Manchester

A brief trip into Manchester city center (centre) today.  Checked out a few free attractions - Manchester Museum of Art, John Rylands Library, Imperial War Museum North.  Really only visited the Imperial War Museum for any meaningful length of time - which is housed in a flashy new building and has some interesting exhibits, though I think the Imperial War Museum in London has more to offer.  Manchester is an interesting place - a kind of dynamic and youthful city, which excels in things like music, culture and sport.  It has great public transport (I like the tram system a lot).  But boy, is it an ugly city.  Not very photogenic - and a bit too modern for my tastes as it sheds it's bleak industrial past.        

Lake District

A day trip to the Lake District today - only complicated by the fact that (a) the weather was less than cooperative (cold, windy, lots of rain) and (b) my friend took his 18 month toddler along (which made us look like a gay couple!).   I'm reminded how long everything takes and how exhausting it is to have a toddler - not that I would ever really know!  I don't think I've ever been to the Lake District before - and it's the kind of place where just a few hours there does it massive injustice.  Especially when you only have time to go to a few places already inundated with lots of tourists.  I took plenty of moody looking photos, but again don't know when they'll appear on this blog.  I have an awful lot of photos to go through from the last few days...  An now to look forward to the election results.  Joy. 

York 3

My last day in York before heading over to Manchester.  And a better organized day - did everything I wanted to do with plenty of time to spare (namely interior of York Minister and National Railway Museum).  Even did the tower climb in York Minister - a climb up the tower to the tallest point in York.  Wanted to go in the morning, but first available tour wasn't until the afternoon, just a few hours before I had to get the train.  After a lot of indecision - particularly as the climb wasn't recommended for people with high blood pressure - I went ahead and did it anyway.  Glad I did - the climb was tiring but perfectly doable, and I certainly wasn't the least fit person in our group, and was rewarded with great views.  But the combination of walking around, this climb and then having to heft my bags around has left me totally exhausted.

Sorry, still no photos to post.  And I'm not sure how extensive my posts are going to be over the next few days.

York 2

The hotel internet speed is appallingly slow, so I'm not even going to try downloading any photos yet (I'm stubbornly refusing to pay extra for the high speed connection!).  I'll update this blog post later with some photos.  But not the most satisfying day.  Something is definitely amiss.  I'm not eating well and I was feeling unwell last night and had an incredibly restless night's sleep.  So today started a lot later than I hoped and just consisted of a lot of rather aimless walking around.  I should really have planned out my activities a bit better - I don't feel I'm making the most of my brief stay here.  I don't really want to go on one of those touristy open-top buses, but I think maybe I should have signed up for some kind of organized tour (though I cannot be tempted by one of the many evening ghost tours!).  However, I did see most of what I wanted and did complete the loop round the city walls.  But the hordes of tourists are really testing my patience - and I say that as one of the horde.       

York

A travel day today, as I took the train up to York.  Why York?  I kind of wanted to visit a city with a bit of history.  The only thing I remember from visiting York as a kid was the smell of medieval poo on the Jorvik Viking Centre ride, and I know it has more to offer than that.  And first impressions from only the briefest of brief walks this evening are that I'm going to like York.  Reminds me very much of Bath, in that the city has just built up around it's history rather than draw attention to it.  And already walked past lots of atmospheric old pubs, which makes me wish I wasn't alone.  Unfortunately, as I'm greeted with cold and rain on my arrival, I'm reminded it's grim up north.  I was literally the only person just wearing a t-shirt.  Looks like it's going to be overcast tomorrow as well, which is a shame (though I'm sure it won't stop me taking loads of photos!).  What was surprising was how easy it is to get to York from London.  It was a less than 2 hour ride from King's Cross, on a pleasantly uncrowded train - and, shockingly, direct.  York was literally the first stop on this Middlesbrough bound train.  Nice.