Blogs from Greater Manchester, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 4

We left our parents and family members and it was hard as expected. Nobody ever likes to say bye, myself especially. I felt lucky that I left work in July and was able to spend so much quality time with my family and those closest to me without any distractions. Unfortunately Alex left work on the Tuesday and we flew Thursday afternoon so as the people from Cape Town say his time was a bit more "hectic." We have said for a bit now, we don't know what we are doing but we know the reasons why and with that in the back of our minds we said very difficult byes to our family. We left Manchester to head to the friendly city of Cape Town. I had been fortunate enough to experience a week in ... read more

Since our travels to Peru Inca Trail and adventure in the jungles, Phil and I have talked about traveling about in Great Britain, (correct way to refer to the main island). Ruth is quite put out that I'm going without her, so I've committed to not going anywhere except England. Scotland, Wales, and Ireland will have to wait. As we planned our month long tour of England, Bill Bryson happened to come out with his book, "The Road to Little Dribbling." It basically is him reminiscing about his earlier travels in England and how they have maintained their beautiful countryside. As he manages to do in all his books, he points out little known information as he travels from village to village. He also enjoys taking time for a good number of hikes. Additionally, Phil speaks ... read more

Monopoly teatowel, miniature cash and Lego figurines for playing pieces... read more

Geo: 53.4807, -2.23451Bird song. The dawn chorus. I glimpse at the chink in the curtains to see any sign that morning had broken thinking it must be imminent given the full throttled chirping I was hearing. I check my watch. 3.15 am. Damned insomniac bird. Little avian upstart, I spend the next hour trying to return to sleep, not by counting sheep but thinking of as many bird related insults I can come up with. Peter's accompanying snore means I am unsuccessful.At 5.30 we are both awake and so we brew coffee for our first caffeine hit. Our flight to Atlanta is not till 10.20 and so we don't need to rush off. We enjoy a leisurely breakfast at the hotel before showering and loading the car with our bags. A short trip to meet and ... read more

The city of Manchester missed the memo that Brits are supposed to be prim and proper. So unapologetically brash is this town, that even its pretentious older sibling, London, denies any association with this armpit of England. From the painfully harsh northern accent to its arid industrial landscape, Manchester is a spitting image of Pittsburgh and all its bad stereotypes; only difference is that it replaced "boys" with "lads" and "man" with "mate." But despite every preconception working against it, this town has managed to crawl up the list to become the "U.K.'s Second City," an unofficial title that Birmingham gladly forfeited just to avoid a brouhaha with its obnoxious cousin. Manchester has since established itself as the country's 2nd biggest urban area, has the U.K.'s 2nd biggest economy, and is the nation's 3rd most visited ... read more