Leeds, Harewood House, and Kirkstall Abbey

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This morning we headed out early to catch the tube from Pimlico to King’s Cross and then the train to Leeds. The train system is so easy to understand here. It makes traveling much less scary than in some countries (including the U.S!).

We got to Leeds at 11::40am and my friend Mike (who I was meeting in person for the first time!) was there waiting to pick us up. There is nothing better than seeing a friendly face waiting for you at the station! He drove us to our hotel, the Cliff Lawn, where we dropped off our bags before heading out again to the Harewood House to spend the day.

The Harewood House was the home of Ed wn Lascelles, a West Indian plantation owner of English Ancestry, and as well as touring the home, there is a lovely garden in back as well as a huge bird garden (with penguins from Peru!) and even a planetariumn! We missed the shows at the planetarium (we should have walked over there first…they stopped showing at 3pm), but the rest of the place was lovely and it was nice to spend some time with my friend.

After visiting the house we went back to our hotel to properly check in. Since the place was almost empty, they changed our room from one triple room to separate king and queen size rooms, both of which were HUGE in comparison to the one we stayed at in London. We dropped off our things and then headed out again. We were going to stop at Kirkstall Abbey before dinner, but got caught up in traffic after a cricket game had just ended, so decided to go straight to the restaurant instead. We were a bit early, so Mike took us to The Regent, our first pub in England! I had a pint of Carling lager and it was the best beer I’ve had so far here (and my first English beer!). We downed our pints and then walked over to Salsa Mexicana for some English-style Mexican food. It was a little different (they serve spicy nuts as a starter) but the avocado and bean burrito I had was quite good.

After dinner we went to Kirkstall Abbey, which was quite large and very impressive. The Abbey was founded circa 1152 but was closed under the Dissolution of the Monasteries under King Henry VIII. The place is huge and was really interesting to walk around.

It was about 8pm when we left the Abbey and after 4 days of very little sleep (and pesky allergies on top of it), I was ready for some sleep. Mike dropped us off at the hotel and we said our goodbyes. It was nice to finally meet him face to face! (Next time hopefully I’ll be showing him around Calfornia!).

Tomorrow we are off to Edinburgh!

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