A few basic facts about Leeds city

• The name Leeds was derived from the Latin word Leodis.

• Leeds is the second largest metropolitan district in the UK.

• Leeds’ natives are called Loiners.

• Leeds is located in West Yorkshire.

• It has an area of 220 square miles or 570 square kilometres.

• The exact population is 7,028,000 as per the most recent census report.

• The weather is quite cool on average, but with four very definite seasons. Recent years have seen summer temperatures way above 30°C!

Major attractions in Leeds

Leeds boasts lots of attractions for visitors and tourists. Some notable attractions famous worldwide are the Royal Armouries, Harewood House, West Yorkshire Playhouse, City Art Gallery, the Leeds University and Roundhay park. Adding to these attractions are the Leeds Festivals, music bonanzas, and Leeds’ love of cricket, rugby and football. The Art Galleries include the Henry Moore Institute, Leeds City Art Gallery, Liston Studios, and the University Gallery and they have a lot of displays to attract tourists who love art and sculpture including great paintings and artefacts. Some great ancient houses such as Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall attract those who are interested in ancient artistic mansions. A pedestrian will find the Guided Walks, a selection of City Centre Walks really exciting. Those who are interested in history and topography may visit the Canal Gardens, Kirkstall Abbey, Middleton Railway, the Town Hall, Tropical World and the Leeds United Stadium Tour. There are galaxies of museums that display Leeds at its best for all ages. They include the Abbey House Museum, Armley Mills Industrial Museum, Horsforth Village Museum, Royal Armouries Museum, Thackray Medical Museum, and Thwaite Mills Watermill. For nature lovers, there are a host of Parks including the Bramley Falls, Chevin Forest Park at Otley, Golden Acre Park, Middleton Park, Pudsey Park, Rothwell Country Park, Rounday Park, Canal Gardens, and Tropical World, Springhead Park at Rothwell, and again the famous Temple Newsam house and farm.

The Guided Walks

Visiting a city on a walk has its own charm. Catering to this aspect and desire of many visitors, Leeds City Council has arranged for guided walks around the city. A city guide is provided and the guided walk is arranged during evenings on weekdays and during the day time at weekends on payment of certain charges. You can contact the guided walks organizers on (0113) 252 6807. The walk covers the pubs and yards, churches, historic markets, arcades, paintings, riverside walkabouts, the Town Hall with photos and events, civic buildings in Leeds, and TV themes. When a visitor goes home after experiencing a guided walk, this remains a fond memory for a very long time.

The Leeds City Square

The city square, one of the most important visiting spots in Leeds, is now undergoing the process of modernization. But the modernization is not aimed at changing the city square into a symbol of modern architecture. It aims to take it back to the days of Victorian designs and architecture with the famous Black Prince statue. The ballustrades have returned and so have the nymphs with lamps. In the process of modernization, the road that ran to the square in front of the post office has been pedestrianised.

Leeds Tourist Information Center

Tourists have the habit of seeking information wherever they go! Such information might relate to places of interest, lodging and boarding, food, communication, transportation, guided tours or many other topics. A Tourist Information Centre has been set up in Leeds with two entrances, one from the bus interchange and the other from the railway station.

Transportation and communication

Leeds is well connected with the rest of the UK and the world, the railway station is located next to the City Square behind the Queens Hotel.

A number of airports cater to the needs of travellers for inland and overseas journeys to and from Leeds. These include Leeds Bradford, East Midlands, Gatwick, Heathrow, and Manchester airports, with the closest obviously being Leeds Bradford Airport. Leeds is also very well communicated by rail and road links to the rest of England and the United Kingdom.

Accommodation in Leeds

A number of hotels of different types, right from basic to luxury resorts are available in a city that caters to the needs of visitors based on their choice and affordability. A complete list of hotels and accommodations available in Leeds is available at the Leeds City Council website.

Leeds, the city of valour

Leeds is also known as the city of valour. More warriors have emerged from this city than most other cities not only in England but also in Europe. The motto for the people residing in Leeds city is confined to three Ps. They are people, pride, and progress. The extraordinary thing about the city and the people is that they never dwell on the past and always look forward to the future. When you visit the city you will find that parks, playgrounds and recreation centres are being constructed for children throughout the city because the people there realise that a community that values youth also values the future. This does not mean that residents of Leeds have no respect for the past. Rather they try to incorporate them into present life while looking towards a better future.

