Well England, I’ve arrived! I flew into Manchester and as predicted it was raining!
Staying in a lovely area near Didsbury, my street looks like Privet Drive from Harry Potter! Super cute!
The worker bee is one of the best-known symbols of Manchester. It was adopted as a motif for Manchester during the Industrial Revolution, at a time when Manchester was taking a leading role in new forms of mass production and symbolises Mancunians' hard work during this era and Manchester being a hive of activity in the 19th century. 
After offloading my case it’s straight back on the train to Piccadilly station! All those years playing monopoly and now I’m visiting these places in real life!!! These blokes are still waiting for a train! 
The first city stop is the Manchester cathedral, smaller than others I’ve seen on this trip but I do like the 1400’s gothic style! I got in for a sneaky peek just as it’s closing and it’s just as lovely inside.
I did a loop on the 2 free busses that you can get from Piccadilly station just to get a sense of the city and where I might like to explore further. Back on the train and off to bed! There’s much to see and tomorrow I’m having lunch with Tanita who’s coming up from Birmingham! Super excited to reunite over bevies and catch up since our few days together in Cuba!!!!
Tanita took me to a lovely little town/village called Altrincham where we had lunch at the market place. Very funky set up with different food stalls and indoor/outdoor seating. Don’t be surprised, I was tempted to order a pie but went with a steak sandwich, an excellent choice! We wandered the town, some shops were closed as its a bank holiday today. After indulging in chocolate pudding and eaton mess at the Coin Club it’s time to return back to Manchester but we will organise another catch up before I head off again! 
Today its back into the CBD and to visit the John Rylands Library. Founded by his wife Enriqueta as a tribute to her husband it was opened to the public in 1900. John Rylands was a very successful textile manufacturer and made it big in Manchester becoming the cities first multi-millionaire. With the money bequeath to her Enriquetta commissioned Basil Champneys to design the library. Today it also serves as the University of Manchester Library.
Again in a gothic style building and interior, free to the public to visit and it holds small exhibitions that change seasonally. 
A wander through Chinatown and back home, big day tomorrow! Finally 1 more sleep until the Spice Girls concert!!!!!!
Well, after all this time and planning to get to the other side of the planet tonight is the night!! (See what I did there, fans you’ll get it!) The weather could not be worse unless it snows and by the look of it may be…..
Its freezing, a top temp of 12 and blowing a gale! Yes the concert is outdoors but I’m lucky, I have an undercover seat and not general admission which will be on the pitch and fans drowned! The concert is at Etihad Stadium home of Manchester City F.C (boooooo!) but I am excited to see an actual EPL ground just for the wow factor of it!
Jess Glynne was the preact and magnificent, better than I expected actually!! Clearly, a crowd favourite being from England.
Finally, it was what I’d been waiting for! The weather never let up but the girls sang and danced in the rain anyways, not even they were kept dry! Before going I’d heard terrible reviews and sound problems at their first few concerts and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting much….
Well, it was bloody fantastic! I thought so anyway, all being in perspective I think. Come on guys, they are all in their 40’s who haven’t sung together in 20 years... I think if you also had shifted expectations you loved it but some were still hanging on to the prime years in the late 90s-2000s who expected it to be bigger and better! For what it was I had a blast and sang my heart out with 40,000 others freezing to death! I’m stuffed, defiantly feeling that 20 years older now! 
After a slow morning recovering from singing and dancing, I’m off again! It’s still raining! Today’s adventures on the double-decker bus was fun! I time-lapsed some of the ride home and some of the local streets were a challenge!
I visited the Stockport market, its south of Manchester. Super cute little tea and cake stalls and handmade goodies, lots of crafty stalls to just divine!
I’m very hesitant about the next 2 weeks I have to admit! I’ve decided to hire a car and go on a road trip to Northern England and into Scotland! At least here they drive on the left and from the right side of the car but the rental company only had a manual car available! So I decided to take it anyway… Just like riding a bike I hope, it’s been a bloody long time since I drove a manual car! Look out guys I’m on the roads!
I’ve named the car Cleo, and let’s hope we have some fun!
1st stop York! Zoom Zoom?
Much love (and luck)
L xx
This featured blog entry was written by mslaurajade from the blog Travel adventures!.
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