Day 1 8/3/08 - England

London -> Leeds -> London

Highlight

• Another very long train ride, where I caught up with some more French.
• I had been warned that there was nothing to do in Leeds, so I was not expecting much. Took in the sites, which is basically a lot of new buildings inter dispersed with the old.
• Had a look at St John Evangelist Church , which looks like every other church.
• Down by the wharf area to reach the Royal Armories Museum. It has excellent displays, but because they were doing renovation work, they closed early, and because we had booked lunch, we had to leave after exploring only very little of the display. The stuff there were very similar to the Tower of London stuff anyway.
• Lunch at Bib Number 1, read the review here.
• Leeds Town Hall – not very interesting, not after all the places we’ve seen.
• Leeds Civic Hall – someone was getting married there, other than that, like every other civic hall.
• Leeds City Art Gallery – actually had quite a decent collection.
• The Henry Moore Institute is situated next door to the Art Gallery. I saw quite a bit of Henry Moore (and liked it) at the gallery, but the institute doesn’t seem to have anything extra to add.
• I was expecting more from Millennium Square, but it’s literally just a little square with some funky curves and furniture, otherwise it’s quite boring again.
• A quick glance at Leeds Parish Church to cross it off the list.
• Kirkgate Market is probably the most interesting thing for us, like a glorious supermarket, with delis, butchers, fishmongers, all vying for your attention. We managed to pick up some cheap stuff at the end of the day, like our 15 cupcakes for £.50 and the hot cross bun going for cheap. The butchers were having a sell-off war, but we decided that we couldn’t really lug all that home, so restrained ourselves from getting tempted.
• We had run out of things to do by this time, but because it was raining, we didn’t bother trying to find a hairdresser. Instead, we wondered around the many shopping centre. There were only one or two interesting shops. Everything else you could find in London.
• Dinner at Bib Number 2, read the review here.
• Train back was delayed, so it took 3 hours before we made it back home. Luckily there were no drunks this time, unlike York.

Food

• cheesecake
• lunch at Anthony’s at Flannels:
  • Oak Smoked Salmon & Prawn Fishcakes. Red Pepper & Tomato Salsa, Caviar Vinaigrette
  • Chicken & Black Pudding Sausage, Grain Mustard Mash Potatoes
  • Thyme & Garlic Roasted Lamb Rump, Dauphinoise Potatoes, Caponata
  • Pan-Fried Calves Liver & Streaky Bacon served with Polenta Cake, Caramelised Onions & Shitaki Mushrooms
• Ainsley’s kitchen chocolate cupcake (15 for £.50)
• Dinner at Brasserie 44:
  • Country Pâté, pumpkin and date chutney
  • Warm Asparagus Quiche, tomato and red pepper coulis
  • Fillet of Seabass, caramelised lemon chicory ~ orange butter sauce
  • Confit Leg of Duck, chestnut mushroom and tomato ragout
  • Hand-Cut Chips
  • Green Beans with Shallots
  • New York Cheesecake, red berry compote
  • Banana Pudding