Leeds, a core city of England

Since the day it was founded and went on to earn city status, the evolution of Leeds has been a never ending process. With a population of only 200 at the beginning, escalating to 50,000 in the 18th century and 100,000 in the 19th centuries, Leeds now houses up to 700,000 people. Located midway between London and Edinburgh the city is situated in Yorkshire. There was a time during the industrial revolutions when Leeds became one of the leading merchant cities of England mainly producing fabrics in the 19th century. The city started as a Saxon village in 1068 and evolved to a town after a century and half in 1207. Today Leeds is known not for its merchandise or educational excellence only, but most for finance and information technology, the two major industries in the city. Other notable cities of England close to Leeds are York (24 miles), Sheffield (36 miles), Manchester (44 miles), Hull (60 miles), Liverpool and Nottingham (both 74 miles) and Newcastle (94 miles).

Article by Susan Ashby of Leeds Singles. To read more articles like this or for dating in Leeds visit http://www.leeds-singles.co.uk

Arizona, which is a southwestern state is well-known for its desert landscapes including the Grand Canyon, but more northern parts of the state are covered with pine-covered hills and mountains.

Apart from its natural landscapes, there are many exciting places to visit in the state, including:

1. FBR Open (in Scottsdale): A nationally televised golf tournament that takes place at the Tournament Players Club at Scottsdale in late January each year.

2. Grand Canyon: What can be said? One of the wonders of the natural world, the Grand Canyon is a spectacular deep natural gorge carved by the Colorado River.

3. Hall of Flame (in Phoenix): A museum dedicated to the history of firefighting.

4. London Bridge (in Lake Havasu City): This bridge once carried traffic over the River Thames in London, England. The bridge was purchased by developer Robert McCulloch, who relocated it to Arizona.

5. Mission San Xavier del Bac (South of Tucson): A historic Spanish mission that dates back to the early 18th century.

6. Mystery Castle (in South Mountain Park in Phoenix): A strange sprawling castle built from a wide range of materials including stone, adobe, rail tracks and even automobile parts.

7. Old Tucson Studio (in Tucson): A historic movie studio that was used in making many famous Western movies and TV shows (including Little House on the Praire). The studio now contains theme park attractions such as rides, tours, and entertainments such as staged gunfights.

8. Pima Air & Space Museum (in Tucson): The largest non-government funded aerospace museum in the world with a collection of over 250 aircraft including 75 aircraft on display. From the museum you can also take a bus tour to the nearby Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center (AMARC) which is home to over 4,000 mothballed aircraft.

9. Titan Missile Museum (South of Tucson): Displays a Cold War era Titan missile facility that was active from 1963 to 1984.

10. Tucson Rodeo (in Tucson): An annual event held each February incorporating rodeo sports and a large rodeo parade.

For information about these and other attractions in Arizona, please go to:
http://www.vacation2usa.com/p1_state_arizona_attractions.php

So where do you start with a city that offers so much? Well, any self-respecting tourist has to hit the tourist highlights, so unless you have a particular agenda, you’ll probably want to visit this short list.

You can certainly visit New York City on your own, but if your time is short or you’d like a quick overview, you might want to consider a city tour. Another option is to check into one of the sightseeing city passes that are available; they can save you time and money.

To start with you’ll probably want to visit the Statue of Liberty. There is no admission fee for the island that she stands on, but you must buy a ferry ticket to get there for about $12 for adults. If you want to go into the Statue of Liberty, you must reserve a free “Monument Pass”. These passes are time specific, meaning you have to go in at the time you have reserved.

Security onto Liberty Island is as serious as it is for getting onto an airliner these days. You will have to clear a security screening before boarding the ferry. There will be a second security screening if you have a Monument Pass for entering the Statue of Liberty. Allow plenty of time… probably 2-3 hours.

