Manchester

And what do you do for holidays? We played tag-along kids with JB this time, he had to make a tutorial for other geeks in Manchester, so we went too, it being summer hols for kids, and it being held so close to home... and the timing so close to release of the new Twilight installment... Going to see Eclipse on Sunday ! Woo-hoo! as my special Birthday treat, slightly postponed... good things are worth waiting for, aren't they?! :)


So as for Manchester. You'd hear it's grey and mucky and wet... Not if you have a week of bright sunshine, and England is still (not for long but still) in with a chance for a world cup... No, in that case the sky is blue, people - smily, and to tell the truth, I was pleasantly surprised with people... very very friendly, very polite, happy and observant, ready to help, absolutely opposite of Londoners indeed. Scary looking and covered with tatoos youths, saying thank you and have a good day to a bus driver, pierced alll over and bubblegum pink-haired teens giving way to the elderly, and offering help to people with prams... I am in awe!


So thanks to these two factors: wonderful weather, and lovely people, the grey didn't look grey but sand coloured, or sun-kissed, and the life was beautiful and easy.


Manchester is really not boasting with green, trees are hard to come by and far apart, and parks are a bit scantily clad with grass...
This is the biggest green patch we found, called Piccadilly Gardens. And you can see the extent of its beauty... So for the second best we went to all the musea that were within our walking range, or walked among industrial landscape, and had generally a very good time.
Nice to have easily amused kids, here is the oldest enjoying a cord or two on the piano that we found by the ladies' bathroom at Frankie and Benny's one lunch time.