Going to Manchester

May 28th, 2009

Going to Manchester is something I have always wanted to do since going to Uni at Lancaster 3 years ago but never got around to doing. I decided to correct that today. I intended to set off at about 8:15 in the morning to give us a full day there, but after a bad nights sleeps because of a helicopter doing laps around the field behind our house we were finally ready at 10ish.

We took the scenic route though the peak district because I don’t like motorway driving and when we reached Manchester headed for Trafford Centre. Because city centre parking can be extortionate (it cost me £14 to park in Nottingham yesterday) we wanted somewhere free to park. By parking at Trafford centre and getting the bus in it cost the two of us £11 and we got travel on all the buses and trams for the whole day.

At first I didn’t like Manchester very much, it was very over whelming. We got off the bus in Piccadilly gardens, which looks like a very nice square, I wish Nottingham a town square like it, then headed towards the Arndale centre. The streets were packed and we were completely lost. Eventually we decided to sit down and get something to eat in the food court in the shopping centre. After that we had a quick wander around the shops there then tried to find the tourist information centre.

It’s a tricky place to find. We could not see any maps anywhere, or any tourist signs pointing us in the right direction so we wandered aimlessly. Luckily we came across the Urbis arts centre which had a map in it (there was an exhibition of computer games which isn’t really our thing so we skipped it) but we did find the tourist information in the town hall building. One thing Manchester has is an abundance of stunning buildings, the town halls is a huge old building, and the cathedral is spectacular (slightly spoilt by the premier travel lodge behind it dominating the horizon). I would recommend anyone going to Manchester for the first time to head straight for the town hall to pick up one of the little free maps. All the different areas are marked with a little description of what type of thing you will find in each one. In the end we used it to navigate our way to the art gallery then thought the Chinese quarter, down Canal Street, around the Northern quarter and back to the Arndale centre.

I really enjoyed just wandering around the city, it’s a fantastic day our. Well worth a visit if you ever get the chance.

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