Manchester again!

Manchester is obviously going to be playing a large part in our lives now youngest daughter is living there, and we're just back from another day-trip 'up north'. I'm starting to get a feel for at least the Spinningfields 'business area' of the city, with it's modern glass high rise buildings and riverside bars and restaurants. There's nothing quite like this in either Derby or Nottingham (sorry guys), and I never thought I'd say this, but this really modern area is beginning to grow on me. I love the way one building reflects in its neighbour, and the river runs leisurely through all the hustle and bustle.

Almost everywhere, there are new buildings going up. It's mostly obvious what their purpose will be but this one is still a puzzle. It's being growing steadily over the few months we've been visiting, and my best guess is that it's a set of lift shafts - but where are all the flats or offices those lifts will serve?
















Daughter had found us somewhere interesting for a late lunch - Rudy's Neapolitan Pizzeria. The pizza's are almost as good as those she ate in Naples, she says, and certainly nicer than any I've tasted. You can see the dough being pounded at the work station on the right of the photo, and watch your pizza going in, and coming out of, the oven on a long-handled paddle. I felt tempted to go and watch from closer, but thought I'd better not!












I'm still trying to work out a way for our trips to be more dog-friendly. This time we left Dylan at home, but it's a long journey and he was alone for rather longer than I like to leave him. The alternative is to take him, but then we can't spend time at our daughter's flat, and we have to find dog-friendly places to eat out - so if anyone knows Manchester well, and has any suggestions, please shout out.

A Weekend in Manchester

Last weekend we headed up to Manchester to see our living-away-from-home youngest daughter. She's not particularly keen on us visiting too often, as I think this disturbs her settling into a new life (in the way it's not advised to keep nipping home each weekend from uni), but at the weekend she was running in the half-marathon so it was a good excuse to see her. We've been before for the day, but not seen anything of the city, so this time I organised an AirBnB, we took Dylan the dog along, and we had chance to explore Manchester and nearby National Trust properties - and considering we were there for less than 48 hours we saw a lot! Here's just some of it ...

I wasn't sure I was going to like Manchester. I'm not a city person - more of a country bumpkin - but I found it to be a fascinating place. I particularly liked the way old and new sit comfortably side by side  - contrasting of  sturdy yet ornate buildings and bridges with towering, glass-fronted tower blocks.

Doves of Peace by
Michael Lyons

We wandered through the Spiningfields area, and ended up by the Bridgwater canal where we had dinner at The Wharf, a lovely canal-side dog-friendly pub/restaurant. I love going out to eat with my daughter as we end up somewhere unusual and more interesting than our regular places.

Almost everywhere you look there are cranes, and more buildings going up,








but there were plenty of green spaces - we stayed within a reasonable walking distance of the city centre but next to a lovely park which was ideal for last/first thing dog-walks.

It turned out to have a link to our home-town of Derby, in that this was the site of the first Rolls Royce factory - now marked by this memorial.

wildflowers in Hulme
Park

The highlight of the weekend though was watching my daughter run in the half-marathon, and despite the hot weather, finishing with a new personal best.

Heading towards the finish line

More on taking Dylan the dog to an AirBnB here 
and our visits to out of town, National Trust properties here 

Nottingham Rooftops

Earlier this week I went into Nottingham and unusually ended up at roof level of a multi-story car park - 14 floors up! OK in the grand scheme of highrise buildings it's probably not that tall but I'm used to three or four stories where I can walk back up to the car and not have to use the lift. I don't like lifts - they're small, enclosed, have too many people trying to cram into them, and they judder and jolt as they go up and down, so I normally avoid them. Anyway, when you're parked on the fourteenth floor there's not really an option, so I gritted my teeth, shut my eyes, took deep calming breaths, and I'm still here to tell the tale.

There was a rather unexpected plus point to this little adventure - the amazing view from the top.








 If someone asked where you could get a good view of the city (any city really), your immediate response wouldn't be 'from the top of that car park' - but it was brilliant.










 I could see all the way over the city to distant hills, spot the Council Hall dome in one direction, the cathedral (I think) and possibly the castle in the other (the sun was low and in my eyes so I wasn't certain)




















It almost made me want to sing and dance across the rooftops like Dick van Dyke and the chimney-sweeps in Mary Poppins.

I'm not sure if this really qualifies as one of my new Sixty Things, but after all it's my game so I'll make the rules and include it. It's certainly somewhere I've never been before!