It was an early start to get to London Euston for our train but the whole process was almost too easy. We were in our seats chilling out before we knew it and the 2 hours journey flew by. It was a gorgeous sunny day when we arrived although quite crisp. We found our hotel and dumped our bags before heading off to explore. The first stop was the information centre which was probably one of the best we had been too and the lady was overly helpful. We trooped off into the Northern quarter of the city which apparently where all the cool kids hang out. There was lots of interesting street art and we even saw a car accident, things were definitely happening in Manchester.
We made our way to the west of the city through the main shopping areas which were all really nicely looked after. The Manchester cathedral which was gorgeous, the historical records show that there has been a church on that site since 700 AD, but there has been extensive restoration to make the church look like new. Then we stumbled across the Museum of Science and Industry which had this massive hanger full of old planes which was amazing as well as the world's oldest passenger railway station.
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| Wheel of Mancheter |
We then looped round to the Manchester Convention centre where lo and behold, Louise managed to book our weekend in Manchester on the weekend of the Manchester Motorbike show. Brilliant (for Hamish).
Unfortunately it was time to grab some lunch before the big game. We grabbed a sandwich and hopped on the tram to Old Trafford. The city was full of people with Man U kit on and there was a definite buzz in the air. We got there with about 2 hours to spare and started the walk amongst all the fans, the intensity of passion of some of them was unbelievable but also contrary to what we were expecting there wasn't many large groups of young drunk guys but more of a family crowd with sons and dads and granddads.
We bought a match day scarf, and got all the obligatory photos of the statues etc. We also checked out the mega store in the stadium which has every item you can imagine branded as Man U. As a marketer, Lou couldn't believe how much brand power it had. Almost every person at the game had a bag from the shop, and the turnover must have been enormous.
We sampled some local delicacies (well Hamish had some hot chips) and then climbed up the 10 flights of stairs to reach our seats. Needless to say we were quite far away! The game itself was a good one, 3 -0 to Man U against local rivals Bolton in the Premier league (check Lou out knowing all this stuff). We tried to join in with the chants but to be honest we couldn't understand half of them.
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| Look at Lou's red nose! |
Lou had booked a restaurant (which was lucky as everywhere seemed to be full) near the famous landmark of the city – the Manchester Wheel. At only £7 we had to go in and take a look. Unlike its more famous cousin the London Eye, this one whipped round and quite a fast speed but then we realised that it goes round 4 times….It was good to get a bird's eye view of the city.
Dinner was a bit disappointing, we were paying London prices but definitely not getting the quality or quantity. We walked home in the freezing temperatures and were gobsmacked at the small amounts of clothing being worn by Manchester's young people! There were girls in skirts and tops with no coats just hanging out. Bad parenting.
We crashed pretty early, (i.e. 9pm) and then were rudely awakened by the smoke alarm going off. We both thought it was like 3am and we couldn't decide what we should do. So Lou rang the front desk to ask what the problem was and was told that someone had accidentally set off the fire alarm, and didn't sound at all apologetic. Then we figured out it was only 10pm….oops.
We had a cracker sleep after that and got up about 9am ready for a nice café breakfast somewhere. Unfortunately all the breakfast cafes in Manchester don't open until 11am!!! What kind of country operates on the basis that breakfast isn't until 11am. Starving and annoyed we settled for a Wetherspoons pub which is an awful pub chain. there were old men having their first pint of the day when we ordered and the food we got was just hideous. Probably the worst breakfast we have had in England. Boo.
Anyway we marched on. Hamish to the Motorbike show and Lou to the art gallery (great how we have reached the stage in our relationship that we can be honest about what we like doing!). By all accounts the motorbike show was good, and there were lots of promo girls walking round in not much. The Art Gallery was really good, with a big focus on interactive exhibits for kids.
We then met up and went back to the hotel and checked out and walked to a pub that had the mantle of having the Best Sunday Lunch in Manchester. It was a pub called the Ox, and I think it lived up to expectation. We had a chicken and a beef roast which came with a Yorkshire pudding the size of a cereal bowl. After filling our bellies, we walked back up to the train station and settled ourselves in the for the comfy ride home.
All in all, a really nice chilled out weekend. We spend so much of our travelling timen running around, getting up at crazy hours and jam packing activities in. It was nice to have a trip where there wasn't that pressure.
Highlight: The game was very cool, and being in a city where you can walk to everything you need to get to. Reminded us heaps of Wellington.
Lowlight: Bit disappointed with the restaurants (apart from Sunday lunch)
Interesting Fact #1: The area where the Manchester wheel was the location of a bomb explosion planted by the IRA in 1996. Over 200 people were injured.
Interesting Fact #2: The Manchester United brand (including the team, stadium, and merchandise) is worth £1.12 billion
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