The Mail Train

I was just thinking about getting out of bed, when a  boy launched himself on my bed and told me I needed to go for a pre-breakfast walk – but he wasn’t joining me.  I duly did as I was told and went in search of Rowntree Park, which wasn’t too far from our hotel.  It was a very frosty morning and it was nice to be out and about early, when everyone else was heading to work and school.  Breakfast was then a re-run of yesterday!

BB chose to visit the Railway Museum this morning , so we headed for the walls, and walked in that direction.  I quite like the railway museum, especially spotting trainspotters!  I like the bit that is the store, where they have all sorts of bits and pieces associated with the railways on display – mirrors, tables, chairs, dinner services, silver ware, signage – a taster of how train travel must have been, and a far cry from the train travel of today.  Mallard was probably my favourite engine of those on display.  I also enjoyed the small display on Ambulance trains and I like the mail train. By early afternoon BB was hungry again, so we decided to head back into the city and find some lunch.  Again, he just wanted a sandwich, and we sat and ate them by the Minster.

A visit to the Minster was BB’s second choice of the day.  Years ago, you could just walk in and enjoy it, now you have to pay, though children are free.  We were given a trail in which we had to find a number of things around the Minster – always a good way of getting you to look at things you wouldn’t normally see.  We wandered and spotted things, but it was freezing – far colder in that out, so we got to a point where we just had to give up and head for warmth.  On top of that a bit  was sectioned off and inaccessible due to ongoing works, so BB was disappointed that we couldn’t find everything.

We warmed up in the Minster shop, before heading back to the hotel.  Later we headed out for dinner.  BB enjoyed walking up and down the Shambles in the dark – looking in all the Harry Potter shops!

Here’s the mail train.  The extra shows a detail from the ceiling of York Minster.