Manchester

After going out of town the previous 3 weekends, Daniel and I were pretty tired. Him even more so than me because he has to go to work every day. We decided just to take a short day trip so we could have a day to rest.

Manchester is about an hour away from Leeds by train so we hopped on and arrived at about 9. We had a few things we knew we were going to check out but we decided to stop by the tourist information center first, mainly to get a map. One of the best things about Manchester is their free city center buses. They have 3 different bus routes that run around the main areas in the city and you just hop on and off.

Our first stop was MOSI, the Museum of Science and Industry. We had read really good reviews about the museum but it didn't quite live up to our expectations.

They had a really old computer, the giant kind that take up a whole room. There were two iPad's on the boards in front of them saying how iPad's have about 10,000 times more power than that computer.

They had a wide range of textile machines, all of them still in working order. They have demonstrations but we would have had to wait about an hour.

A water powered wheel. It was in working condition as well.

They had a steam powered train engine. I guess this particular machine is the last one of its kind still working in the world, according the presenter.

An old locomotive. I think this one was powered by coal.

The museum had a lot of older cars and airplanes.

And a giant helicopter.

The museum had a few interesting pieces but it wasn't as good as we thought it would be. They did have a lot of interactive exhibits for kids but the museum itself was geared towards Manchester's contributions to most of the items. That's ok, but it did limit the type of stuff they had displayed. Some of it I didn't feel like was quite interesting enough to belong in a museum. There was an exhibit called Giants of the Infinitesimal that we were really looking forward to but when we got there it was only two interactive displays, a bunch of signs to read, and a video to watch.

We decided to leave the museum and head to the John Rylands Library. The library has a lot of old rare books, and pieces of literature. They have a scrap of a Bible that was written in about 120 AD!

It was situated in this older building that was really beautiful.

We were pretty limited on the pictures we were allowed to take inside. However, we were allowed to take pictures in the reading room. This room was really beautiful and ornately decorated and there were alcoves off the sides of this main hall. I was kind of surprised we were allowed to take pictures because there were students studying in the alcoves. The ranges in size of books were crazy. We found one that was about 3 inches tall and there were also some almost 3 feet tall.

I really enjoyed the library because I love anything old and I love books. Combine the two and I'm a happy camper hehe. There were some protestors outside the library too. We could hear them while we were looking around inside. They were protesting the use of animal fur for clothing. I know it's still used some for fashion but I didn't think that was one of the hotter topics these days.

Something really big here (and even bigger in Germany I'm hoping) are Christmas Markets. There's a small one in Leeds but the market in Manchester spanned 6 or 7 blocks. It was separated by country or region. They had a World Market, a European Market, German Market, French Market, etc. For the most part, the stuff at all the stalls was really similar but I just love the festive atmosphere and all the smells and lights. We had hoped to be able to take a tour of the clock tower at Town Hall but they didn't have any openings until 7 p.m. and it was only about 2 by this point. We decided to just walk through all the markets then head home.

The clock tower at Town Hall. This was also the start of the Christmas Markets.

Funny looking Santa hehe.

This was made entirely out of bread. This stall, obviously, sold bread but also cheese. A lot of the stalls had samplers, yummy. :)

Stall after stall after stall lining the streets. Plus lots and lots of people. It was really crowded but that almost makes it more exciting for me.

There were also a few street performers along the way. This was an odd combination but it actually sounded pretty good.

At the end of the Christmas Markets was a giant ferris wheel. It wasn't quite as big as the London Eye but still pretty high. We didn't get a picture of the wheel itself but we took some from the top.

Manchester Cathedral. The lady at the information office recommended we go in there but we didn't have much time left. Also, there's not many churches left in the world that can live up to Westminster Abbey hehe.

Manchester skyline. You can see the clock tower in the distance.

We took this picture from the very top of the ferris wheel. Daniel probably took this one. I only looked down once or twice and not nearly long enough to take a picture lol. I don't mind heights really but the capsules weren't very big and when I looked down I could sense the sway of it more than when I just looked off in the distance.

It started getting dark at about 4 o'clock. I love the lights on all the streets. Almost every city we've been to has had some sort of Christmas lights on the roads.

We decided there wasn't much more we wanted to do in Manchester so we took a free city bus back to the train station. Overall, Manchester was the perfect day trip for us to take. We were able to see several things yet still get home in time for dinner and a relaxing evening. We really needed Sunday to rest because this Thursday we'll be heading to Paris! I'm so excited about this trip. I better get a move on figuring out what we're going to do!

I hope everyone is having fun getting ready for Thanksgiving! I'm going to have a Pink Friday sale for Mary Kay so check your email for the details. (If I don't have your email or accidentally leave you off the list, send me an email at janelle.steves@gmail.com and I'll make sure to get the information to you.)

Happy Thanksgiving!