February 12, 1999
|Indent|First, a little weather note: it snowed Monday evening, and although much of it has melted, there's still enough to make walking entertaining if you don't pay attention. One of my British acquaintances asked me if I'd ever seen it snow before.
|Indent|Now, if the Visitor Guide to York is anything to go by, York has been a city (or at least a settlement) for about two thousand years. The Romans occupied the area for a little over 400 years, starting in 71AD. In fact, under York Minster cathedral (as well as several other places), you can see a piece of an old Roman structure. I'm constantly struck by the sense of history York has. The city center is surrounded by medieval walls that are over six hundred years old. York Minster took 260 years to build, and was completed in 1480. Clifford's tower, all that's left of the old keep in York, dates back to the 13th century, and was the site of one of the worst outbreaks of anti-Semitic violence in England. The Merchant Adventurer's hall dates from the 14th century, but is in much better condition, and is still used! And those are just the more famous structures. There's a little churchyard I walk by on my usual trek into town whose gravestones are so old that some can barely be read.
|Indent|Coming as I do from the San Francisco bay area and good old L.A., where the oldest structures still standing are usually the crumbling Spanish missions, I find this pretty amazing. It's one thing to know that an area has been lived in for centuries; it's another thing entirely to see the buildings the people put up. And it's a somewhat surreal experience to walk by a completely modern Marks & Spencer department store, then pass a centuries-old church. There are plenty of churches in York -- there's a local saying that there are 52 churches in York, one for every week of the year; and 365 pubs, one for every night of the year. I don't know if that's true, but every time I pass yet another pub or church, I wonder.
|Indent|Although there are plenty of cathedrals and museums in York, my favorite of the old structures is the walls that stretch in three segments around the old city. When weather and sunlight permit, one can walk the two mile circumference, which offers great views of the city as well as a sense of what it once was like. One of the best things about the walls is the fact that some of the structures built over the various gates (called Bars) have been converted into museums. Monk Bar houses a wonderful museum founded by the Friends of Richard III society. If all you know about Richard is what you saw in Shakespeare's play, this is the place to go. It looks like he may not have been as nasty as the bard painted him. Mickelgate bar is full of odds and ends about York, including a list of the various people whose body parts were displayed over the gate as a warning to potential traitors. Charming, eh?
|Indent|York is the kind of place where wandering around on foot is far from boring. Wonderful shops are tucked away on the snickelways, and there are all kinds of oddities to be found. Gargoyles decorate some of the older buildings, and not just the churches!
|Indent|But York also has its modern side, as well. There are a handful of nightclubs in town, with a new one opening soon. The Odeon, City Screen, and the York Student Cinema (on campus!) provide a chance to see new (and vintage) films. There's a Virgin Records Megastore in town, if you're willing to spend upwards of eleven pounds (which is about $19) for a CD (I prefer HMV Music, just down the street - it has slightly better prices). Practically everyone here seems to have a celphone.
|Indent|In all, it's a fascinating mixture of old and new, and I can't help wondering if the constant reminders of the past are part of what makes English culture so subtly different from American.
|Indent|Got a question you'd like answered in a future column? Write me!
