UK #4

6th April 2014: 

Got up early for our 9am train leaving Edinburgh, Scotland for York!

Nope not New York in the United States, neither yacht. But North Yorkshire, England :)

York is another city in England, and it has a rich heritage. The moment we braved through all obstacles (heavy rain, heavy luggages, and heavy bags) to our hotel in York, i start to realise York resembles a place in Singapore. Guess which place?

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!!!!! 

The lamp posts, the roads, the buildings, everything just resembles USS and i just can't stop telling that to xuan! I shan't explain too much, you can see it for yourself in the pictures below :)

So there was a purpose for a short trip to York! My cousin told me i have to try the afternoon tea in Betty's Cafe Tearoom in York because it's really good and if you've never been there, then this UK trip wouldn't be complete. Xuan and i was excited to try the afternoon tea and left our stomach empty all the while till we are there!

PS: the train takes about 2 hours to get from scotland to york :)

^ Elmbank Hotel was so-so. The room is spacious but the hotel is quite a walk from the main station and the city. And it is located near the residential estates so there isn't much to see at night. In addition, there is no wifi access as well. So it has its goods and bads.

After the check-in, we made our way to Betty's Cafe Tearoom :)

^ USS bound

There was already a long queue when we reached. Waited in line for about 30 minutes before our table was ready :)

Betty's Cafe Tearoom was wow. Not only is the cafe furnished in a beautiful and elegant way, but the waiters and waitresses were dressed in cute little aprons as well. In addition, it was my first time having afternoon tea and what's better is that i'm giving my first time to a world's famous tearoom. It was definitely the best first-time, and though the bill came in with our jaws dropping, everything was still worth it. I definitely recommend this in York! Don't let yourself regret yknow :-)

^ Top left going down the tray: Swiss Chocolate Torte, Fresh Fruit Meringue, Vanilla Slice.

Top right going down the tray: Engarline Torte(Hazelnut cake), Chocolate & Cherry Grande Macaroon, Yorkshire Fat Rascal(Betty's famous scones).

The chocolate cake was really good even though i am not a fan of chocolates. The meringue was way way way too sweet, i didn't like it. The vanilla slice was good but i took away the top part because it was too hard to chew. Hazelnut cake was super yummy too. I didn't have the macaroon, because it looks too chocolatey for me. 

And lastly the Yorkshire Fat Rascal at the bottom right. Ever heard of scones? I tried it for the first time in Melbourne and i didn't really like it because it was so dry on my tongue. But my cousin told me i will change my impression of scones after i have this. And indeed i did. This scone is so so so freaking good. It's crispy and every bite comes with the raisins and nuts. It was so good, even the thought of it now makes me crave for it :'(

Sinful yes it is, but who cares because what beats feeling regretful.

It was around SGD40 each person........but still i know at least i came and left with a happiest tummy :')

Betty's Cafe Tearoom is where i got the cookies for my friends! I'm glad they love it too :)

After satisfying our tummies, we just walked around without any places in mind. We purposely left the itineraries for York trip empty because we want to try walking around and just enter anywhere that appeals to us. Besides it's what they say a trip without itinerary may turn out better than one with an itinerary.

So we found a little market that sells different kind of yummy food. Like a pasar malam. But we were too full from the afternoon tea, the sight of food made us turn away. 

We found a little garden and decided to snap some pictures with the green :)

^ USS?!

I felt like i released the little kid in me. We hastily paid 2 pounds and board the little choot choot train that brings us to York Railway Station :)

We reached the National Railway Station, and it was like another wow. I didn't know walking around aimlessly will bring us to somewhere that requires zero fee, and yet you can still achieve some kind of happiness just by admiring the museum. If it was not for that super filling tummy, we would have try dining at that pretty train we saw.

The National Railway Station was quite an eye-opener for me as well. It looks like some kind of filming scenes for the American movies. 

^ We were attempting to do some model shots, but obviously i failed terribly.....

We just toured around the railway station and found a back gate to a real antique train. And since they allowed passengers in (8 mins to and fro), we just hopped on board!!

^ Rusty old trains :-)

^ The antique train that still requires coal to run!!!

^ This baby has the aqua blue eyes and she was smiling at us, she's going to grow up looking like an angel!

After the tour around the National Railway Station, we decided to head back to Embank Hotel to end our day early. But it was the worst decision ever. At around 5pm, we almost died of boredom. There was no wifi, and hence i can't even watch videos (my 3G there is limited). So xuan suggest we head out for Yorkshire pudding!

She has always wanted to try Yorkshire pudding (the first time i heard of it) but hasn't. I initially thought it was a dessert and i went "Dessert again?!?!", but no, Yorkshire pudding is actually a main dish. 

 ^ This is the giant yorkshire pudding that we shared!

It's actually a kind of crispy bread dish served with wheat potatoes and gravy. The "pudding" part was really good, i like anything that is crispy and crunchy! But i didn't have the wheat potatoes with it because it was too fattening......and yes the sausages are fat and dick-looking, i only had 1 too. hahaha

End of our day in the historical city York!

7th April 2014: 

We only had 2 days 1 night in York (more than enough). So we woke up, headed for breakfast at the station before we board our train back to Bristol! We had a transit at Birmingham city before the last stop at Bristol :)

The whole day was then spent on sending our dirty clothes to the laundry, cleaning up xuan's hostel, and making a trip down to Bristol airport to redeem back my confiscated products! (I mentioned my shampoos were confiscated by the security on the 2nd day of this trip)

^ Oh i forgot to say how pretty York station looks!!!! It was the ideal kind of station i dreamt about when i knew i am coming to such a country! :-)

Xuan wanted me to meet her close friends in UK, and we were supposed to meet one, Vivian, that night for dinner. But things cropped up for her, so both of us still went ahead for chinese food :)

But the dinner was too expensive :( Xuan didn't say that it was a high-class restaurant, but it's alright, we managed to have decent chinese food.

^ This salty egg prawn is the best dish among all! But it was so salty i couldn't stop drinking water after this meal.

This was a simple day at Bristol!

The month of May is coming. How fast time is flying past. Please slow down, i can't keep up.

See you in my next one :)