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UK Trip....Part II
Posted: Thursday, April 30, 2009 by Stained inSunday, 15th of March
We had to catch a train to Sheffield as 'D' wanted to check out the university there. It was a long 4 hour ride due to the multiple stops as the ticket we had bought was a cheaper one as we totally could not afford blowing as much as £55 for a one way ticket just for a 2 hour shorter train ride. Anyway I preferred the stop overs as we got to see more of the country side then we would have. Anyway we had to get to the train by 8:15am. We managed to get out by 7:20am but due to wrong decision regarding which train to take (basically we realised later that the train we wanted to take was not as frequent as the other train we could have taken), we managed to get to King Cross station by 8:13am. As soon as we jumped in, the doors closed behind us...
1) The first part of the train ride was us passing through the northern part of London that seemed a bit rundown in places. The only landmark that I remember passing was the huge Emirates stadium (for Arsenal). Anyway we got to a station who's name I conveniently don't remember(be prepared for me to mention lots of nameless places cause I suck with remembering names and I forgot to use a notebook).
2) Over here we had to catch a bus that took us to Peterborough where we had to catch a train to yet another nameless place. Anyway we had about an hour to kill before catching the train so we decided to head towards the huge cathedral (picture below) that I spotted from the bus. Being Sunday, we could not enter the cathedral as it was time for the mass I think, so made do with roaming around as I clicked away.
3) We headed back to the train station, picked up some food and drinks and made our way onto the train that to my happiness had FREE WIFI!!! :D
2) Over here we had to catch a bus that took us to Peterborough where we had to catch a train to yet another nameless place. Anyway we had about an hour to kill before catching the train so we decided to head towards the huge cathedral (picture below) that I spotted from the bus. Being Sunday, we could not enter the cathedral as it was time for the mass I think, so made do with roaming around as I clicked away.
3) We headed back to the train station, picked up some food and drinks and made our way onto the train that to my happiness had FREE WIFI!!! :DWe got to the nameless station number two which was located in an industrial looking town. A complete contrast to the beautiful town of Peterborough. We waited there for another hour and got onto a smaller, slower train to Sheffield.
4) Initial impressions of Sheffield were somewhere between the second nameless town and Petersborough. It was pretty but had this industrial look to it also. I was hoping for it to be colder but was kinda disappointed. Here we were picked up by D's friend (lets call her Am) who made us walk through this totally inefficient way to her dorm (I figured that out immediately as I'm a genius when it comes to directions). Anyway we stopped over at the dorm for some time, were joined by her friend and made our way to have lunch. After having a decent serving of fish and chips, Am showed us around town which wasn't really too big. Basically the main city center comprises of three parallel streets full of shops of everything and anything. After doing some shopping, Am went off to her dorm as she had some work to do while we looked around for a decent hotel to stay the night in. We were recommended a shady cheap hotel but that is totally unacceptable for me.
I think this was an office building
Peace Gardens
Winter Garden
5) So after a few hours of walking around we settled for a newly opened hotel which was decently priced, clean and comfortable. D went off to Am's dorm for the night. Had Pizza hut in the night (Veg pizza...urgh!!!!), roamed around a bit, watched TV, surfed the totally expensive net and a comfortable night on a comfy bed.
Monday, 16th of March
6) Woke up at 7:30am, checked out, walked to the other side of Sheffield, took some very cool shots (IMO atleast!!) and then made our way to the station where we had to catch a 10am train to Leeds.
Funky painting on the building opposite the hotel
Greenery on the other side of town that had some shady looking buildings
Stairs leading to the Train Station from the other side
Stairs leading to the Train Station from the other side
Tallest building in Sheffield...under construction
7) It was only a 1 hour ride with free WIFI yet again. I wish we could have stayed on the train and made our way to Edinburgh to see some snow. But we had tickets for Leed so Leeds it was.
8) It was a bit colder here than Sheffield and I had to get the gloves out. Anyway we made our way past lots of funky looking buildings(one of them pictured below) to reach the main entrance for Leeds university. Unfortunately there isn't a main gate as such, just a map showing us the 30+ buildings that constitute the university which are littered over a huge area among 100+ buildings. So feeling a little confused and with my genius skills of direction, we made our way to the journalism building that was on the other corner (READ: a few miles away). After lots of walking uphill and downhill while losing D's notebook, we did not manage to get to the building. We had walked a lot (READ:10km minimum) in Sheffield while looking for a good hotel which also constitutes lots of uphill's and downhill's, adding that to this long Leeds walk, the whole package of walking over two days had gotten to us, even me the champion walker was hampered by the cold. 
9) So we somehow made our way back to the station stopping over to watch a chess match between a 7 year old and maybe a 25+ year old (the kid won btw). We had some time to kill before catching the train back. So we made our way to McDonalds where I had French fries and potato wedges...
9) So we somehow made our way back to the station stopping over to watch a chess match between a 7 year old and maybe a 25+ year old (the kid won btw). We had some time to kill before catching the train back. So we made our way to McDonalds where I had French fries and potato wedges...
10) The Train ride back had no stop overs and being a very Fast train with the 'oh so wonderful' free WIFI, we got to King Cross station by 4:30pm and we then caught the tube back home where exhausted, we simply chilled out!!!
First nameless station was Hatfield.
Second nameless station was Doncaster.