On my latest trip to York I actually found myself wondering what else I could do on another glorious day in this pretty, yet rather small city. Making my way through "What to do in York" on Google I kept on stumbling over the note to just take a day trip to Leeds, which is about 25 miles away from York.
So on one very misty late summer morning I got out of bed, grabbed a cup of coffee, hopped on to a CityZap bus and only an hour later I was already strolling through Leed's famous Kirkgate Market. I wasn't that impressed by the outside market stalls, but once you enter the actual old Kirkgate Market halls you'll find a whole other dimension of shops and stalls. The best thing about it, for me, was the old Mark & Spencer's Stall. Attention, quick little history lesson of your (perhaps) favourite supermarket: Mark & Spencer's has its roots in Leeds, to be more exact, in the Kirkgate Market, where, once upon a time, a Jewish Polish guy called Michael Marks met a dude called Thomas Spencer and who then opened a stall at Kirkgate Market called the "Penny Bazaar". From then on the thing got bigger and bigger and that's how Mark & Spencer's was born. Bish bash bosh. There you go. History lesson done!
The second stop on my walk through Leeds was the Corn Exchange. Might sound a bit lame hearing it just like that, but I definitely wanted to see what is inside that globated building.
And let me just tell you. Once I've walked through the gates I literally found myself in my own personal architecture heaven. I honestly could not shut my mouth, I was so impressed. The view was completely mind-blowing, I am not kidding.
It rarely happens that I just can't stop looking at something for that long. Normally only Harry Styles or Channing Tatum are able to get me to do that, but I just couldn't stop spinning around adoring the ceiling and the stairs and the shops and just generally the immenseness of this piece of art.
Do me a favour and check Corn Exchange out if you happen to be in Leeds. Or, you know, get on a plane just to see Leeds Corn Exchange. Whatever.
If you're still wondering what exactly Leeds Corn Exchange is (because the last few paragraphs have just been me raving over a building), it was the centre of Exchange in former times, where people went to exchange their goods with goods from other people. Today, it's full of little independent shops, cafés and the such.
Another thing Leeds is really great at is shopping. Whether you love to shop outside along streets like Briggate, Commercial Street or Albion Street, you also get a great selection of shops in Leeds' huge shopping centre, the Trinity. There you'll find all major shops and some great little vintage boutiques which you've just got to love.
One kind of shopping facility absolutely stole my heart, though. Arcades. I've always been a huge fan of London's amazing Arcades and Closes, but the ones in Leeds really blew my mind. Queens Arcade has to be my favourite one, though. Walking through this one made me realise how much of a hopeless architecture geek I am, but that I am absolutely fine with it.
Apart from shopping and staring at buildings I haven't really been up to many more things. I've had Sushi from Wasabi for lunch, which was fab and then I just walked around town, down to the minster, even more down to the waterfront and back up again. Up to Leeds Town Hall and back to the coach station. I enjoyed Leeds a lot and I can only recommend coming here for a day or for longer. Love love love to Leeds!
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