Frank and I took Eduardo to York where we all had a fabulous time. We went from Nantwich by train which was one change. It was on that train I suddenly realised that despite having made a list of everything to pack and crossing it off as I went along, I still ended up forgetting Eduardo’s stoma supplies. 
. This was a huge deal. So huge we contemplated back tracking to get it because there isn’t anywhere you can just buy them. Pharmacies don’t stock or sell them. But then I had a brainwave and called the manufacturer direct, confessed my stupidity. The lady was awfully nice and overnighted 5 nice new suits for Eduardo direct to the hotel. She even cut them to size to fit him. That was absolutely fabulous service and so very, very kind of her. She didn’t even charge me for them. She just said “Oh bless” when I made my confession and said “Enjoy your first holiday” as she promised to have them in the mail immediately. 
.
Our first train was delayed but no biggie because we had a 40 minute wait anyway for our connecting train so made it in plenty of time. Both trains were clean and quiet so a very relaxed journey. In York it was a small 10 minute walk from the train station to our hotel which was located in the centre of town. The hotel was called the Judges Court located on Coney St, not cheap at £108 per night but also not expensive for the centre of a huge tourist city. I think overall if you paid for a cheaper hotel outside of the city and commuted in it likely would cost the same with bus or taxi fares or parking charges if you came by car. I liked the fact I didn’t need to commute but rather just step outside the front doors, down a secret alley and voila the city awaits!
Our choice of hotel turned out to be fabulous. It’s a small hotel right in the centre of town but only located through a small alleyway because it sits nestled in a courtyard and surrounded by mostly offices. It’s not even visible from the street. This makes it surprisingly quiet for a hotel smack in the middle of York city centre. It has no bar or restaurant but step outside and in every direction you’ll find lots of different cuisines, bakeries, coffee shops, bars, pubs. Really seems silly to have one in the hotel with that many choices on the doorstep.
The hotel room was clean and quirky, very nice. Super comfy bed and lovely pillows although apparently I did share the room with Goldilocks who complained one pillow wasn’t enough for his head and two pillows were too much. 
. But who cares, Eduardo and I loved it!
Food in York is insanely expensive. Most of our meals came to the £100 mark. I mean okay we weren’t eating fish and chips…except actually we were. 
. Frank ordered Fish, Chips and Mushy peas and got charged £34. Of course he ordered for me too so that was £68 and like an idiot he added drinks on top. Trust me a £12 Coca Cola does not taste any different from a £2 one even if you stick it in a fancy glass between a bunch of ivy leaves. So between the colas and chips it was £94 then they had the audacity to add an automatic 5% gratuity which added another £4.70 which believe it or not they then rounded up to £5 claiming the extra 30p went to charity so now the bill is £99 for fish and chips twice and 2 colas.
We did all the usual tourist things starting with the Ferris Wheel, the market and the Shambles with what was left of our arrival day. The Shambles was hugely disappointing. Years ago when I went as a kid each store was special. There was a tailor’s where they dressed in period costume and still made real suits. A sweet shop again with period costume and olde worlde jars of sweets. Also a shoemaker whom I recall was making boots when I was there. These days is all Harry Potter shops and stupid T-shirts. There is a fudge shop, chocolate shop and sweet shop but they’re nothing particularly special. I actually found the market beside the Shambles a much better experience and it’s where I found the new leather boat log book.
Poor Eduardo got quickly worn out with all the walking we were doing. So then it was an expensive meal and back to the hotel for a much needed rest which was just as well since the rain that had been forecast for earlier in the day finally arrived in the evening. It had in fact been a glorious day weather wise. I also learned that quite coincidentally a friend from Facebook, Andrea, whom I’ve gotten to know better since having Eduardo was also in York on holiday. She visited me in the hospital and again when I was in recovery at Blackwater Meadow. Neither of us knew the other had planned a visit to York. Talk about small world!
Thr next day Frank and I got far more organised with the sight seeing. I booked the Hop On Hop Off bus which is tourguided bus but allows you to hop on and off all day long as you please. Very handy for touristy things.
Let’s see we did;
The Museum Gardens first thing
The Yorkshire Museum which I wasn’t enthused about seeing but turned out to be my favourite. Lots of lovely interactive stuff there for the kids too including dressing up clothes, excavation pits, the usual colouring stuff, but some nice magnetic interactive boards too where you can build a Star Carr meal etc.
Took the entire one hour Bus Guided Tour then hopped off for lunch in town where we met the neurotic pizza floor manager Haley or maybe Hayleigh. We wanted to sit outside on the balcony overlooking the river where they had tables and chairs but she refused on the grounds that our food would get cold too quick. I reminded her we are adults and pointing at my white hair and advanced years stated that I perhaps could decide for myself how the temperature of my food might fair on a 15c day. I mean it had rained earlier that morning with a shower but now the sun was out and it was a gloriously sunny day. So with a sigh and a bit of an eye roll she relents and leads us through the restaurant out to the balcony. Of course the tables and chairs are wet from the earlier rain which I expected and didn’t care about. She remarks on it with a “See I told you out here wouldn’t work, it’s all wet!”
As I wiped the water off the chairs and tables with my rain poncho I explained to her we live on a Narrowboat and couldn’t care less about a bit of water. She sucked a great gulp of air in through her teeth and she stomped off to get menus.
Eventually we get our coffee, tea and pizza for another staggering sum of money. Halfway through eating it she comes out and say’s “And another thing! Insurance!” Then she starts wagging her finger to emphasise each word as she say’s “You’re obviously not from around here because if you were you’d know. You can ask any of these businesses and I bet they all say the same that from October onwards there’s no outside eating because it’s wet and you could slip and fall and then it’s on our insurance.”
