By Michael Downing
After nine amazing days in London, we took an Uber back to Heathrow, rented a Nissan Juke, and began our trek to Shakespeare’s birthplace: Stratford-Upon-Avon. Stratford is a beautiful little town. We took pictures with Shakespeare’s statue in the middle of the square, visited Shakespeare’s birthplace, and popped into a cool little gift shop that had small pillow covers that were so striking that Jackie bought two.
Then north to Manchester.
Manchester
Manchester is a beautiful old working class city. It boasts 553,230 people, which would make it comparable to Tucson (546,574) or Quebec City (557,390), on this side of the Atlantic. The city was established in 79 AD as a fort by the Romans. Called Mamucium (also Manicunium), it served as a garrison for Roman auxiliaries near “two major Roman roads” that ran through the area. The name is thought to have come from mamm (breast) or mamma (mother) and literally means “breast-shaped hill.” After the Romans left around 410, the area was used primarily for agriculture. Check out the links for additional details.
Manchester is part of a grouping of four UK cities: Liverpool (496,784), Manchester (553,230), Leeds (792,525), and Sheffield (584,028), approximately 2.5 million, combined. Metro numbers likely add to these totals but I’m not doing an official audit…just trying to provide approximations for comparison.
Our first day in Manchester actually involved a train trip to Liverpool. My intention was to hit two birds with one stone: Manchester and Liverpool, the latter the home of the Beatles. So after Stratford, we drove the 120 miles up to Manchester, located the Airbnb, found parking, had dinner, and went to bed, exhausted.
The next morning we were up and off to catch the train to Liverpool, which was about a 15-minute walk. After some initial confusion about which train was heading in which direction—and making a friend from India who was equally confused—we got on the express train to the west coast of England and glorious Liverpool.
Here’s the Choose Your own Adventure part of the blog: If you want to take the train to Liverpool now and then come back here, click the link. Otherwise, stay on this track and read about Manchester.
After a fun time in Liverpool, we explored Manchester the next day. We visited the Manchester Art Gallery and strolled through Chinatown, where we ate at a nice little sushi restaurant where we were the only customers. It was delicious.
Manchester Cathedral slide 18 below.
The Old Wellington
But certainly the highlight for us in Manchester was our pub experience. We had been patient in London, trying to allow opportunities to come to us and while we did enjoy a Guinness in the afternoon in Covent Garden, we really didn’t do the full pub experience until we hit Manchester.
We could not have done better with The Old Wellington Inn. Built in 1552, it is everything you could want from a pub: History, great food, and friendly people. The savory pies are amazing, the cask ales are perfectly done (naturally carbonated so no belly bloat) and the atmosphere was storybook. They’re also delicious. I enjoyed my pint so much that I had another half pint. Delicious. I ordered steak and mushroom pie (see pic) and Jackie had lentil and vegetable. See slides 13-17.
After that, we wandered around the adjacent shopping area before returning to the AirBnB.
Manchester Art Gallery
On day three in Manchester, we visited the Manchester Art Gallery, which is free and open six days per week. We loved it. Lots of depictions of mythological events, which is something I love, along with fine art, decorative art, and costume art, which Jackie loves.
The museum began as a place to house the art collection of the Royal Manchester Institution, which was established in 1823 and opened its doors to the public in 1833.
Slides
Art gallery slides 1-12 below. Slides 2-3 are depictions of of Manchester. Note Manchester Cathedral in the distance on slide 2. All photos by Michael Downing.
My Writing Wanderland 