Sheffield

I arrived in Sheffield early, and dropped my bag off at the hotel as it was too early for check in. I wasn't planning on doing much, so I just had a little wander about & explore by foot. I kind of fancied a day of just doing nothing, and sometimes you need to listen to yourself and have a day doing nothing!

The beautiful clock tower in the city centre

I did find a little gem while wandering around the city centre, and that was the Sheffield Indoor Gardens. Opened in 2003, it's one of the largest glasshouses in Europe, and features a wide array of plants, art and places to eat & drink.

I grabbed a coffee and enjoyed spending a bit of time just sat there marvelling at the structure, which is completely free to visit. 

There's also some really fun sculptures and art dotted throughout, like this wooden carved panda and this large decorated elephant.

The Grave's art gallery is just opposite, but unfortunately is closed on Monday's, otherwise I would have paid a visit. That's the only trouble with Monday's, a lot of galleries and museums are closed. Normally I try to make mondays a day for travel or outside walking to fill the day with, but after so much walking at Hadrian's wall, I really needed a few days with less walking!

A view of the cathedral, there was some sort of event going on and I didnt want to intrude, so I had a quick walk around the outside and then admired the pillars at the front. I found it curious that they don't actually attach to anything, I'm assuming there must have been a wall around them originally. Or maybe they built that bit, ran out of money and just left it, who knows?

I then figured I'd have an afternoon with a bit of retail therapy at Meadowhall Shopping Centre, just a short tram ride away from the city centre. Interestingly, Sheffield has a tram network called the Supertram. Quite what it does differently to any other tram line to qualify it as a "supertram" was lost on me, but I did notice a theme that had formed in the North of England with incorrect labelling of public transport options.

Manchester has a tram system called Metrolink, Newcastle has a metro (in which I waited several times longer than 15 minutes for a train to arrive) and Sheffield with it's "Supertram". From this, I have concluded that transport authorities in the North lie to people about what actually constitutes the public transport options. Perhaps this is evidence of the North/South divide here in England. In the South our public transport is described accurately, and in the North (maybe due to less funding) they try to make the options available sound bigger and better. Imagine the outcry here in the South if Southampton built a tram line and called it a Metro, people would be up in arms about it. It's not a metro, it's a tram!

Anyway, enough about my thoughts on public transport, that's a debate for another day. I headed over to Meadowhall on the tram, and enjoyed an afternoon of shopping and wandering around the huge shopping centre there. I'd been once before with James, but I didn't realise just how big it was. I treated myself to some new clothes (and some more trousers, in case any more were going to split in the near future!) and some other bits and bobs. I spent most of the afternoon there, before heading back and grabbing some dinner at a nice little Italian place in the city centre.

I then enjoyed a nice evening walk in the city centre, where I got to see some beautifully lit up buildings, like the back of the Town Hall.

A little further round, was this statue commemorating the women who in both World Wars went into the factories to support the war effort, a feat that paved the way for changes in how women were viewed in society, and began the change to allow them to become equal to men. While so much has been achieved, we still have a way to go, particularly regarding women's health & childcare provision. But let us not forget how far we have come, and this statue reminds us of this.

With the dark of night fully upon me, I took one last picture of this lit up water fountain, before heading back to the hotel. I would be getting up at 6am for the train home tomorrow morning. I think one day I will return to Sheffield and spend a bit more time here, but for now, it's goodbye to Yorkshire and the North. I couldn't believe how incredible my time here had been, and it was a shame to return home. But it was time to go, and home was calling.