Friday, 05 August 2005
The Start of A Magical Week
My Mum and li'l bro left about two hours ago. :( I was sad to see them leave as it was really good having them here. I do miss my family at times.
Now, however, I have time to begin to tell you of what I was up to during their visit, so let me begin:
They arrived on Sunday at about 7pm. Before they got here, Jon and I met up with Ro in Wentworth bar for an hour to chat and chill. This was nice. :) Just what I needed to relax (I'm often in a panic preparing for people to visit, which is silly, but me).
Then Jon and I went to the Black Bull hotel where they were staying and we were to have dinner.
Boy, had it changed! What were they thinking with that interior decor??? Gone was the comfy Black Bull of old, even gone was the bull head (which I rarely noticed when it was there, oddly). And gone was the restaurant area that could be booked, so we had trouble to find a place to sit. This was despite Mum's attempt to book for that evening when she'd arranged to stay there and was been told there would be no problem with finding a seat on a Sunday.
Still, the food was ok (although my portion was tiny). We decided to seek out better places to eat for the rest of their stay. After the meal, we made plans for the next day and walked back to our flat.
MONDAY:
We went to the York Maize Maze! (BTW Apologies for the music on the website that link takes you to.) This place is soooo cool! For £4.50 you can get really lost! There were wooden sculptures that were very cool, and the 'clues' were rather naff and silly. :) Then we met the animals who will eat the maze, ate some ice cream (£1 a tub) and played crazy golf (£1 per player).
After, Jon and I took my Mum and Bro to the Charles for a scrummy lunch while sat outside. This pub was like home to me when I lived near uni. It's ace. The bar staff are lovely, and when I go in the evenings I often see my old lecturer Ken Todd, who is always great to chat to. :D
Then I took my family to York St Mary's and the York Art Gallery to sample the city's wide range of artistic treasures. The exhibition at York St Mary's is a really intriguing experience, and things had changed at the Art Gallery since last I went, so they were both good.
After all that, we returned to the flat and watched "Finding Neverland" on DVD. I love this film. Johnny Depp stars as J.M. Barrie in a tale based upon the real events of the author writing "Peter Pan". Mum felt it was quite sad, but it is also uplifting, too. I highly recommend it.
Finally, off we went to Henry J. Bean's for dinner. They really DO make the BEST grilled chicken sandwiches ever! Yum! And their cocktails are super!
That's all I'll tell for now. Maybe I'll write about Tuesday and Wednesday later today... maybe tomorrow. We'll see.
For now, have fun, y'all!
