UK trip (3): Leicester flashback

The second city that my husband and I chose to visit for a day was Leicester. The decision was not based from the point of view of sightseeing. Quite a few years back in 2004 my husband had made his first sojourn to UK for doing a Masters of Science in Embedded Systems from University of Leicester. Our being together in UK thereby provided an opportunity to take a trip down memory lane.

24 March saw us finding our way to the New Street station, Birmingham. We had booked our tickets in advance. The train was on time and in less than an hour's ride we were at Leicester. When we came out of the station the sun was greeting us. The weather was glorious and it made our walking expedition enjoyable.

From the Leicester station the University of Leicester was not too far. Opposite to it was the De Montfort University. Along the way we passed by the Victoria Park. Instead of turning inside we went straight ahead to the Main Building. From there we went past the Library to the Engineering Department. We explored the building and we went to see the lab where my husband had spent considerable time for his Masters' project work. Sadly, his supervisor wasn't around and we could not meet him.


Next we had another walk to the Freemen's Common, the university accommodation where my husband had stayed during 2004-2005. We returned to the main campus via the Queen Elisabeth College which is also a part of the university. We followed this by a walk through the Victoria Park to go back towards the station for having lunch. It was nearing 1.20 pm and I was informed that in Leicester restaurants close by 2 pm. I only believed it when I actually saw the scene. Luckily we managed to find one open but were told to hurry up. An instant order of mutton biryani was made which turned out to be such a tasty choice that it was reordered.


Feeling a lot better after eating good food we made our way to the city center. We rested from time to time taking in the scene and talking about my husband's old days in Leicester. We roamed around a lot in a nearby mall. We made a stop over at one place to have coffee. Evening was approaching and we had a train to catch. So again we got onto our feet.

We were quietly walking when suddenly we heard a loud cheering noise coming from a bar. A big screen was showing the last moments of the World Cup Cricket's quarterfinal match between India and Australia. It was touted as a tough one to crack for India and many had predicted an end to our journey ahead. Watching Yuvraj Singh play the last winning shot thrilled us and we joined in the celebrations for some minutes.

There was still enough time remaining for our train's arrival and it was decided to put to use by... walking. I would have complained but I spotted the famous plain red telephone booths associated with UK. I had been looking for them in London but always found them with ads printed. So immediately husband was asked to take my photos with the booth.

That done we went inside the station. Soon we boarded the train and headed back to camp.