the england journal- first impressions of Manchester

Chapters

-Getting there
-First impressions
-Ah, Manchester
-Man U - Valencia
-Game on
-On to London
-Art & relics
-Shakespeare reduced, Belushi's gets a wake-up call
-Scams, Hard Rock, & free cheese
-Ciao Bella
-Flowers, mushrooms, slugs & lettuce
-Let it snow, Ice Princess
-Fabric, Yazoo, Frijj
-Euston, we have a problem
-The best half I never saw
-Final thoughts

Manchester

Read my journal entries from Europe here.

2/19/01 -Manchester-
Guy at customs got on my case for seeing Man U instead of Liverpool, but at least he let me through... First thing you notice about Manchester: there are no garbage cans. This gum has been sitting in my mouth forever. We caught the right train with help from the girl at the info desk in the airport. Second thing you notice about Manchester: the houses all look the same. Same red brick and roof tile.

Reached the hostel. Seems typical, except it's right on a canal with a bunch of small ferry-like boats nearby. Seems like a small slice of Venice hidden in the midst of this dreary town.

We needed to stay awake, so we decided to find Old Trafford. That would allow us to pick up our tickets as well. It seemed easy enough looking at the map, but it took us forever to get there.

Third thing you notice about Manchester: lots of available office space. We passed a lot of "to let" signs and empty, run-down buildings. This may be a reflection of the country as a whole more than just the city. Fourth thing: Hello crosswalks! They can't get enough of these things. Four separate pedestrian lights and crosswalks just to cross one street! Next thing: where have all the cute women gone? Okay, so I wasn't expecting much, but this is ridiculous. Oh, and the tooth thing about England isn't too inaccurate.

We made it to Old Trafford. The ticket (membership) office is way out past a dirt lot outside the stadium. Even though we managed to get our flight pushed back to Monday, I still wanted to raise a little hell about the schedule change involving Man U-Arsenal. All I did was act shocked at the change and told them we might not be able to change our plane tickets. The lady said that we should have been informed by the USA branch head, since the change had been made some time ago. Of course, that doesn't explain why nobody corrected me every time I mentioned the (now incorrect) game date... but in any case, she apologized and offered to help refund the tickets if necessary. That's all I really wanted to hear.

We hit the megastore next. Quite a place. I spent too much. Bought a ski hat, which looks and feels better on me when I'm bald. Also bought a scarf for my room and a long sleeve white jersey (on sale). Total cost, around $50. Being famished, we ate at the Red Café, which was virtually abandoned. Food was typical for any theme restaurant and the decor was pretty much what you'd expect, except for the nifty chairs with players' names/numbers on the backs. Then, the long walk back to the hostel.