Obviously she’s being absolutely ridiculous because this is Britain where rain is expected year round. . I’m almost choking with laughter on my pizza that she felt the need to come out again and keep harping on it. Really she must have been stewing on this inside the whole time to march out here with such a ridiculous statement. I found during my time in York that the extent staff will go to to be rude to you have no limits. . So I tell her, “Oh let’s put that to the test.” I mean really does she think every bar, pub and wotnot closes throughout the country everytime it rains regardless of month of the year. So I call her competitor across the street to book an outside table. They take the booking. Then her neighbour next door who serve Italian food again for an outside table. They gladly take the booking. Now she’s steaming, just hopping mad she walks off you’d think speechless but nope. She’s grunting about how they don’t care about their insurance then.
OMG the rest of the day Frank and I had so much fun with that. Walking up museum steps in the rain it was “Careful Frank don’t slip on those wet steps!” And Frank was like, “Don’t drown in that puddle!” Lord only knows what she thinks the River Cruise does in the rain. . And…the pizza was shit too.
During lunch the hotel called to let me know my important package had arrived. I had told them to expect one for me and explained what it was so asked if they would call and let me know as soon as it arrived so I could change Eduardo’s bag. The lady behind the desk understood and was awfully nice. She said it wouldn’t be her on the desk rest of the day but that she would be sure and pass the message on plus it’s importance to me. Obviously she’d done a good job because I did get the call the moment it arrived. It was a huge relief to know I had a change of Eduardo bags. 
After lunch we did the Jorvik Experience which was lots of fun. You sit on cable cars as it takes you around a typical Jorvik village with animated people. Very well done. And for those of you whom like to play games with us (cough Fiona) we bought a Viking game. Not a clue how to play it yet so something to look forward to.
After that it was York Museum with its Victorian Street on the upper level, 60’s section in the middle and debtor’s prison on the lower floor. The Victorian street is nicely done. I didn’t get the 60’s connection with York featuring the Beatles, Twiggy, Sooty & Sweep and a very crappy Apollo capsule. Not even a mention of Dame Judy Dench who is actually from York. So yeah that was a bit weird and totally boring. And a little annoying too for it was there I lost my hat. I must have set it down somewhere but couldn’t find it. 
. Oh well…
The debtors prison on the lower floor was interestingly done using mostly projections a third of which didn’t work but still a nice way to present history for those that were working.
After over 10,000 steps I was grateful I’d booked us on the evening river with complimentary drinks cruise. A nice relaxing way to end the day before a late meal and bed again.
On our last day Frank wanted to see the Train Museum and York Minster. I had no interest in either so I told him go ahead. Since I’d lost my hat at the museum the day before I was going hat shopping at a place called the Hat Shop where I found three hats I liked. Unable to decide which one to buy I bought all three. Who cares you only live once and I’m enjoying life right now. Three lids makes my life three times better as far as I’m concerned. Besides I saved myself £18.50 by not going to York Minster so that was one extra hat paid for. .
I was supposed to go to the Art Gallery but truth be told Eduardo was worn out. I’d definitely overdone it on this trip but hadn’t wanted Frank to know and spoil his time in York so when I sent him off to the train museum whilst I took the opportunity to just sit on a bench on the pretence of visiting the Art Museum. I whiled away the time talking to Andrea on Messenger who was enjoying her time in York. She said she had just stopped for bacon rolls at Cafe Nero. Turned out I was sitting outside a Cafe Nero on a bench but hidden behind a crime scene investigation van. . Also on the bench was a gentleman with whom I struck up a conversation. He was reading a crime novel and dressed in a suit. I leaned he’s a vegetarian, lives locally in a flat and used to raise chickens on an allotment. People are just so fascinating. Our conversation was interrupted when Andrea found me on the bench . It was lovely to see her and her husband so we chatted for a while with me in my new hat as it started to rain. Sorry Haley we didn’t melt or fall and break our ancient necks. . In fact the rain fell all about us and nothing untoward happened.
Eventually I made my way back to the hotel to collect my backpack which I’d left there for safe keeping. The lady at the desk asked which bags and I told her Room 11. “Ah yes” she exclaimed, “The lady yesterday with the package that I didn’t understand.” I told her they were bags for my stoma. She looked at me quizzically. So I told her I had an operation and they moved my bum to my tum. She said, “Noooooooooooo”
I told her “Yes.”
She said, “Nooooooooooo.”
Told her I never had to go to do a number 2 ever again.
She said, “Nooooooooo.”
I said “Yes”.
Told her all my poop comes out of Eduardo into those special bags.
She said “Noooooooo.”
I said “Yes!”
She didn’t believe me. She’d never heard of such a thing. The other lady on the desk had told her but she thought the other staff were playing a joke on her that a lady staying at the hotel had a bum on her tum. . I had to laugh too. I suppose you might think that if you’d never heard of such a thing. So I showed her Eduardo. She was well impressed and understood immediately that such a thing would be a life saving operation. I agreed, indeed it was. Told her I had named it Eduardo and that my husband loves Eduardo too. She asked how long we had been married and when I told her 40 years she was well impressed with that also. She said we had been married for longer than she’s been born. Apparently her beaus haven’t worked out too great over the years. I told her not to give up hope, that Mr Right might be just around the corner. She said no, around the corner was a pub and she asked had I seen the clientele in there?
I also found out from her that the pretty black lady who cleans our room is actually a Uni student studying to be a doctor with cancer reasearch as her speciality. Made me glad I left a generous tip in the room. 
. She couldn’t wait to tell her about the lady with a bum on her tum. She really was quite fascinated with Eduardo.
Now we’re back on the boat headed for canals a new but just before we do we made one last stop to moor at Wimboldsey for old times sake in the same place where my original boating journey all began.