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30 / 06 / 25 - 20:00 / 8:00pm Was in York from the 28th to the 30th of June with my mum, it was soo fun, I loved seeing all the old buildings!! Here's a little summary of each day, because I feel like it. :3 Day 1 We got into York at midday and pretty much wandered until we found the Shambles. I've not been into Harry Potter since I was 13 so while the street is cool, I skipped all the wizarding shops and went straight to the York Ghost Merchants. The queue was much shorter than I'd heard; only around 20mins long, if that. The staff were dressed up and very friendly, and once inside the shop there were loads of scenes to look at in the shop of the ghosts. They had 2 sizes of ghosts, the larger one being £18 and the smaller £9, although some are polished or especially unique and therefore slightly more expensive. I had been prepared to pay £40-£50 for a larger ghost! So I was pleasantly suprised at how cheap they are (for the fact that they are handmade). My ghost is a mix of blue, teal and yellow with a spidery(?) pattern on it, see image below. <> The Shambles Market is right next to the Shambles street, there's a whole mix of stalls, but here's a list of the ones I thought were interesting. "Niche and Cosy" - a stall filled with wooden decorations, statues, and figurines. I didn't look at the prices or buy anything, but their multiple duck statues did pique my interest, specifically the Spider-Man and Deadpool painted ones. "Kchoom" - a stall with lots of jewellery, from rings and bracelets, to body jewellery! I didn't buy anything but I had meant to go back and completely forgot to. They had really good prices though and an amazing range of awesome stuff. "Black Yak" - a funky clothing and accessories brand that has a bright patchwork style, kind of giving hippie but in the best way. I wanted to come back and buy a bag from them but, again, completely forgot. They have shockingly cheap prices and some of their stuff is really cute! "Crystals & Fossils" - they had loads of crystals (and fossils but I didn't look at those, but I DID spot some shark teeth) both raw and smoothed, as well as crystal figurines and jewellery. I love crystal figures, I have 2 at home at was very tempted to buy a third - they were only about £3.50 - I was planning on coming back, but I bought an amethyst ring (though the 'metal' seems to be plasticy, but I don't care, it was only £5 and looks really cool) "Pinheads"? - load of really cool enamel pin badges, fun earrings, iron-on patches, and rings being sold for really cheap prices! I bought a Minecraft bee (£3.50), a metal cassette tape (£3), and a tv with the Misfits logo displayed (£3). The word "Pinheads" is printed on the tag of the pins, but I can't remember or find the name of the actual stall. Of course, there were other cool stalls, but these are the ones I found most memorable! It was extremely hot, as we happened to go partway through the heatwave the UK has been having, although it is much, much worse in England than Scotland, I felt as though I were in Tenerife or some other hot country half the time! So to cool down we found an air-conditioned restaurant called the "Fat Hippo". All I had was a plate of chips and a milkshake, but they were AMAZING! The chips had spices on them which made them even better, and my milkshake - which had a mix of soft serve, salted caramel, chocolate sauce, and creme in it - was straight sweetness! I have a huge sweet tooth so I was in absolute heaven, it cooled me right down in the heat and I just wish they were based near me. Day 2 Firstly, I do NOT recommend McDonalds for breakfast, their pancakes are just not it. Secondly, we went to the Jorvik Viking Centre for a late morning tour. When you enter, you do so as a group and are lead downstairs where the enterance room has a glass floor, showing the actual remains of two real viking homes, right where you're standing. You then get on a sort of "ride" where you sit and are taken through a huge theatre of animatronics with soundbites and smells, and it's uncannily realistic, all with a narrator explaining what you're seeing. Afterwards is an actual museum of everything found at the site, and 3 skeletons complete with analysis of who they might have been based on their remains and how they were buried. In the giftshop I bought another enamel pin badge and a viking coin - I am obsessed with adding badges to my bag and denim jacket, it's proven to be a very good conversation starter and also attracts people who recognise something on me! I also enjoy collecting coins from places I go, I don't know if it's just a Scottish thing or if other places do it too, but usually in places like museums, zoos, and other attractions there is a machine that has you enter a pound coin and a penny and you can choose a design to have pressed into the penny as a keepsake! Buying a viking coin was just as good though. There was plently of other things but everything was pretty expensive, as gift shops usually are. Afterwards we went to York Minster to take pictures and to see the Paddington Bear statue which sits in Dean's Park directly next to it, before going to Betty's Teahouse for a slice of strawberry? rasperry? cheesecake and a chocolate milkshake. What I will say is the cheesecake was good, but tiny and definitely not worth the price, and the milkshake was just kinda bland (also, definitely not worth the price) and nowhere near as good as the one from the "Fat Hippo" that I had had the day before... also we were sitting downstairs in the basement so it wasn't as though we were even sitting in the super nice area that people queue to sit in - it was still lovely, but not for that price - so it really wasn't worth the money. That evening we went to the Ivy for dinner, which was awesome as their food tastes amazing and their decorations are very fun - every Ivy restaurant is decorated similarly but not the same which is really cool, and their chairs are very comfy! I forgot to check out their bathrooms though, usually they're gorgeous. I had the "Ivy Burger" made plain and chips which tasted sooo good - my mum had the "Traditional Fish and Chips", and afterwards I had some ice cream (salted caramel and chocolate) which comes with shortbread! Of course they're