I'm not a 'religious' person.
Later, I went to Clifford's Tower, which resembled very much of what I visited in Kenilworth. A remaining part (tower) of the York Castle - how SAD! Anyway, this time I made use of the camera to photo myself. The panoramic view up on the tower was breathtaking - UM!!!
For my own interest, I found the entrance to the city walls, and I climbed and walked from Cromwell Road (castle area) to Micklegate. It's just wonderful while you're high on the walls and on your left were roads and on the right residential areas. I wondered if any other cities in the world would have this amazing 'architecture'!Getting back to the city centre, I was disappointed with all the shops, including internet cafes, closed. I bumped into a supermarket called Budgen for fruit and water, and a bakery for cornish pie and sandwich. The pie was... rather... not my cup of tea. I actually avoided the crust as Ian Wright said it wasn't meant to be eaten in his TV programme (when he visited Cornwall)! :P
Since the weather wasn't that good (getting cloudy), I rushed back 'home' and looked forward to enjoying my time in my cozy room. The dinner was chicken tikka salad sandwich and loads of white grapes - healthy stuffs. There came my interesting experience ever of having a shower in a corner of my bedroom! I really wanna get someone to take a picture of me, haha, but it's a dream!

Buried myself into the bed, I read 'Eats, Shoots and Leaves' (cost me only 4.99 quids for hardcover) and I fell into sleep at 10.30pm.
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