You can also visit Ellis Island. Again there is no admission fee, but you must pay for the ferry. Both of these attractions are only a short ferry ride from Battery Park. The ferry circles from the Statue of Liberty to Ellis Island and back to the city. Check the ferry schedule for details.

If you just want to see the Statue of Liberty from the harbor, you could take the free Staten Island Ferry from Lower Manhattan over and back for great photo opportunities.

See the Empire State Building. Take the elevator to the observation platform for a great view of the city. There is an admission fee, and often a long line.

Take a walk in Central Park. There are lakes and open spaces right there in the middle of the city. It’s a great place to get away from the hubbub of the city and maybe have a picnic.

Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art with it’s extensive collections of painting and ancient art. It is located on the east side of Central Park at Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street. The American Museum of Natural History is on the other side of the Park at Central Park West at 79th Street.

See the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum. Or try the Frick Collection to see stunning art and get a peek at what a New York mansion from the early 1900s looked like.

And if you’re ready to get back outside, how about a little shopping or at least window shopping? Take a stroll down Fifth Avenue. Or see Times Square where New Yorkers and visitors celebrate New Year’s Eve, and where you can find out more about Broadway plays.

And all this is just for starters, so bring good walking shoes and enjoy visiting New York City.

We’ve often described the Northern California Wine Country as a ‘Disneyland for Adults’, but that doesn’t mean you have to leave the children behind. For many people, visiting wineries is only one day of their trip to San Francisco. After all, with all of the attractions it has to offer, the Bay Area is a great destination for the whole family. A daytrip to the scenic counties of Sonoma and Napa provides an opportunity to enjoy a relaxed pace with stunning views, wonderful tours and interesting wineries. The wineries and their gift shops are admittedly more interesting to the adults than the kids, but they will still enjoy the trip because it is, after all, farm country, and what kid doesn’t enjoy that? Sonoma especially takes great pride in their agricultural diversity, so as you travel around you’re going to see a wide variety of plantings, orchards and livestock in between the vineyards. 
 
We’re seeing increasing numbers of children in Wine Country. While it is still a relatively small number, parents are finding ways to make it work. The secret to having a great time together in Sonoma and Napa is to realize that while many wineries are not suitable or enjoyable for children, there are many others that are. Sonoma and Napa have over seven hundred wineries, of which about half can be visited easily so there are plenty to choose from, as well as many other family attractions. 
 
One of the most kid friendly and adult enjoyable destinations is the Plaza in downtown Sonoma.  If you’re coming from San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge you’ll be at this historic and charming place in a little over half an hour. This is the ‘Philadelphia of California’, because it is the place where the Republic of California declared its independence from Mexico.
 It is helpful to know that there are the counties of Sonoma and Napa, and the cities of Sonoma and Napa.

Even though Sonoma is a small city of about nine thousand people, it is big on history. It is the only city in California that enjoys all three of these distinctions; it was an official Pueblo, or city under Mexico, it was a Franciscan Mission (the twenty-first and final), and it was the military headquarters for the entire West Coast under both Mexico and the United States. Around the Plaza, which is the largest in California, there are numerous historic sites as well as nice restaurants and shops. In the Plaza there are great picnic tables near the playgrounds and the newly restored duck pond.

The tourist bureau sits on the Plaza in an old Carnegie Library building and it can provide additional information for a great day with kids. A unique attraction called Train Town is just two minutes back down Broadway, the road that led you to the Plaza. This is a small old-style amusement park suitable for young children up to approximately age ten. There is a small train to ride and a traditional merry-go-round and it harkens back to a time before special effects were digital. There is even a petting zoo. 
 
Around the Plaza are several winery tasting rooms where you can taste some excellent wines without spending all day getting there. Then you can nip back to the playground before moving on to the next winery. Five minutes from the Plaza is one of the Sonoma originals, the Sebastiani Family Winery, with their great old barrel room, one of Sonoma’s best gift shops and some very nice wines for you to sample. They also offer a trolley tour of Sonoma that explains about its wonderful history. Just to the south of town is the Larson Family Winery, on the old Sonoma Rodeo site. This was where the champion race horse Seabiscuit stabled overnight when he was racing on the West Coast. It has a farm-like setting with llamas and sheep. Horse rides through the vineyards can arranged in advance, bocce courts and picnic areas round out the experience.  
 
