Further Afield

Finally, after being in Manchester for three weeks, we decided to get out of town and explore. It took a tram and two trains, but two and a half hours later, we were in the picturesque town of Skipton, a place we knew from "The Calendar Girls." It's better known for Skipton Castle.


It was a lovely trip on the Trans Pennine Express, leaving the city behind and watching the green mountains (really just hills) roll on, dotted by pretty little and no-so-little villages and towns.


Skipton is a big barging town. It had canals with locks through the centre of town, and there were scores of longboaters enjoying the part-sunny, part-cloudy, part-rainy day.

The castle is situated at the top of the High Street. We arrived late, so we didn't have much of a chance to browse in the shops. they close pretty early on Sundays. We ate some great fish and chips and headed to the castle to get in the whole tour before it closed.

Skipton Castle was begun in 1090, and has been added on to several times. It is one of the best preserved Medieval castles in England. It was the last Royalist stronghold in the North during the Civil War, holding out for 3 years before surrendering to Cromwell in Dec. 1645, who removed the rooves. Lady Anne Clifford got permission to replace them as long as she promised they would not be strong enough to hold cannons. It was lived in by the Cliffords at least until 1900 (can't find a later date in the literature) and only updated it's kitchen accomodations once. We only found one toilet in the whole castle, a small room off of the old kitchen. Brendan models for us.



Before we left Skipton, we stopped for Cream Tea and Hot Chocolate, sitting outside by the canal, and then took the long train-ride home. All-in-all, a lovely day out. I can't wait to do more.

Carpet of Flowers 2008

All this week, outside the Manchester Town Hall in Albert Square, you will find a carpet of flowers made up of approx. 50,000 mums imported from Holland, laid on a thin layer of turf by approx. 150 volunteers. Brendan and I were two of them. We spent parts of Monday and Tuesday, basking in the English summer weather (rain gear and jackets required) on our hands and knees poking toothpicks in to the flowers to hold them in place. It was fun to be a part of a community project that was larger than ourselves and had such a lovely result. AND - I was on the BBC Tuesday evening news, well at least my bum was. We could see ourselves in the timelapse piece, too. Sweet!

I found out about this project from a brochure that we picked up at the Visitor's Centre. There was a call for volunteers, so I rang. I was pleased with how welcoming they were. We got to meet some locals and some foreigners, like us, but from France, who were also helping. It was a real international event.

Photo Safari II - Urbis and Printworks

Urbis is a museum dedicated to "all things urban." It lies at the heart of Manchester city centre and has a restaurant and gift shop along with several exhibition spaces. The first week we were here, Brendan and I went to see "How Manga Took Over the World," and exhibit about Japanese graphic art that is equivalent to US comic books, but has grown to so much more. The most commerically successful lines are Hello Kitty and Pokemon, but if you spend any time with middle school kids, you'll find that they love the graphic novels that are read from back to front, and this style is used in all areas of design to communicate difficult concepts in ways that are easy to grasp. There are graphic novels of Shakespeare's plays and even a Manga Bible!

Brendan's very good at drawing these types of characters, with big eyes, tiny noses and spiky hair. Although I appreciate it, I'm not so good at drawing it. I guess I have my own established style by this stage of life.

Across the street from Urbis and up the road, are Printworks and Exchange Square, with it's scaled-down version of the London Eye. This is a great place to people-watch. The weekends are busier than the week-days, as people come in from miles around for concerts and hen/stag weekends. Printworks has all sorts of bars, clubs and restaurants. The MEN arena is just around the corner. (Last night, Kylie Minogue was playing.) And this whole area is a shopper's dream, if you want to spend double what you'd pay for it in America. We rode on the ferris wheel to see the Manchester skyline. I think it's the most intriguing side of Manchester. The combination and blending of architecture is amazing.