As others see Leicester …… part one

Now I have always been fascinated by the way that tourists look at places that I take for granted.

A Leicester murial, 2023

I grew up in southeast London with the River as a backdrop, exchanged that for Manchester over half a century ago and now regularly spend time in Varese just north of Milan.

Rutland Street, 2023

But Leicester is new to us.

We have only been visiting since 2019, and this January was the first time we ventured into the city centre rather than the cosmopolitan area around Harrow Road, or the very pleasant Knighton.

And as you do, I snapped away at what was historic, interesting, or just downright quirky.

I don’t pretend they are great pictures, but I like them, and because I spend my time writing about the past, I followed up with digging into their back stories.

A Leicester doorway, 2023

But not today.  

A Leicester sky line, 2023

Today I just wanted to offer up a selection which caught the fancy of a visiting tourist.

Some were taken from the window of an airbnb we were in on Charles Street, and others were snapped during a wet Saturday morning as we explored the city's streets, before ending up at the museum.

Of course, any one from Leicester will automatically recognise each one, provide its history, location and fondly reminiscence about past moments when the building or the street was special to them.

Well, we shall see.

Location, Leicester

Looking out on Harrow Road, 2019

Pictures; what I liked about Leicester, 2019-2023, from the collection of Andrew Simpson and Polly and Joshua