From the Plaza you can head north on Route 12 up the Valley of the Moon, a scenic route. Voted Sonoma’s best tour, the Benziger Family Winery in Glen Ellen offers a wonderful mix of agriculture, education and fine wine. Their vineyards are tucked in a pretty little valley on Sonoma Mountain just down the road from Jack London’s old ranch, now a park.
 Their tour, aboard a tram attached to the back of a tractor, winds its way up into the vineyards where they explain the biodynamic approach to agriculture, a remarkable system that is increasingly popular with many high-end wineries. Next you visit the barrel caves and finish up in the winery for a tasting. Admittedly wineries are about adult enjoyment, but there are often children on the Benziger tour and they always seem to enjoy themselves.  
 
Please don’t make the mistake of bringing children to trendy wineries where they have nothing of interest for kids. They will spend the hour while you are tasting wine bored with nothing to do. The wineries that are kid friendly have made a big effort to be so. At both the Sonoma Plaza and Benziger you’ll find good picnic tables, so pick up some sandwiches either at the Plaza or at the Glen Ellen Market. 
 
Many of the wineries in the Valley of the Moon are kid friendly as long as you have an adult willing to keep an eye on them. The grounds are gracious and park-like allowing for a little outdoor enjoyment in beautiful surroundings.  Some of those that come to mind are B.R. Cohn, Imagery, Landmark and St. Francis. Chateau St. Jean and Ledson Winery both have deli markets and picnic tables on site. They are all within five miles of each other along Route 12, the main road in the Valley. Hint: Bring a soccer ball or a Frisbee. There are some great lawns in the Valley of the Moon. 
 

Visiting Napa with Children


 
Napa is a great place to visit because everything is close together. The whole valley is only thirty miles long by five miles wide, and while there are other wineries tucked up in the hills, the variety of wineries that are easy to reach is wonderful. However, it is not as agriculturally varied as Sonoma. Napa is another half hour farther from the Golden Gate Bridge, but the ride brings you through the beautiful Carneros district with its vineyard covered rolling hills that have a distinctly Tuscan feeling. Napa is closer to San Francisco via the less scenic Bay Bridge. 
 
Napa has a bit more of a city style than its country cousin Sonoma, but there are several places that children will especially enjoy. Everyone enjoys spectacular architecture and great views, something at which Napa excels. A classic example of this is the Artesa Winery, with its hilltop site overlooking Carneros and the Bay. Artesa is close to San Francisco and despite not being built with children in mind, the feeling is relaxed enough and the variety of places to explore extensive enough that everyone in the family will be charmed. They even have an elevator for those with strollers. 
 
Just to the north in Yountville is Domaine Chandon, one of Napa’s original makers of sparkling wine. This is a favorite for groups and people with children because the grounds are gracious and accommodating, with lawns, ponds and wildlife. Up on the patio, they offer snacks along with their elegant sparkling wines and the tables make it easier to keep everyone together. The springtime tadpole explosion in the ponds will keep any child entertained. 
 
One of the most enjoyable family wineries is Francis Ford Coppola’s Rubicon in Rutherford, about half way up the Napa Valley on Highway 29 (St. Helena Highway). He took the historic Neibaum/Inglenook building and surrounded it with gardens that have all of the graciousness of a southern Italian villa. The exhibits and old barrel rooms upstairs are enough to entertain most children. During the summer they provide model sailboats to send gliding on the fountain pool in front of the building. There is a small café, with outdoor seating, a great gift shop and of course some wonderful wines. 
 
Just to the north is the V. Sattui Winery which in this context is most valuable for their great deli offerings and large picnic area. Napa does not have a lot of picnic areas. On a Saturday in season it can get busy, but finding food, wine and picnic tables all together certainly makes the logistics of blending wineries with children much easier. The wineries have dramatically more traffic on Saturdays than Sundays. 
 

