Wednesday 15 January 2014

Leeds

On Sunday morning, we took the young man back to Uni in Leeds.  He didn't want to hang around with us as he has exams this week, so once we had taken his gubbins into the flat, we left for a wander around.   We were able to walk from his flat into the city.

 Hubby could not help but gloat about these wonderful golden owls.  His football team, Sheffield Wednesday (AKA The Owls) had beaten Leeds Utd 6-0 the previous day!

 You will be seeing a lot of Millenium Square on TV in the summer as The "Grand Depart" for Le Tour de France is set to start from here I believe.

 Leeds does have some stunning architecture.

 You don't often see Palm trees up here in Yorkshire!  The old Victorian Town Hall is a great example of the wealth that northern towns and cities had at that time.  Leeds was a wool town, but after the slump in the trade, it has successfully adopted the finance industry and seems to do OK with this.  





 We headed to the art gallery as my bloggy pal Lyn at Everyday Life had tipped me off that it was the last day of this exhibition.
 The exhibition was very good.  I love Alfred Wallis - a St Ives artist, and the works of Winifred and Ben Nicholson were excellent too.  We loved wandering around the gallery - they had an excellent selection of the work of John Atkinson Grimshaw.  His work is so atmospheric and I could easily hang any of his work on my walls.
 We then debated whether to have a quick look around the shops or do the Museum.  The Museum won hands down.
 Like most British Cities, Leeds has lots of fascinating history and the museum was really interesting with lots of great displays.

 We had a great afternoon, and apart from an enormous scone with clotted cream and jam, and a lovely coffee (in the art gallery - the meals looked gorgeous too!)  we didn't spend a penny as admission to both gallery and museum was free.
We did pop into the Henry Moore institute too, but it was one of these places where the building was far more stunning and spectacular than the exhibits - which were all a bit whacky!!

12 comments:

Twiggy said...

There are some great buildings in Leeds. We used to have an Atkinson Grimshaw of Wakefield on our wall when we lived there, so atmospheric
Twiggy

Twiggy said...

There are some great buildings in Leeds. We used to have an Atkinson Grimshaw of Wakefield on our wall when we lived there, so atmospheric
Twiggy

Lisa said...

Those owls are magnificent.
Lots of beautiful buildings for you to enjoy. Don't blame you for going to the museum, after all shops are everywhere!
Lisa x

Amy at love made my home said...

The architecture is beautiful! I love those owls too, they are a great design. The exhibition sounds wonderful, what a delight to be able to go and see the artworks. It looks as though you had a great day out! xx

Jo said...

We have some stunning architecture in Leeds, some really beautiful buildings. I'm not so keen on all the new modern buildings though. Leeds City Museum has some brilliant exhibits, and there's always loads of hands on activities for kids there too. Eleanor did a concert there last Christmas. Owls are on the Leeds coat of arms, and there's the Owl Trail which you can follow and see owls on lots of the buildings around the city. A good way to see more of Leeds. Hope the young man has settled in to uni life and is enjoying it. Daniel went back to York the week before, his exams were last week.

Rosie said...

Those owls are quite large aren't they? Leeds is one of those cities I've always wanted to visit but never have. It looks very interesting. Glad you got to see the exhibition before it closed:)

diane b said...

Beautiful old buildings in Leeds. Thanks for the comment.

Amanda said...

I once earned some hotel vouchers and we used them to stop at the Marriot in Leeds. Its an easy city to get around and yes the architecture is stunning. A great place to visit.

Curtise said...

I like Leeds. I need to go with my camera and a blogger's eye, clearly! Great pics, Diane. xxxx

Gilly said...

Those brought back memories. I was at Uni at Leeds long, long ago. I don't remember the owls though. Maybe they were covered in soot, like everything else in Leeds at that time, and they only glammed them up, maybe for the millennium? But I remember the Civic Hall, and lots and lots of back to back houses that we used to walk through to get to our bit of the University.
Oh happy days!!

Miss Holly said...

Oh I love your travel logs!!!!
Yes let's go to Paris!!!
I will be going again God willing....but I think I may be in England first!!!
Maybe next fall.....hope so!!!!!
I would so love to meet some of the people I've gotten to know....
Thanks so for stopping by!!!
Xx

Rowan said...

Haven't been to Leeds for years. It has a lot going for it I think., time I payed it another visit.