Not such a shambles

Last saturday in North Yorkshire and it's raining. What can you do in North Yorkshire, in the rain with two teenage girls and an octogenarian? Yorvik Viking centre in York was what we agreed upon, so back in the car.

please come back

nice tree

We realise the village where we are staying  is rather lovely and North Yorkshire is relatively flat compared to the Peak District (I guess the clue is in the name). We also realise the traffic in York is very heavy on a Saturday and we should have gone for the park and ride. Oh well, we eventually find a  parking spot near the Yorvik Centre, and find some loos, essential when traveling with the old man. 

Outside the centre there's a bird of prey demonstration taking place, dad, the girls and me make ourselves comfortable on a wall, whilst Leanne sorts out the tickets.

still in the tree..awkward

Finally!

The bird man is talking about his birds, flings one into the air and it flys off to sit on M & S. Then, he gets what looks like a shredded rodent to tempt the bird back. The bird has other ideas involving the tree. It flys into the tree and remains there for around five minutes. This must have seemed like hours to the poor bloke on the ground, waiving his shredded mouse around to try and tempt the bird out of the tree! Meanwhile, half of York are staring into the tree, and observing the man and his embarrassment. He does a fairly respectable job of holding it together and talks about the birds keen eyesight and hunting abilities.

Finally the bird returns to the man, and Leanne comes back with the tickets. We all enjoy the ride back in time and the smelly yorvik centre. Most of the staff actually look like Vikings, it may even be a prerequisite for getting a job there. One guide was amusing the girls asking what sort of fur was on Maisie's hood, and pretending to not know what sort of creature a nylon was.

The girls and Leanne went off to a dig experience whilst me and dad wandered up and down the shambles and had a peek in York Minster.