The Wilds of Calistoga

 
For the San Francisco-based traveler, unfortunately, two of the most interesting wineries for children are all the way at the northern part of the valley, just south of the ‘old west’ style town of Calistoga, which is a great, kid-friendly place to visit onto itself. These two wineries are not suitable for infants in strollers, but for children eight years and older they are a fun experience. First is Sterling Vineyards, famous for its aerial tramway that carries visitors to its hilltop winery. Many years ago it was the first large winery to charge for their tastings. The price includes the tram ride. Between the tram, the gift shop and the tasting you need to allow an hour and a half to enjoy the place. Get there early to avoid the lines. 
 
Just across Highway 29 is one of the newest, large wineries in Napa, although it was built to look old. The Castello di Amorosa is built like an authentic castle, from real stone and hand wrought iron. The vision, the forty million dollars and thirteen years it took to build produced a remarkable place. Children are restricted to the early morning tours so you should check their website for the schedule. The tour with tasting takes about two hours. The admission for Rubicon, Sterling and Castello di Amorosa all range between $20 and $25, although they offer discounts for children and young adults. 
 
Napa gets hot in the summer, but very dry, so there are very few flying bugs. During the Winter it gets rainy, but not very cold. Both Spring and Fall are gorgeous, and harvest time, from late August through mid-November, is a very busy, exciting time in Wine Country. 
 
Small, private wineries are often at people’s homes, so for the collector, traveling with children, you should ask your potential hosts if children are welcomed. If you want to get to the smaller wineries with children, consider hiring a guide with a car or SUV (avoid limos due to the need to sit sideways or backwards which increases the possibility of carsickness). While there are limo services in San Francisco, many of the experts live in Wine Country but they pick up clients in the city. Hiring a driver greatly reduces the stress and increases the enjoyment. Explain that you have children and ask them for a guide that is comfortable with that. Some guides are parents and actually like children. For them it’s something different and in fact we remember every tour we’ve ever done with kids. Touring with children is educational and a lot of fun, as long as you go to wineries that they’ll find interesting too. So enjoy your day with the kids in Wine Country. 

If you are visiting the Capital City of England from abroad the most visited site is the River Thames. The Thames in London is a beautiful tidal waterway carving through the heart of the City. Some of the most stunning architecture and most well known buildings in the World are dotted along the banks at various points. Big Ben, the palace of Westminster, Tower of London, Canary Wharf and of course Tower Bridge are all right on the river.

There are many ways of seeing these sites, open top bus, on foot or by bike. However in my opinion the best by far is to join a Thames river cruise. London’s river cruises are varied in price and quality. If you have a group or prefer a private Thames river cruise the only answer is to charter your own Thames Passenger Boat. There are many companies that offer private charter river boats.

If you are visiting from abroad the main problem is knowing which are good and which are not so good. Websites can be misleading to the actual quality of the experience, in fact the best way to tell is to look at the boats on the websites. The pictures are generally pretty realistic and you can see what each boat is like and get a feel for what it would be like cruising down the Thames on her.

With regard to price the age old “you get what you pay for” rings true, however generally there is a base cost that no matter what you do it will cost that much to charter a boat. It is worth spending the extra as it really is not much more compared to the jump in the quality of the boat and service you receive.

Another option you may want to consider is a Thames speed boat or jet boat. These fast sightseeing trips are a new and exhilarating way to view the sights of London. I personally have tried several of the speed boats and also the large jet boat. If you are after an extreme experience the jet boat is by far the best.

Remember whenever it costs you 10 Pounds, that’s really about 14.00 US Dollars and 11 Euros — give or take — with today’s exchange rate…. And you’ll find plenty of admissions that are 10 or 15 Pounds and more. You will want to see the Tower of London… and you should, but the admission fee is 17 Pounds… that’s $25.00 or 20 Euros!

So what can you see in London for free? Lots of things. First of all think museums. Almost all of the museums in London are free. The British Museum, the Tate Britain, and the Tate Modern. Also the National Galley in Trafalgar Square. It’s full of old master’s paintings.

See Trafalgar Square itself with its column monument to Lord Nelson. St. Martin-in-the-Fields church is in one corner of Trafalgar Square. Admiralty Arch marks the entrance to the square. If you go through Admiralty Arch you end up on the Mall.

