Bridge over the River Irwell, Manchester.
We flew Qatar Airways from Hong Kong to Doha, then Doha to Manchester. I was worried as our flight was only a couple of days after the worldwide IT outage and there was a typhoon approaching. In the end we were very lucky. Chek Lap Kok Airport seemed to be working efficiently and appeared to be over the outage and the typhoon did not veer towards Hong Kong, so the signal never went above a T1.
We had a three hour stopover in Doha and went to the Silver Lounge. Again they cut it very close to get Peter transport to the departure gate. We arrived as they were about to close the gate. I was told to wait by the gate for someone to come and push Peter's wheelchair, but I pushed him myself, because I kept hearing: "Last call for Manchester." I got told off for doing this, but I didn't care. At least we made the flight.
I got a little bit of sleep on this flight, then watched a British tv drama called 'After The Flood". It was very good, but we landed before I could watch the final episode of season one.
We had a very helpful girl at Manchester Airport, who pushed Peter's wheelchair all the way to the railway station and helped us onto the train. We travelled two stops to Manchester Oxford Road, then walked from there to The Ibis Manchester City Centre Princess Street. We have stayed here once before. On that occasion we stayed for just one night. This time we decided to stay for three nights. I'd have to say the room could have been cleaner and it was way too hot, plus the TV didn't work. Anyway we were too tired to really care. We had a much needed shower and a few hours sleep. I bought a few things from the nearby Asda Express, then we ate in our hotel. We had our free drinks and cheese toasties then headed back to bed.
Our room in The Ibis.
View from our window.
View from our window.
Dinner in the hotel.
Next day I went out and bought some food in for breakfast. I complained about the TV and they fixed it right away, which was good as I intended to look around Manchester and Peter would be able to watch TV.
As I was wandering around, the first thing I noticed was how many huge impressive old buildings Manchester has. I suppose these dates back to the days when Manchester was a major centre of the cotton industry. I'm sure most people would just walk past these without noticing, but because they are so different from buildings in Hong Kong I was really impressed by them.
Impressive building.
Impressive buildings.
The Midland Hotel.
Impressive Tudor-like building.
Impressive building with tall chimneys.
The first site I came to was The Gay Village. There are many restaurants and bars here located along the banks of the Rochdale Canal. Apparently a Pride Parade takes place here too.
The Gay Village.
The Gay Village.
Canal, The Gay Village.
Canal, The Gay Village.
Canal, The Gay Village.
The Gay Village.
The Gay Village.
The Gay Village.
I wanted to see the statue of Alan Turing which is located in nearby Sackville Gardens. Alan Turing was a mathematician and computer scientist, who broke the German naval codes during World War II. However, he was also gay at a time when this was considered totally unacceptable. As a result, he was arrested for homosexual activity in 1952 and in order to avoid going to prison agreed to chemical castration. His sexuality made the British authorities consider him a security risk and he could no longer continue his code breaking work. In 1954 Turing took cyanide and killed himself, aged just 41. I remember watching a film about him and being really shocked at how he was treated, considering the heroic work he did during the war.
Alan Turing.
Near the statue I noticed a statue of a bee. Apparently the hardworking bee is the symbol of Manchester and there was a bee trail here in 2020. I encountered several of these painted bees on my wanderings.
Alan Turing bee in Sackville Gardens.
Just past The Gay Village is Manchester's Chinatown. It's quite small. There is a lovely ornamental archway, some Chinese restaurants and shops and some interesting art work. The art work looked great but was in a carpark and some of it was obscured by foliage.
Chinatown.
Chinatown.
Chinatown.
Chinatown.
Chinatown.
Chinatown.
Chinatown.
Chinatown.
A bit further on and I reached Manchester Art Gallery. This is a free entry art gallery with some interesting collections. It has a very impressive entrance hall with statues and a staircase. The first part I went into had a small child wandering around with Garfield the cat. I'm not entirely sure why.
The Manchester Art Gallery.
Entrance hall.
Entrance hall.
Garfield and child.
Garfield.
There are lots of interesting things to see in this gallery, though I especially liked The Lowry Exhibition and The Pre-Raphaelites.
Self portrait Lowry.
Lowry, showing a celebration day.
This Lowry was called 'The Island' and showed an old house left on its own when everything around it was demolished.
Lowry painted lots of street scenes with people and industry .
Lowry
Lowry's work was displayed alongside the works of another painter, Adolphe Valette. Valette was a French impressionist painter who lived for much of his life in Manchester. He was also Lowry's tutor.
Valette.
Valette.
A modern version of Valette's 'Albert Square'.
'The Lady of Shallot'. Pre-raphaelite painting.
Every gallery was set out beautifully and as well as paintings, there were sculptures, tiles and items of furniture.
I just liked this painting by Ruth Murray.
Tiles.
Tiles.
Art gallery.
Art Gallery.
Art Gallery.
Art Gallery.
Art Gallery.
Cabinet.
Cabinet.
Cobra.
Strange sculpture.
There was also an exhibition about clothes and lots of people sketching the displays.
An area where you could sit down and sketch.
Opportunity to sketch.
After leaving the Manchester Art Gallery, I arrived at St. Peter's Square where Manchester Town Hall is. This is supposed to be a very impressive building, but unfortunately, it's currently undergoing restoration, so most of it was covered up. St. Peter's Square has lots of trams passing through and lots of war memorials.
Memorials.
Memorials.
Memorials outside the town hall.
Memorial outside the town hall.