really expensive, but the food and service is also REALLY good so it's pretty worth it. We had a wander after and took some nice pictures in the sunset, but I was sooo ready to go to bed after walking around the city all day. Day 3 We had to be checked out of our hotel by 12 midday, so we got up early and packed but left our stuff with the hotel for the day, we were mostly doing anything we hadn't had the chance to yet (this is when I was meant to go back to those stalls from Day 1 but forgot about), but to be honest this was the hottest day yet - I was sweating soo bad even though I was only wearing a tank top and shorts, whereas on Day 1 I wore baggy jeans and a graphic tee, just to explain how hot it had gotten. So we had planned to walk along the shaded riverside, and we did, but once we crossed over the bridge to the side with benches we sat for about an hour in the shade. We also wanted to walk at least a tiny bit of the Roman Wall (and it really was a tiny amount, less than 5 minutes because there was absolutely no shade, even with me carrying around an umbrella like a parasol), and so we went down the stairs and across the street to Starbucks which sadly was not air conditioned but still cooler than outside, and I got a Chocolate Chip Frappachino and my mum got a decafinated coffee. It was sooo sweet, maybe not QUITE as good as the "Fat Hippo" milkshake, but still very good! The Cookies and Cream Frappachino that I've had before is very similar and also very sweet and tasty!! Is it obvious that I have a sweet tooth yet? Once we finished our drinks we headed back to the hotel to get our stuff and make our way home, which at this point I was desperate for 1. Scottish tap water (bottled water tastes funny and obv english tap water isn't as clean) 2. the cold wet Scottish weather (it was warmer than usual in Scotland but nowhere NEAR this hot) and 3. my bed. 08/07/25 - 17:40 / 5:40pm On the 1st June (exactly a week ago today) I went to get my septum pierced! So I have been wanting this for AGES, I have lists of information on piercing care, pros and cons, what to do and not do, spreadsheets listing highly rated piercing shops in the town centre with information on each one as well as the pros and cons of each (no of stars, no of reviews, state of their website, what reviews tend to say - looking for buzzwords like 'informative' 'skilled' 'good knowlegde' etc and avoiding any reviews that are purposely vague, using words like 'somewhat' 'pretty good' etc, and also avoiding places with apprentices as this is my first ever piercing and was already nervous enough) I was prepared to spend a lot for the piercing and so wasn't looking for a cheap option. Before I started on the spreadsheet I wittled the list down to 4 shops (partially made easy by the fact that a few of these shops didn't do septums on under 18s) and then went thoroughly searching for info. Out of those 4 I picked them apart to decide which one I wanted to go to. There was 1 shop that mostly does tattoos (it only had 1 page on piercings vs the 6 on tattoos on their website), but a friend got their septum pierced there for £15 and recommended them (a different friend later told me their bad experience there too so I'm glad I didn't go there). Another didn't have a whole lot of reviews and their website was vague on both aftercare info as well as answers to FAQ eg. min age requirements for specific piercings. And the third did seem pretty good, but apparently one of their piercers recently left and was replaced with an apprentice which put me off. So I went with my piercing shop as even though they were expensive at £50 (at least compared to every other piercer in my area my friends with facial piercings?) and I'm so happy I did, the woman who pierced me explained everything perfectly, was super quick at actually piercing it once we had talked and made sure everything looked good, and sent me away with a care guide, also I had followed the shop on instagram for ages and they did a lot of awesome piercings I liked the look of. When researching, a lot of people would talk about how badly 'crusties' hurt, and how the first time you clean your piercing is a nightmare, and how sore turning it when fresh can be, how the clamp was really sore, how putting in the jewellery hurt just as much as the initial piercing; which as someone who is a huge wimpy baby about pain due to my non-existant pain tolerance, my piercing has been totally painless. When I got it pierced I had my eyes closed, the clamp didn't hurt, just felt a little weird, and it was over in less than a second, I couldnt even feel the jewellery going in to be honest. And sure it felt a bit ticklish when the jewellery moved at first and I kept sniffing because the way the horseshoe balls tickled my nose made me feel like I had a drip at my nose, but it wasn't sore. I've bumped myself a bunch on the nose in the last week, and it is 1. less sore every time and 2. just feels like I'm pressing on a mild bruise that so-happens to be on my nose. Also the first time I cleaned the piercing I literally felt nothing, I know I did it right as I got a tiny bit of residual blood on the cotton bud, but there wasn't even a nip. I try not to turn the jewellery too much, but it had a habit of turning to the side a little for the first 3 days but turning it didn't hurt, although I did it very softly and slowly to be fair. I haven't had any crusties (yet), and it didn't nip in the shower either (obv cause it's up your nose), and since you can't go in pools or the sea until it's healed, you don't need to worry about that either. My piercer gave me a horseshoe ring with a really snug diameter so the balls just brush my nose, which has definitely been super helpful in not catching it on stuff, but once it's completely healed in 4 months (November 1st) I'm going directly to her to get a bigger diameter of ring, she'll do my first jewellery change, and after that I'll be spending all my money on septum jewellery. Since I don't have my ears pierced I could never have a whole lot of fun with all the cute earrings (I've already got too many necklaces, rings and bracelets) so I'm ready to go ham on all the septum jewellery the minute that 1. it's November and 2. I confirm which places are safe to buy piercing jewellery from!! Day 3