Walk down The Mall to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Join the crowds at the fence. The ceremony takes place at 11:30, but to get a good vantage point you’ll want to arrive earlier. If there isn’t a crowd, you’ll know you’re there on the wrong day. They don’t preform the ceremony everyday. Check the schedule before you go and stand around.

You could go in another direction from Trafalgar Square and walk down Whitehall Street. Stop in a pub for a pint… you’ll have to pay for that, but you do have to eat, and Whitehall connects Trafalgar Square to Parliament Square. Pause to peer through the fence at Downing Street, see if you can catch a glimpse of 10 Downing Street where the Prime Minister lives.

The Bobbies probably won’t let you pause for long though. At Parliament Square you can see the outside of the Parliament Building, take pictures of Big Ben, and walk the Westminster Bridge for free.

Westminster Abbey is across the street from Parliament. There is an admission fee… they need it to maintain the building, but the Abbey says they will never turn away worshipers. There are free organ recitals on Sundays, check their website to see details.

You can wander around in any of the London Parks and Gardens. St. James Park offers some of the best views of Buckingham Palace in London. Enjoy the show as speakers get up on their soapbox at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. Free speech is alive and well, and some of it may sound a little tedious, but there will be plenty of hecklers to spice up that action. The Diana Memorial Statue is also in Hyde Park.

Another fun thing to do is to walk the Victoria Embankment along the River Thames and take pictures of all the famous sights along the river. Take in the shops and theaters around Piccadilly Circus.

Use your walking tour and your time seeing London for free to choose what you want to spend your hard earned vacation money on.

If you have always dreamed of visiting London and seeing the sights, you may have wondering what to do when you get there. There is so much to see and do in London when visiting that to see everything could take months. What if you only have a couple of weeks?

Finding the tourist attractions that fit your agenda can be simplified by using this list of some of the top hot spots for tourists visiting London. Obviously, there is much more to London than what is listed here. These are just the essentials to touring one of the oldest cities in the world.

Top Museums To See While Visiting London

First on our list is the National Gallery. It houses one of the greatest collections of European paintings. If you are familiar with Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt or Van Gogh, this museum houses those collections and several others from famous artists. There are literally thousands of exhibits to see and it could take days to see it all.

Special guided tours and holiday events make visiting extra fun. To get there, just ask to visit Trafalgar Square and walk from there. This museum is often considered the number one place to see while visiting London.

Another great spot is the Natural History Museum. Kids dig the dinosaur exhibits. Not to be missed is the earthquake simulator and an elephant bird egg. This museum is interactive, educational and rewarding for anyone with a curious mind. Located on Cromwell Road, this museum is great for families with smaller children.

Visiting Famous Buildings in London

London isn’t just a great place to visit the hundreds of museums; you can also take a peek at some of its most favorite landmarks. London is well known for its palaces and other historical buildings that allow visiting and tours.

One of the most highly visited buildings in the London area is Buckingham Palace. It gives you the opportunity to see the Royal Throne Room, Ballroom and more on it’s tour. Don’t forget the world famous changing of the guards. Also, the Palace gardens are exquisite for anyone who likes to see a little green. You won’t want to forget your camera.

The Tower of London, a highly recommended place for anyone visiting the city, offers tours throughout most of the year. This tower began its life in 1078, when William the Conqueror first ordered its construction. The tower itself has been the location of palaces, prisons and even a zoo. Learn of its history by taking a free guided tour of this most famous tower, home of the Crown Jewels of England.

The Rest Of The Best To See While Visiting London

If looking for an experience you’ll never forget, London offers its unique London Dungeon. This frightening tour offers an image of London in its most deadliest and frightening times. This fun adventure lets you explore the Great Plague, Jack the Ripper and more killer fun.

For a family vacation, London offers its visitors a fantastic zoo. The London Zoo offers exotic animals, tiny and strange bugs and loads of fun for guests of any age. With over 650 animals on display, you won’t want to miss this adventure. Admission also includes exquisite gardens, exceptional architecture and fine art exhibits.

Whatever sort of attractions you crave, London offers some of the best in the world. When you book a trip, remember the top picks but also invent your own adventure while visiting London, England.