UK Trip: Prestbury and York, England (July 18, 2015)

This morning we left Wales behind and headed first to Prestbury to meet some relatives, and then to York, where we were going to spend a couple of days sightseeing.

The family was ready to greet us when we arrived around noon and we fell to chatting right away.  We had a lovely lunch (more of a dinner really) and the boys all walked down to the village to play tennis while we talked.  After chatting for awhile, the rest of us walked into the village.  We saw a rubber duck race in the stream and met up with the boys.  It was a nice, walkable, little village with lovely homes.  We got along so well, that it seemed a shame to leave, but we had reservations in York that evening.

We got to York with only one wrong turn and arrived around 7:00 p.m.  We were staying at the St. Raphael Guest House on Queen Anne Street.  This was very close to the B&B we had stayed in 20 years ago (Tree Tops Guesthouse, now No. 21 York) on St Mary's Street.  This location is ideal.  It is just outside the city wall near Bootham Bar (one of the gates) and close to York Minster.

St. Raphael Guest House

The Guesthouse was run much more like a business than the previous places we had stayed.  There was no one to meet us when we arrived.  Instead, we had been emailed the code to get in the building and there was an envelope with room keys and parking pass waiting for us.  Our room was called "The Minster" and was on the top floor.  I believe this may have been the only place I found on the entire trip where we could all share one room (not necessarily a good idea, as it means waiting for everyone to get ready in the morning using only one bathroom).

The problem with having no one to greet us was that there was also no one there to ask about restaurants.  I had picked a place in advance using TripAdvisor.  It was called The House of Trembling Madness (how cool a name is that?) and was located on Stonegate, but we walked up and back several times without finding it.  We then walked around and around looking for another place to eat.  This drives me CRAZY!  It was a Saturday night and there were a lot of "hen" parties and 20-somethings out having a good time.  All very loud and intimidating.  I was not in the best of moods because between the four of us, we couldn't come to a decision.  We finally went to a pizza place that we had passed earlier.  Not a good introduction to York.

Hint:  The House of Trembling Madness is on Stonegate, as we thought.  The sign is on the big glass window, but it is a liquor store in front.  The restaurant is through the store and up the stairs.