I hope that Daniel and I will get a chance to go back to Leeds at some point. It was kind of weird walking around by myself during the day, especially since it's a very businessy town and I was practically the only one wearing jeans and tennis shoes. We were lucky that our apartment was right on the edge of the city center. That made it really easy to get to all the shops and museums. There were a couple of things that were a little farther out but I had so much time that having to walk didn't really matter.
The first place I checked out was the Leeds Art Museum. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside. The museum is dedicated to British Art and it was a smaller museum but it was still interesting. There were a lot of landscapes and battle scenes. They did have several large paintings which were nice. Looking at those always amazes me because of how big they are. I can't even imagine how long it would take to create something like that. The museum encompassed several different genres of art. They had a modern art section and a video art room. There was also a room that had a lot of sketches.
I really enjoyed walking around the City Center with all the shops. For awhile the internet wouldn't work in our apartment so I would go sit at Starbucks and just watch people walking around. I did do some window shopping and browsing around inside stores but I didn't buy anything. Before we left Houston I told Daniel that I would be willing to not buy anything if it meant we could go on more trips. That wasn't that hard for me since I'm not a big spender anyways. I love shopping but I usually won't buy anything unless I'm absolutely in love with it. I did see lots of cute shoes but I didn't try any on so I couldn't really fall in love with them, hehe.
One day I went to the Leeds City Museum. I was actually pretty impressed with this museum. They had a wide range of exhibits and it was all interesting. They had a Greek/Roman/Egyptian area with a 3,000 year old mummy (I couldn't get a picture of him though), a whole floor devoted to the history of Leeds, a temporary exhibit to carnivals, a "Life on Earth" exhibit, a "World View" exhibit, and a section devoted to large collections called "The Collector's Cabinet." Here are the pictures I took at the City Museum.
The entrance to the museum.
A pair of wings in the Carnival exhibit. These were huge and made of a metal frame so they were probably heavy too.
Another elaborate costume. You'd have to be careful not to knock people down when you're wearing this.
A feathery costume.
This costume doesn't leave much to the imagination.
This collection of gold pieces was called "The West Yorkshire Hoard." I think it was pretty recently found. This was in the History of Leeds exhibit.
A gold ring with a garnet stone. The items date back to the 7th century.
Two more rings and a piece of gold.
A china collection in the Collector's Cabinet Exhibit. There was also a large collection of Cher memorabilia. I'm not sure why I didn't take any pictures of that though.
A large elephant tusk from the World View exhibit.
This was a blanket made out of fox skins or some similar animal. I just thought it was crazy that they left the eye holes.
A large moose skeleton in the Life on Earth exhibit.
The next major museum I visited was the Royal Armouries Museum. There are several Armouries musuems throughout England. We saw some of the countries collection when we visited the Tower of London. I think the museum in Leeds is the main collection though. The museum had sections devoted to war armor, jousting armor, armor and weaponry from India, hunting weaponry, and a section on more modern weaponry and the police force. I had to hurry through the last two areas because the museum was about a 30 minute walk from our apartment and I didn't want to walk back in the dark.
Outside the Hall of Steel
Inside the Hall of Steel
War armor and weapons from different periods.
Wide range of war armor.
The detailing on some of these suits of armor are just amazing.
A suit of armor for jousting. Usually these were the ones that were even more elaborately decorated. Sometimes they very small, detailed patterns etched into the metal.
I thought this helmet was pretty funny since it has a mustache. :)
Some of the poles used for jousting. Sorry for the bad picture quality, I had to stand kind of far away to get the full length.
Oriental armor. It looks like fish scales.
Armor for a horse. It looks kind of flimsy.
Elephant armor. This was pretty amazing. I don't know how protective it would have been but it looks like it took a long time to make.
The last site I visited in Leeds was probably my favorite. The remains of Kirkstall Abbey are about 3 miles from the city center so one morning I walked out there to look around. We had already seen the abbey from the outside as we drove to the airport because it's just off one of the main roads. This abbey is one of the better preserved abbeys. (I would have put more information about the abbey but Wikipedia is down for awhile because they're protesting a bill.)
The Abbey is right in the center of a big park. This is the view I got as I went down a little hill to enter the park.
The outside of the main church part of the Abbey.
The inside of the nave.
This used to be part of the kitchens.
A large courtyard area. I think they must have had an event here recently but everything was blown over from the wind. When I first left the apartment that morning the weather wasn't that bad but as I was walking around it got colder and colder and windier and windier. It even started drizzling on the walk back, luckily it was near the end.
Arches off the center isle in the nave.
I think this was one of the arms of the cross that the church part of the abbey made.
A room inside the abbey. This might have been library or something like that.
Remains of walls of the abbey. Most of this area was added on later but it was the most destroyed.
This was part of the rooms that the head monk lived in. The monks originally lived without any luxuries but as time went on they gained more and more. The head monk ended up with a pretty nice living area. Probably nothing compared to modern living arrangements but nice for monks living in an abbey.
Part of a fireplace. They originally could only have a fire in one room of the abbey and it could only be lit at certain times. As time went on the started lighting more fires and keeping them on longer, especially during the winter.
The abbey had its own sewage system. This ran the length of one side of the abbey.
Across the street from the abbey is an old house from the Victorian Era. I'm not sure if it was connected to the abbey in any way but it's called the Kirkstall Abbey Museum. Maybe whoever used to live here had to make sure the actual abbey was preserved.
A barber shop.
I think this was a general store.
Needlepoint. At the very bottom it says "Jane Sutcliffe's work finished 1841."
The playroom of the little girl that lived here in the 1800s.
Her original dollhouse. It has her initials "MC" and the year 1883.
Here are a couple random pictures we took in the city. I wish I had taken more of the city center but oh well.
The city's Christmas Tree. This was also the area where the Occupy Leeds people stayed. You can just barely make out some tents at the base of the tree.
The River Aire running through Leeds. There was a man in that white boat and as I kept walking after taking the picture, he asked me if I was photographing him. He had a thick accent though so it took me a second to realize what he asked, lol.
I thought this was a pretty bridge.
A little harbor just outside the Armouries Museum. The boats were all pretty fancy.
Leeds was the perfect place for us to be in England. It was centrally located so we could easily get to the other main cities in England. It was also close to Scotland and Ireland. The city was big enough to keep us entertained for 2 months yet small enough that we could easily walk anywhere we needed to go. I hope we get the opportunity to go back!
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