Category: UK2011

May 13-14: London, part 2

On Friday (May 13; am I ever going to catch up here? must start blogging every day) I headed down to Alice’s to hang out and do some laundry. It was lovely and relaxed, it’s really nice to hang out in an actual homey place rather than a hotel or out. Then we went out for lunch to a nearby place. They had a great deal on, a sandwich/wrap (I got halloumi), drink, crisps and a chocolate bar for £4.

Then I headed out to the bus to go check out some museums – I went to the Natural History Museum and the V&A. Sadly, the textiles room at the V&A was closed! But apparently they are being moved to a new museum which will be focused on clothworkers and textiles. Just up my alley! Maybe in a few years I’ll come back to visit it. I pretty much looked at the entire V&A, quickly. It’s great. I want all the books in the gift shop!

Saturday morning I worked my way around numerous Tube closures to meet up with Kate to hang out. We went to Borough Market first – super awesome! If I lived in London you bet I’d be at the market buying veggies and cheese and stuff. Yum.

Then we walked along the Thames a bit to the Tate Modern and wandered around there, and we recorded an interview for Kate’s podcast! So keep an eye out on her blog for that. After some lunch, Kate went home and I….wandered around more. Went to the National Gallery, the Portrait Gallery, Seven Dials, and walked to Euston tube station. That is a lot of walking.

The Orla Kiely store is so pretty!

I walked by the British museum, but I didn’t end up going in because it was the end of the day. From Euston I headed out to see Kate again, this time at her flat! A few of her friends were round for some nibbles and a Eurovision screening party complete with scorecards (but not the drinking game). I had to head home about halfway through, but I had a ton of fun. Thanks so much Kate for a great day out!

May 18, 2011
May 11-12: London, part 1

Crap, the blogging is getting away from me! I’m having someone look at my site still, but I think I might’ve caught what was troubling it – still have to make sure it doesn’t happen again though.

On Wednesday the 11th I got to the Leeds train station with lots of time to spare – much better than rushing! I got 2 seats to myself and did some photo editing and knitting until I started feeling unwell, then just closed my eyes and listened to music. Got into London Kings Cross, loaded up my Oyster card and took the tube to Paddington, where I checked into my hotel. It was easyHotel, which was cheap and a good location. The room was….eh. No furniture other than the bed, and about 16″ of clearance on 2 sides (the bed was in the corner). A bit difficult to navigate, but it was okay. The bed was comfy, anyway. After leaving my stuff I headed out to explore – I took the tube to Oxford Circus (so crowded omg) and walked around Liberty, Carnaby St, Covent Garden, the edge of Chinatown, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and down Whitehall to the river to see Big Ben.

Walked along the Thames to Embankment, then I took the tube up to High Street Kensington where I got some dinner before heading back to the hotel.

On Thursday (May 12) I had breakfast at a coffee shop near the hotel then headed for a walk through Marylebone to Regent’s Park. I stumbled across a street market, and walked past the Sherlock Holmes museum.

Then I took the tube to meet up with Alice for lunch! We went to a delicious Italian cafe, then got a sweet from Ottolengthi in Notting Hill. Then Alice showed me her studio – it’s lovely, with a view of the canal and lots of light and space for dyeing. And yarn, lots of yarn.

I walked back to my hotel to grab my knitting and catch the tube out to Loop for knit night. It’s a lovely shop, with lots of nice yarns including quite a few local ones. I picked up a little bit of Wollemeise.

The knit night ends quite early at Loop, so a few of the gals and I went out to the pub to continue. It was super! Great conversation and just a really lovely time. Thanks gals!

May 16, 2011
May 9-10: Leeds and around

Trying to catch up! Hang on now, this is going to be a long one.

Monday morning (May 9) I said goodbye to my gracious host Elizabeth, took a quick trip to the post office to mail some stuff home, and then went back to the flat to pack up the rest of my stuff. Walked over to the train station with my pack, bought a ticket to Leeds, and got one with perfect timing. Ah, rail travel is nice. I arrived at Leeds station an hour later, took a cab to the hotel (Ibis; nice room for pretty cheap) and was able to check in. I dumped my stuff and headed out to explore!

The hotel is a bit outside the city centre, outside the ring road. Although the walk into the city centre isn’t terribly interesting, it isn’t very long or taxing either. The buildings were quite pretty. It did get gloomy and then super duper rainy, I managed to get stuck without my umbrella so I had to buy another one!

Leeds, like Manchester, has quite a compact city centre and it’s easy to walk around. I got a nice map from the hotel and that helped a lot. Most of the shopping is in a pedestrian area and various covered arcades. Really beautiful inside, with lots of high end shops.

Pretty much just walked all around that day. I hadn’t been planning on it, but I did end up walking along the river to the Royal Armoury and had about 15 minutes inside before they closed for the day. After that I took a bus back into the city centre (I had been doing so much walking!), had dinner at Wagamama and then went to the cinema to watch a film – Hanna. (I enjoyed it, though there are a few things that I had problems with.)

On Tuesday I had a meetup with a knitter who lives just outside Leeds, Kate! We were hooked up via the knitter’s network (aka ibecks in Manchester). Kate took me to lots of places I probably wouldn’t have ventured to on my own. First up was Baa Ram Ewe! Cute shop that sells British yarns and products. I just picked up some Harris Tweed covered buttons.

Then we headed back down to the train station and hopped a train to Ilkley, about half an hour away. The main attraction? Bettys tea room! We were definitely the youngest ladies in there (aside from some babies); the food was posh and absolutely delicious. We split a frittata and fried pea and mint risotto cakes. Yum! I even finished up with a puff pastry with whipped cream and strawberries, because why not do it up right?

We wandered around a bit to the local yarn shop and button shop before catching yet another train to Saltaire, a world heritage village near Shipley. It consists of a gigantic textile mill and village that were built by Titus Salt. Nowadays the mill has been refashioned with spaces for galleries, shops and cafes. It’s really quite lovely to walk around in, and the textile history is everywhere. There was even a small Yorkshire fashion exhibit on.

Doesn’t this dress look perfectly contemporary?

After saying goodbye to Kate (and thanking her for showing me such a lovely time) I headed back to Leeds, grabbed some dinner from M&S and spent the evening in my room, stressing out about booking places to stay in Ireland. It’s all sorted now, including the flights, and though my trip isn’t quite halfway over I’m starting to feel like it’s going by quickly!

(I’m a bit homesick though so I kind of wish it was going faster.)

May 12, 2011