Previously we were looking at the Roman ruins and the Medieval wall. This time we found that during the time of our last visit archaeologists were busy uncovering Viking settlement remains in the centre of York. These date from the 9th and 10th century ending with the major upheaval of the Norman conquest in 1066.
Now York has Jorvik (Viking for York); this is a Viking experience underneath a new building right where they discovered the settlement. The guides are dressed in Viking clothing and there is an extensive array of display cases but also a 'ride' to take you through the village. You sit in a chair-lift type seat with your own set of speakers narrating the journey. Each of the 6 people on board can choose their own language. You then wend your way around recreated village scenes complete with moving (and talking models) and realistic smells. Things like the blacksmiths fire, a cooking pot etc. The last figure is a Viking straining on the long-drop dunny - fortunately no life-like smells there though!
The whole thing was a bit like Disneyland but very informative and well worth the visit. Apparently they usually have huge queues to enter. Luckily, we are here at the end of Summer and, while York was busy with tourists, we had no trouble going straight in.
We then wandered through the centre of York admiring the centuries old buildings in 'The Shambles' before heading back to catch a bus to where we parked (in a Park-and-Ride) on the edge of the city.While waiting for the bus, we realised that we were right outside the Museum Gardens area which includes the Roman/Medieval Multangular Tower. I have a picture of Miriam in front of this back in 1978 so now have another!
