Roundhay Park

We've been pretty busy over the past few days (despite the fact that these pictures are all very chill and relaxing). On Thursday night, we went to the opening night of the Leeds International Film Festival and watched "The King's Speech" at the Town Hall. It was fantastic, I really recommend it to all of my fellow Colin Firth fans--it'll be out in the States in 3 weeks :) On Friday, we went to a Marina and the Diamonds concert at the University Union, and that was great, too! On Saturday we went for a walk around Roundhay Park, and on Sunday we went to Otley for the boot fair and a picnic lunch at the riverbank, followed by a party at Richard's friend Matt's place. Today I went on a nice cafe crawl with the netbook. I did 2 Starbuckses and a Caffe Nero, so I got quite a bit done--am really feeling good about the PhD lately :)

Birmingham

This picture of Harvey Nicks is in Leeds, but I just wanted to put it up, too--it's all done up for Christmas!

The Bull Ring in Birmingham, with tourists posing with the bull

The Bull Ring shopping centre, and St Martin's church

St Philip's Cathedral, built in 1705






Victoria Square

Brindley Place

Canals at Brindley Place




Me on the canal


Richard & I at Brindley Place


Nice old pub on the canal

Market Drayton

Grounds of St Mary's Church

St Mary's, which dates back to 1150


The Clive, where we ended the night--lovely old timbered pub that serves real ale :)

This pub dates back to 1653!

I love the Tudor architecture

Lots of nice old pubs, like The Crown here

Graveyard at St Mary's

View of the edge of town

White Ladies Priory

On the way home from Market Drayton, we stopped off at an English Heritage site, White Ladies Priory. It was founded in the late 12th century by a group of Augustinan nuns (who wore white, hence the name), and closed in 1538 (it was kept as a private house). In 1651, Charles II stayed here briefly on his way to continental Europe after he was defeated by Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester. It's surrounded by farmland and it was really lovely and quiet :)

Jack-O-Lantern

Last night I went to Sainsbury's and got my pumpkin :) I sketched out the design on paper, then carved it freehand while watching the traditional Halloween Disney version of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"--my favorite!