There was quite a striking looking round building here, too. I discovered it was Manchester Central Library, which dates from 1934. I went inside to take a look. It was lovely with lots of books, statues and art displays.
Manchester Central Library.
Manchester Central Library.
Another part of the library.
Inside Manchester Central Library.
Inside Manchester Central Library.
Art in Manchester Central Library.
Art in Manchester Central Library.
Art in the central library.
Statue and window in Manchester Central Library.
The Reading Girl. In Manchester Central Library.
Stained glass window in Manchester Central Library.
Bee in the Manchester library.
Bee in the children's library.
I especially liked the music library where people could sit and play the piano. Only they could hear the sound, so it was rather funny to watch them getting carried away with the music when to the outside world there was only silence.
In the music library.
Next I wandered towards Manchester Cathedral. On the way I saw a beautiful old pub and a restaurant made into a city beach.
On the way to the cathedral.
On the way to the cathedral.
Old pubs.
Old pubs.
City beach.
City beach.
Manchester Cathedral is a wonderful building and it is free to enter. I gave a donation, because I am happy to contribute towards the upkeep of the building, but don't think you should have to pay to enter a religious building.
Manchester Cathedral.
Manchester Cathedral.
Manchester Cathedral.
Apparently there has been a church on this site since the 10th century, though the current church dates from around 1421. The church became a cathedral in 1847. This building has been bombed twice: once during the blitz in the second world war and once in 1996 by the IRA.
Inside the cathedral.
Inside the Cathedral.
Cathedral organ.
Inside the Cathedral.
Inside the cathedral.
Looking through the cathedral door.
There are beautiful modern stained glass windows here, I think the original ones were probably lost in the bombings.
Statue and stained glass window.
Stained glass window.
I noticed a little chapel where people were encouraged to pray for the end of the war between Israel and The Palestinians. There was also another chapel where people could pray for an end to the war in Ukraine.
Pray for the Palestinians.
Pray for Ukraine.
When I visited, there was an exhibition on called 'A Royal Tudor Bed and a Northern Rogue.' There were several items of furniture on display, including the original marriage bed of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, which dates from 1485. As Henry VII's marriage to Elizabeth of York united the House of Lancaster with The House of York and ended The War of the Roses, the bed has several symbols of unity, fertility and new beginnings.
The 'northern rogue' in the title refers to George Shaw who lived from 1810 the 1876. He famously created mock Tudor and Elizabethan furniture for the Duke of Northumberland and the Earls of Bradford and Derby. His replica of the royal bed is also on display.
Royal bed.
Royal bed.
Cabinet.
Outside the cathedral there's a lovely colourful, flower filled garden, restaurants and a statue of Gandhi.
Cathedral garden.
Cathedral garden.
Cathedral garden.
Gandhi statue
Restaurant near the cathedral.
Restaurants outside the cathedral.
Bee outside the cathedral.
There were a few interesting old buildings outside the cathedral, too and some rather philosophical graffiti.
Building outside the cathedral.
Building outside the cathedral.
Building outside the cathedral.
Interesting graffiti.
The River Irwell is next to the cathedral. Although it was built up around this area, I loved the reflections in the water.
River.
Bridge across a river, Manchester.
I walked around the old buildings next to the cathedral and ended up at the Manchester Arena. Tragically, this was the site of an Islamic terrorist attack on the 22nd of May 2017. The attack killed twenty-two people and injured 1017.
Manchester Arena.
There's a memorial at the cathedral for the victims and another one inside Manchester Victoria Train Station. Victoria Station dates back to 1844 and is Manchester's second busiest railway station after Piccadilly.
Victoria Station.
Memorial in the cathedral gardens.
Memorial.
Memorial.
Railway map, Victoria Station.
Bee in Victoria Station.
Manchester Victoria Station.
George and the dragon.
In Victoria Station.
After visiting the station, I had a quick look at The National Football Museum from the outside. It was expensive to go in and I am not really into football, so I wasn't tempted to visit.
National Football Museum.
National Football Museum.
Outside the football museum.
National Football Museum.
I had a look at St Ann’s Square which is home to St Ann’s Church and the Royal Exchange Theatre. There's a war memorial here and a statue of a homeless person outside St Ann's Church.
Exchange Theatre in St Ann's Square.
Sculpture in St Ann's Square.
Statue in St Ann's Square.
I had a look inside St Ann's Church, which dates from the early eighteenth century. It has lovely stained glass windows.
St Ann's Church.
Statue outside St Ann's.
St Ann's.
Stained glass window in St Ann's.
Stained glass window in St Ann's.
Stained glass window in St Ann's.
Just off St Ann's Square, I found an attractive old shopping arcade called The Barton Arcade, which dates from 1871.
Barton Arcade.
Barton Arcade.
I wanted to go to The John Ryland's Research Institute and Library. I've visited before and it's beautiful inside, but on this occasion it was closed.
John Ryland's Library.
I returned home feeling a bit sunstruck, which is quite an achievement in Manchester!!!
Later that evening, Peter and I went for a drink in The Garrat Pub on Princess Street.
The Garrat.
Next day, we met up with our friend, Gillian, in O'Shea's Irish Pub on Princess Street. We had a lovely catch up and a very tasty meal. Peter had steak and ale pie and Gillian and I had fish and chips.
Gillian and Peter
Peter and I.
Next day we headed off to Scotland, so that was the end of Manchester for us.
This featured blog entry was written by irenevt from the blog Trip To Europe 2024.
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