The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Saturday, September 17, 2022

This was unexpected...

We had been told of a different kind of walking tour here in Leeds called the Leeds Owl Trail. Apparently there are at least 25 different owls located around the central area in statues and often well hidden in ornamental displays. You can download a map, which I did, but it was difficult to follow, so we stopped by the tourist info office where they sell you a paper one for £1.

So we set off looking for owls.

The very first stop was really difficult. As I said some are well hidden. These ones are at the Leeds Cathedral, and they are just a tiny ornament on the outside.

Leeds Cathedral.
We had to walk around the building to try and find them.
Turned out they were right at the front the whole time.
Just above the drainpipe above the ladder on the van.

Owls on either side of this decoration.

The owls on the war monument were easier to find.

Nothing to do with owls, but the Metropolitan Hotel is an interesting building.

Next stop was the city library. We had a really tough time finding the owl there. Actually, there were two... one on a tapestry, and one in the stone wall. The tapestry one was easy, but the one in the stone wall was difficult. We even asked some people who worked there.

The library cafeteria.

The tapestry owls were easy to find.

Ruth liked this one.

This one was tiny, and way up high.
I couldn't even tell it was an owl without zooming in!

Owls on the school board building underneath where it says 1880.

Owls on the railing.

Town Hall is impressive.

Owls at Town Hall.

Can you see the owl?

I'll zoom in for you.

This one was easier.

Anyhow, enough about the owls. But it kept us busy for a couple of hours, and it's a different way to see some things in the city that you wouldn't normally see.

The Leeds Hospital.

Civic Hall at Millennium Square.


Flowers for the Queen.

Scenery along the way.

Old hotel and pub building.

We remembered from our visit to Leeds in 2012 that the central market area was probably the best place to grab a cheap lunch. So we headed over there...

Lots of seafood!

Most of the lunches in the food court area were priced at between £4 to £6. But we found a stuffed baked potato place that did a big baked potato with chili con carne and a salad for £3.50 and it looked big enough to split, so that's what we did.

We had lunch for £1.75 ($2.65 CAD, $2.00 USD) each!

Then we went outside to the fruits and veggie area and were amazed at the cheap prices. I mean, we knew it was going to be cheaper than Canada, but this was unexpected...

Apples. Each bowl is £1. ($1.50 CAD, $1.15 USD)
Even the seedless grapes in the background are only £1.

We bought a dozen nectarines... for £1!!

We went back to the hostel and took a break for a couple of hours. But we weren't done wandering around yet. We went out again later in the afternoon...

This is an old elevator of some type from the 1800's.

Doggie water bowl.

The old elevator is in a very modern square.

We were actually commenting on how the city of Leeds has incorporated a lot of modern structures into areas that have historic significance. 

The River Aire.

Typical street in the older part of town.


The Corn Exchange Building.

Ruth, inside the Corn Exchange.

We stopped into a Tesco Express Grocery store to find what we could for dinner. They had a precooked dinner for two that you just have to heat up... main course, side dish, dessert, and a bottle of wine... all for £12 ($18.15 CAD, $13.70 USD). Yes, that includes a bottle of wine!

Today, we take the train over to the city of Hull. My mother's cousin Beryl lives there and has invited us to stay for a night and show us around.

Again, it's nice and sunny outside, with a forecast high at our destination of 17C (63F).

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Record low deal on the popular Pop N Go Portable Playpen. Don't forget to clip the extra 5% off coupon showing on the product page.

And in Canada...

2 comments:

  1. I also would have done the owl walk. That pub name, Horse and Trumpet, usually its Horse and Hounds. cheers

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They actually had two owl walks but we only did one. We need to save the second one for another visit. It was a fun thing to do though and it made you walk around and see buildings that you might have missed otherwise and also to look closely at the detail on some of the buildings.

      We have found that pubs can be named all sorts of things here in England.

      Delete

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