Travel and Adventure by Various Travel Authors

By Sheila Sobell
   
If all you know of England at Christmas is fighting the throngs in London, try spending the holidays in York, where the combination of the elegant and the unexpected has earned the city impressive accolades such as Best U.K. City and European Tourism City of 2008. You'll be able to soak up some English history at the same time you're toasting the season with holiday cheer.
   
Chocolate is to York what mustard is to Norwich. York's sweet tooth got its start when Terry's of York, sustained by York's superior railway connections, developed a line of chocolate confections. Along with Joseph Rowntree's confectionary, chocolate became the commodity that stabilized 19th century York's economy.  Visit W.H. Smith's on the High Street for a chocolate orange. Unwrap it, tap the bottom on a table, then share the segments with your friends. Created in 1931, Terry's treat still finds its way into many a Christmas stocking.
   
Stop by 3  St. Helen's Square in the Shambles, one of the best-preserved medieval shopping streets in Europe, to see the sumptuous quarters Terry's chocolate shop and restaurant once occupied (now  a Swarovski's crystal shop). Sample other sweet indulgences at independent confectioners in the Shamble, such as Sweet Treasures, John Bull Confectioners Ltd., and Monk Bar Chocolatiers.
   
Though Terry's closed in 2005, its mystique lives on at the York Castle Museum, where hundreds of photographs, publicity catalogs, packaging and chocolates from Terry's are displayed. While you're there you can also experience 100 years of York's history by touring  Kirkgate, a re-created  cobblestoned Victorian street lit by gas lamps complete with hansom cab,  stagecoach, apothecary with its jar for leeches, toyshop,  fire station with engine and a police station that includes a padded cell.
   
"Shakespeare's Play Politically Motivated!" screamed the headline from a medieval version of The Sun, Britain's favorite tabloid, displayed in York's quirky Richard III Museum. Housed in Monk Bar, the city’s tallest and most impressive medieval gatehouse, the museum is devoted to clearing the monarch's much-maligned name, or at least putting the case fairly to the public.  Did the king, the benefactor of the City of York, really murder his royal nephews, Edward Prince of Wales (the uncrowned Edward V) and Richard Duke of York, whom he imprisoned in the Tower of London? Here's your chance to review the evidence for yourself by listening to imaginary testimony recorded by actors, reading court "notes" and newspapers, and deciding the verdict for yourself.
   
At the National Railway Museum, the most visited museum outside of London, the museum's turntable, a device once used to turn steam locomotives, has been transformed into a spectacular piece of modern art called "Brief Encounters," which illustrates the relationship between time and distance.
   
Artist Kit Monkman explained that  a large bridge composed of 12 screens towers over the NRM's turntable. As visitors embark on their journeys at the foot of the bridge, a human form appears on each of the screens. These rise up the screens on each side of the bridge in gentle procession until they reach the apex, where two figures from different cities and time-zones come together in a superimposed duet. The exhibit runs through Jan. 3.
   
Plan to throw your diet to the winds at York’s glorious Christmas markets and indulge in some over-the-top Christmas cheer from vendors hawking mulled wine, brandy-laced hot chocolate, delicious Yorkshire delicacies and international treats. The International Christmas Fayre (Dec. 1 to 20) brings a sleigh-load of global Christmas traditions. Made in Yorkshire Christmas Market (Dec. 3 to 13) showcases high-quality arts and crafts from the North and East Yorkshire region, and the Festivals of Angels (Dec. 12 to 13) delights with ice sculptures, parading angels, street artists, snow, stalls, and outdoor food and bars.
   
Betty's Café Tea Rooms is the best place to get elegantly stuffed. Ask anyone you meet for directions, and you’ll probably get a litany of stories and compliments.  Betty's is one of the few places where you actually queue up (reservations emphatically not accepted) to lavish $80 on a celebration tea for two of champagne, sandwiches, scones and miniature cakes.  A must for those wanting to sample the real thing, Betty's York, inspired by the art deco magnificence of the Queen Mary, is a stunning wood-paneled room with ornate mirrors and huge curved windows overlooking elegant St. Helen's Square. Bring home a copy of "Hearts, Tarts and Rascals," the charming history of Betty's Tea Rooms, as a lovely Christmas gifts for friends.
   
If you saw the film "Brideshead Revisited,"  you've already gotten a taste of Castle Howard's mystique. But little can compare to the dress-up version, when the Hon. Simon and Mrs. Howard convert giant evergreens to magical Christmas trees hung with more than 1,000 baubles and traditional family-made Christmas twigs.
    Close the day by elevating your spiritual side with a Christmas Oratorio, a Christmas Carol Concert or Christmas Music by Candlelight performed in the York Minster, the largest medieval cathedral in Northern Europe. Called a "minster" because it was a center from which Christian teaching was spread by travelling preachers and teachers, the cathedral becomes even more awe-inspiring when the sun hits some of its 128 stained glass windows that contain more than 2 million separate pieces of glass.

IF YOU GO:
   
Where to stay: Best Western Dean Court Hotel,  HYPERLINK "http://www.deancourt-york.co.uk" www.deancourt-york.co.uk. With its mesmerizing view of the York Minster cathedral and pampering by the most attentive staff anywhere, it's hardly surprising that this boutique 37- room hotel was voted AA Romantic Hotel of the Year in 2008.
   
Enjoy York economically by  purchasing the York Pass, which allows free entry into 29 top tourist attractions, includes a free guidebook and starts at just $35 per person for one day; family passes are priced from $90.
   
For general information, visit www.visityork.org. For a free guide to where to stay and what to do, e-mail   "mailto:info@visityork.org" info@visityork.org.
  
Sheila Sobell is a travel photojournalist. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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