York is a beautiful city entrenched in history, with plenty of sights to see and places to eat and drink. It is the ideal place to spend a weekend with the family or as a romantic getaway. Living in it, however, is a completely different story.
The Minster
Expectation: I can't wait to be able to look at the Minster everyday and admire its beauty. It truly is one of the finest pieces of Gothic architecture around. I'm sure the prices are reasonable to look inside it.
Reality: It's just a massive fucking church which is constantly surrounded by gormless tourists making it harder to walk into town. Yeah it's pretty but like every building, once you've seen it, you've seen it. 10 fucking quid to look inside?!
The Shambles
Expectation: Wow it's just like being back in the Victorian period. All these little shops look so unique and cute. It is like I'm living in history.
Reality: Bloody hell these streets are narrow. Why is everyone pointlessly meandering at the speed of a snail? Well at least the shops prices must be reasonable. Or not.
Nightlife
Expectation: York has the greatest concentration of pubs and bars in the country so the nightlife must be pretty good, right? There must be loads of bands playing, celebrities appearing at nightclubs and plenty of clubs to choose from.
Reality: Pretty much every club has a sticky floor and charges you a fiver to stand on it. There's no arenas, so no bands, comedians or anything decent. But there is opera. Great. One saving grace is the amount of varied pubs and cocktail bars. But you might as well just travel 20 miles and go to Leeds.
Things to do
Expectation: With the National Railway Museum, Jorvik Centre, Dungeons and much more, there must be plenty of things to do. York's well known for being a tourist magnet, so they must all come for a reason, right?
Reality: For a weekend you can easily fill your time with York's attractions, but much longer than that and you're going to struggle; especially on a tight budget. The few free things (the walls, museums, etc.) soon wear out and you'll find yourself struggling to find things to do.
The people
Expectation: York is advertised as being one of the friendliest and most welcoming places in Britain. It is famous for being depicted as a posh, upper-class, Conservative haven.
Reality: This expectation is largely true actually. As an outsider, the residents of York are rather odd. It's difficult to pin it down, but there's just something peculiar about them. Maybe it's the real reason tourists flock to York.
York can be a fantastic place, and when I'm away from it for a while, I miss it. But I'm a cynic. Whilst it isn't the most practical place to live, it's an excellent place to visit or retire. But that's about it.
Connor x
0 comments:
Post a Comment