We continue our tour of the English countryside

Comments! I never get comments so I am eagerly responding to Alyssa's request for more things to do in England for her future trip there...

Amidst news of terror attacks in Glasgow and a failed terror attack in London, we continued along on our trip. Albert successfully mastered driving stick on the left side of the road:


while Abby sat in a contraption resembling an infant car seat with none of the safety benefits:


We took a pit stop in a small town called Durham where our visit coincided with a graduation. Durham was a cute college town with a beautiful minster. It was nice to stop somewhere before we continued on our journey to York which took another hour or so. York is one of the "must sees" according to Rick Steve. This is a town you could definitely spend a full day exploring but we wouldn't recommend the 2 nights Rick Steve does. In general, there are 2 highlights in this town.

York Minster
First is the York Minster - which in all honesty was the most spectacular church/cathedral we saw in England (including Westminster Abbey). We enjoyed Westminster for all of the famous buried inside the minster but it made it feel more like a spectacular cemetery and took away from the enjoyment of the building itself. The York Minster did not have those distractions and so you could truly enjoy the beauty of the building itself. We would have liked to stay for the evensong but we felt that Abby's screaming could potentially ruin the experience for the whole town of York so we chose to go home instead.

York Castle Museum
In the Rick Steve's guide, this is literally listed as one of the top museums in all of Europe. Now, with this description in mind, Albert and I envisioned a serious competition to the Louvre, Prado or British Museum. Indeed, this was perhaps one of the most entertaining family oriented museums we have ever been. However, do not go expecting art by the grand masters. This museum portrays life in Britain in various periods and does it incredibly well. There are fake storefronts with people who work as "storekeepers". It's incredibly interactive and fun to see with lots of educational value. We enjoyed it thoroughly and recommend it highly for any families with kids.

Saffron Desi
105-107 Micklegate
York
YO1 6LB
Tel: 01904 659999

As far as restaurants go, this was a solid Indian restaurant we really enjoyed. Prices were reasonable and the naan was very good - even Abby agreed. We ordered far too much food but got the Rogan Josh, the Chicken Tikka Masala and the Saag Paneer. We enjoyed all of the dishes.

Betty's Tea Room
6 St Helen's Square
York YO1 2QP United Kingdom
+44 1904 659142

This Tea Room was the typical English tea house with amazing scones, clotted cream, and great tea sandwiches. We ate lunch here. The line was incredibly long to sit in the ground floor room (with pretty views of the square) so we headed downstairs which actually wasn't too bad.