A weekend visit to Manchester

Manchester may not be a dream destination for many, unless you're a football fan, as, of course, it's home to two world-famous teams, Manchester United and Manchester City. We didn't have any interest in visiting the National Football Museum, so, we didn't know what to expect when we ended up there for a weekend away to see very long-standing friends visiting from Canada. They were visiting their son who attended uni in Manchester and has now settled in the city. We hadn't seen him since he was about ten, when he appeared very studious. After receiving multiple degrees in mechanical engineering, he has now made the switch to software engineering, the place to be these days. Having his insider knowledge got us to places we never would have known about, like Heaton Park, a 600 acre municipal park jewel located in the Prestwich suburb of the city. It's the largest municipal park in Europe. After walking the dogs in the park (a 'puggle' pug/beagle and a French bulldog) we walked to a very hidden-away pub, The Church Inn . It didn't seem to have road access, but, I'm sure it must. Not a fancy place, but, we enjoyed a traditional, three-course Sunday roast beef lunch with all the trimmings for only £11.95 including an excellent Sticky Toffee Pudding for afters.
We strolled in the adjacent churchyard after lunch. It was a sunny stroll with bluebells, a babbling brook and some very ancient headstones to look at. It doesn't get much better for a Sunday afternoon.

The next day, we explored Manchester on our own. Like many British cities, it is a blend of very old and very modern architecture. It's the third largest metropolitan economy in England.

This building seemed an improbable shape and it dominated the skyline.

There were also the more reassuring shapes of old buildings as well. We got this photo early in the morning, before this pub was packed to overflowing with drinkers enjoying the sunny day.

It was another gorgeous blue-sky and spring blossom day.

This restaurant's floral doorway turned out to be made of plastic flowers, but, it was so realistic I had to get really close to tell, it was lovely and very inviting.

On our day tour, there were two things that really appealed to us. First, was the Castlefield area of the city (not the new 'docks' area which gets all the hype), but, the area which has the old canals and docks. Did you know you can get from Manchester to the Irish sea via the Manchester Ship Canal.  Today, there are commercial cruises available that follow this historic route including through the Barton Swing Aqueduct, another Victorian feat of engineering, it's the only one in the world. Narrowboats and broad-beam barges cross over the top, large vessels pass underneath.

There were many places along the canal to get out of the noon sun and admire more traditional architecture.

We ended up at one of the tram stations with another picturesque view.

Hopping the electric tram (reminiscent of Toronto streetcars) back into the city, we visited the other highlight of our visit, the interactive Museum of Science and Industry. Manchester used to be the textiles powerhouse of the world and was known as Cottonopolis. This history was excellently demonstrated with a working factory area showing just how dangerous, noisy and dirty working with cotton had been.

In another building were the old engines and train displays. Some of them were like works of art.

This massive governor on a diesel engine was a sight to behold.

They did have a demonstration diesel engine which they fired up. It was very interesting to really see, in a simple way, how a diesel engine actually works. It required lots of fine-tuning to get it to run properly without exploding its piston!

There were some amazing steam engines there as well. This one was absolutely huge, very long. The wooden wheel had many belt takeoffs on it and it probably ran an entire factory.

All in all, very fascinating and a good couple of days away.