After getting home late Saturday night I dragged myself out of bed on Sunday morning. It was so dark that I thought my phone somehow got caught up in the daylight savings problems back home in Aus…but it was just pouring outside! I got ready and headed off to catch the bus to Manchester. Arriving was just as miserable as the weather continued to turn against us. After a hot breakfast and the purchase of some new umbrellas we headed to the Tourism Centre only to find the other half of our flat there. We hadn’t realised they were heading to Manchester for the weekend as well.
After grabbing as many maps and brochures as possible we caught the tram out to Old Trafford to visit the stadium, home to Manchester United. Pretty impressive stadium! I thought of the soccer crazy Adrian Demack whilst walking around there. I got you a gift as well mate!
Once back in the CBD we checked out the Art Gallery which houses some very impressive artworks. There was an Oktoberfest festival happening outside the town hall so we headed there for a bite to eat! The town hall is monstrously huge and, unfortunately, closed on weekends. It is so big that it looks kind of scary.
We then started walking towards the John Ryland Memorial Library, a historic building built in Gothic style and opened in 1900, when we came across a completely random statue of Abraham Lincoln. The girls from Philadelphia were impressed!
Other destinations we hit up were the Manchester Cathedral, Manchester’s version of the London Eye, the impressive Printworks building and the streets of the Northern Quarter (home of great fashion outlets and awesome record stores).
We finished our trip by going to see a live soap-opera being performed in a pub in the city. It was…interesting. The accents were quite Northern so I was constantly interpreting for the others.
We raced out of the pub once the performance was finished and took a cab to the bus interchange…where we sat for another hour and a half waiting for our very late running bus!
A miserable day with a miserable ending...Manchester certainly made an impression!
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| The Stadium at Old Trafford |
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| The Town Hall |
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| An accordion band playing at the Oktoberfest event |
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| Manchester Cathedral |
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| Manchester's Big Wheel |
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| A real drink - even though I don't like the Bundaberg one! I have been suffering from withdrawals over here...no one can make a lemon, lime and bitters! |
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| A nightclub which sits in the middle of the street...safe for queuing! |
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