Started off the morning slow - was nice to have a private room and not have to worry about waking anyone up or catching a free shower. Once ready we caught a taxi to the hostel our hotel had set up for us (Staff of Life) in Bury. Pulled up to an older building that looked more like a bar than a hostel. Meet a young couple, not much older than us, who showed us around the place. The main floor had been converted into a bar with a few rooms upstairs that were very worn out and smelled strongly of smoke. As long as its safe, I'm just thankful to have found a place to stay for the night. We practically threw our bags in the room and grabbed a bus into the city that eventually became packed with locals. Highly enjoying the accents. As soon as we got into the city we checked times back to the hostel and then headed off for another adventurous day in the UK.
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| City Hall |
Before we could do any fun site seeing we picked up our train tickets to London for the next morning. Easy enough to do, we just need to make sure we catch an early enough bus to get us to the station on time. One of the first places we visited was City Hall that had a meat free festival going on. Demonstrations on how to cook vegan meals and stands with vegan foods filled the small plaza in front. As we walked around more we were amazed at all the shopping areas and how fashion oriented this town is. We learned in the MUSI - Museum of Science and Industry - that Manchester used to make 70-80% of the world's cotton, so maybe this is a factor in the heavy fashion influence?
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| Manchester Cathedral |
We walked around to some more sites before heading to Piccadilly Square where we watched adorable children playing in the fountains. Here we spotted a Mexican restaurant and decided to eat there since, lets be honest, I couldn't go much longer without my Mexican fix. The Place - Barburrito - was almost identical to Chipotle, with the huge burritos and many choices of toppings. I thought for sure it was owned by Chipotle, but looks like when Chipotle expanded to the UK they kept their name the same. Not quiet as delicious as Chipotle, but still highly enjoyable after craving "real" Mexican food for so long. Before leaving the city we looked for a cafe with free wi-fi to find a good bar to stop at for a bit. We found a closed restaurant with wi-fi next to a Cafe Nero we tried to pick up access from. We failed and shortly after got kicked out for not ordering anything. As it was a cafe, we thought everyone should be allowed to come in and sit for free - at least this was Adam's mindset. I think Cafe Nero is just not a fan of Americans, haven't had much luck here! haha
After a long ride back to the hostel, we laid around the room for a while trying to get the TV to pick up some signal. When that failed we went down for a couple drinks. I had a Strombo - British cider - while Adam had a Carlsburg. Watched a few locals playing pool before calling it a night.
Couple random things throughout the day:
Briefly beat Adam in Angry Birds
Noticed there is an odd obsession with red and pink hair among the ladies
Saw a bunch of locals in Bury in funny hats - all on their way to the bars for sure
Google 'shopping' - Manchester Designer Outlets is the number two result
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| China Town |
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| Adorable children in Piccadilly Square |
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| Having fun at the MUSI |
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| The Wheel of Manchester |
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