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Published: March 6th 2007
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Angela & Nicole McMaster It's great being back on the road again - heaps of adventures seen some amazing places, done loads of touristy things, had some great laughs at myself, met a million fantastic people and made lots of really good friends!
NB. There are heaps of photos, but make sure you have a look through them. As for the rest, I know there's a lot of writing so I don't expect you to read it all, it's mostly like a travel diary for myself. Enjoy!! (I've only done until Ireland, so i'll update the text later..... sorry)
My path - York, Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Dublin, Belfast, Derry, Gallway, Killarney, (Dublin), Chester, Flint, Llududno, Bets-y-coed, Cardiff, Swansea, Rhossili, Bristol, Bath, Oxford, London - and back to Edinburgh!
I only spent a day in York, but I walked around the city walls, and got all the history and city info from a true local with loads of stories to tell (they give free walking tours from the tourist info centre). York is a lot smaller than I thought, and is very appealing to the tourists - you can have a cup of coffee in a 600 year old house, walk down
Yes! I drank Guinness and it tasted grrrrreat!
Guinness and Irish stew in an Irish pub where the bar staff were telling customers to feck off! Such a laugh! Dublin, Ireland the shambles and around the city walls, see the huge cathedral that has a window the size of a double tennis court and just nosey around the old churches, abbey, roman walls and museums (Dad - they have a great train museum there!! got some photos for you!).
The guy that gave the walking tour was a historian and is in the right place for it, he's done several excavations in the area of the roman walls trying to fill in a 200 year gap where there is no written or physical evidence of the town, he was a fantastic (and quirky) guide.
Leeds is the home of the first Marks and Spencer (for those of you who don't know - it's a big department chain throughout Europe and they sell grrrrrreat food!) which was started in the city markets - so of course I tried to have a look for the stall, but I think it may have out-grown it ;-) The art gallery was closed while I was there, but I've heard good things about it. There isn't really much more to see in Leeds other than the Royal Armouries (which was entertaining for a couple of
Welsh Doll
Traditional dress - Conwy, Wales hours), but it's a nice city to walk around. There's loads of pubs, and has a big nightlife scene - so I'd say it's more of a party city than a tourist destination.
Didn't get up to much there though. But I can definitely say I was laughing at myself a lot! I walked around with my backpack for about 2 hours - it just seemed to get heavier, although I kept checking that no one was adding to it as I walked! So I eventually caved and decided to get a locker until it was time to catch my bus to Manchester. The medium sized locker 'looked' like it was big enough, but really wasn't!! If anyone was watching, they would've been entertained for about 20 minutes of me trying to cram a huge backpack into a tiny locker, even I was laughing by the end of it - but yes! I did eventually get 'most' of it in. I look at my backpack sometimes and think it's my best friend and my worst enemy. Best friend because I would be stuck if I ever lost it, worst enemy because I have to lug it everywhere with me!
Manchester - "and on the 6th day, God created manChester" (every t-shirt has this quote on it).... Grrrreat city! It's got a big live music scene, which was great! (I checked out a couple of bands - Free Spirits, and Five O'clock heroes). It's also got a lot to do around the city (lots of free museums, Old Trafford grounds, science museum, urbis, alladin's palace (a must), etc) and it's great to see the city at it's best after the bombings. I had a great time here, so definitely going back to visit!
They have a replica of the world’s first computer - try having that in your room! It takes up a hole wall!!! Manchester is the home of a lot of firsts. It developed the first computer at Manchester uni (which I got a personal guided tour for - just because a few of the staff were bored!), it's the birthplace of vegetarianism, had the first commercial railway, and also the first commercial canals (1761, the Bridgewater canal was the first man-made waterway in Britain and the first commercial canal). Manchester is also the place (Midland Hotel) where Rolls met Royce in 1904, which was the beginning of
Ye auld cuppa
600yo buildings - now a cafe! Lap up the history!! York, England 'Rolls Royce' as we know it.
It's a fantastic city to walk around; I spent 5 days here, and was still enjoying walking around on day 5! Some of my favourite things was the Northern Quarter (there's no commercial chain shops in this area, all independents! brilliant!!), Affleck's Palace (highly recommend this for a gander, 52 Church St - 4 floors of craziness and fun stalls), the Science museum, Corner house, Night & Day bar, Dry bar - would've like to go to Matt & Phred's Jazz bar, but missed out I also looked into the URBIS museum (urbis is the latin name for manchester) where there is a floor dedicated to the IRA bombings of the city centre. There is also a post-box still in location just near it which stood through the bombings (all the buildings around it were debris) - they made them very sturdy!
I did have one slight moment of confusion..... some people don't even accept their own currency. I was on my way to Old Trafford to do a tour of the grounds, but when I went to jump on the bus and pay the driver, he looked at me like I was from
Star Wars Scooter
I couldn't resist getting a photo of it! Leeds, England out-of-space!! I tried to pay with 'Scottish' pounds, as apposed to 'English' pounds, which is the first time I have ever had that reaction to paying someone. He wouldn't accept it, so I had to find a store that would accept it and have it changed. I still made it there, so that was a wee learning curve.
Liverpool - Don't go by first impressions (the city is under construction at the moment)!!! It's definitely the people that make Liverpool great, but it's a great city too. Huge cathedral here, and one that looks like a space ship too, the Albert docks, the Cavern Club/Pub (yep, a couple of girls from the hostel and I went for a pint where the Beatles started out!) and loads of things to see and do. Did a bit of family history research here too.
I enjoyed walking around the city, there was so much to see, but I made sure I did the Beatles tour. There was a couple of options, a museum or the bus tour. I prefer to be out and about, so I chose the bus. It was great being able to scoot around to all of the different
locations.
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cindy
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awesome chick. keep drinking!!!