Summer Stories- Day 2 in York and Hull

Time for Day 2 of summer break! Apologies for the long delays. I almost forgot that I have a blog to maintain and my Master's Project is giving me a serious toll on my health.

Neways, Day 1 ended with a long stroll in the historic yet avant garde' City of York. A very contradictory compliment right? But yea, I stand firm to it. Beautiful, plain yet different from other UK cities i visited so far. So, day 2 began with us waking up as early as 7am! Had our simple breakfast and off to the city centre we go! Did I mention that the bitchy receptionist snatched our keys, dump it in the box and just smirked farewell to us. Rude much! O.O"

Breakfast Lounge

Had a full and proper English breakfast for once

So back in the city, we were actually on our way to the train museum, when we saw the Marching Squad of the York Regiment lined up right in front of York Castle. So once more we stopped by the castle/dungeon to see what was going on. It was some sort of yearly event to commemorate the soldiers' contribution during the World Wars or something~ Well, at least BBC and some VIP(S) and the Duke was there? Weirdly enough, Soldier Day was a week away in Newcastle and yet they do this now? Oh well~

The entire contingent mainly spanned of the royal army of york, retired regiments, volunteer forces from local schools and 2 horses! Shame on the horses who kept pooping while it was 'marching' it's way around the crowd? =P

Flag Bearers discussing formation and routes one last time

VIPs, dukes and Army Generals, front and centre!

A fine day to start the march from Clifford Tower

So, before long, the entire ceremony started. The contingent commander (who was stationed right in front of me) began shouting and all. Amazed that the entire contingent could even hear his voice. The starting area had such a large open space that you can hardly hear anything from the other end of the square. Oh man, this made me miss my old kawat days~

These are the retired army men, and believe me, they DO KNOW how to properly march!

SALUTE!

Almost crippled men, who still joined in the march in honor of their comrade, either living the the deceased~

The poop-maesters! Why? See next pic...

Those two horses kept leaving these droppings in their wake!

Ewww!!!

Despite the repeated small rain hails and hot sun shining, the entire thing went quite well. Respect to those retired army men who even came to join the parade despite the mobility restrictions. Thankfully men invented those assistant vehicles huh?

Right after the marching parade, we rushed all the way to the famous York's Viking Museum. For those who do not know, when England was invaded and populated by the vikings, the English King conducted a long campaign against them which lasted for generations. Alas, the vikings were pushed to their final stronghold, which was York (or Yor'vick as it was called then) before finally getting 'the boot' out of England =)

The museum was pretty much filled with animatrons speaking in old Yor'vick and current English

More animatrons depicting everyday life in Yor'vick. This was the busy morning in the market street

Real Life coin-temperer making souveniers for everyone. Notices the thing he hammers into tempers the metal with coin insignias.

Two words --> 'Preserved Shit'

=D

On the way back, spotted a Ferrari!

Before moving on, take note that this IS the proper way of posing with a COOL CAR!

and....

This is the improper way! XD

(Lynn is going to kill me.....)

but she's back in China, haha!

York Train Museum was next on the itinerary, which houses most of the train models ever built in the UKs. With models as early the 1820s till the advance bullet trains, all of them were dissected and put on display. (Dam, I actually forgot to take pics of the Bullet Train! Arg!)

You can't possibly talk about UK trains without mentioning Eurostar, LOL

Royal Insignia

First ever steam engine train, The Rocket

Woosh~

Credits to anyone who's able to guess what's this!

Of course a pose before leaving!

and finally, highlight of the evening, directly take out from the Harry Potter filming site!

(hey CeDong, it's here in York! Not King's Cross!)

With only minutes to spare, we had to bid farewell to York and began driving for an hour on the freeway. Next destination was Hull, where fishermen once lived! Home to er.... cheap shopping and fish museums? For our back passengers, Diana and Lynn, they were thankful that they got to sleep, coz we didn't get much rest since 7am. Me and driver Xiong Ling had to keep our eyes wide open, as she needs to drive and i need to make sure she doesn't fall asleep XD

Once we arrived in Hull, everyone just slept for the entire evening. Me on the other hand decided to go out for a short stroll in the city centre, despite it being a late Saturday evening and the time was already 4.30pm. The walk was actually enticing! Seriously felt like walking in Sungai Wang or KL's 'Chee Cheong Kai'. Maybe I was missing home much?

Yea, after an hour stroll to various places, finally came home for dinner. Best part was, we had dinner at a Malaysian Joint called 'Restaurant Tropicana'! It was a funny setting though, as the food are from Indonesia and KL themed, whilst the chef himself is a Sabahan who migrated here at 10! Oh well, as long as I got my Nasi Lemak and Beef Rendang, who could ask for more =)

Nasi Lemak

Notice Beef Rendang in the middle tray

Yum, sambal prawns~

Apetizers. We got extra portions compliment from the chef =)

Sup Soto, another compliments from the chef

Classic Goreng Pisang with ice cream and honey

With dinner chowed down, we just practically strolled around the city centre in the car. FYI, the temp was like 13 degrees! SOO NOT THE WEATHER FOR RANDOM WALKING! In the end we just returned to the motel and rested. Embarrassing enough, once i reached the bed at 11pm, I fell asleep within 5 minutes! Meantime the girls chatted on till like 2 in the morning . Thankfully nothing happened to me, or so I thought! Haha~

The only pic from our night stroll

This is during the York Army Regiment March

PS: Due to FB probs, the video can only be viewed in blogspot. Sor-wee =(

Signing off

~L'heure Bleue~