Manchester

My Mondays, and the Mondays of several of my fellow Knights, are free of those pesky classes, so we decided to take the train to Manchester for the day.  It was great to see a new city, and Manchester felt much more "city-like" than York does.  It felt bigger, had more cars, more noise, more tall buildings, etc. 

We didn't exactly have a plan for the day, which makes my structure-loving self nervous, but I'm definitely learning to go with the flow.  We didn't usually know exactly where we were, but luckily there were quite a few maps and some helpful people around.  We saw the town hall, the university campus, the Manchester Museum, a beautiful church, the John Rylands library,  had some great food (traditional English for brunch, awesome Asian fusion for dinner), and finished off the day with a ride on the super tourist-y Wheel of Manchester - a giant ferris wheel! Seeing the city by night from on high was wonderful.

We managed not to miss/get on the wrong train at all, and it was good to practice navigating stations as that's what I'll be doing all Easter break.

Wednesday our class visited the Yorkshire Museum.  York has a strong Roman history, and many Roman objects have been discovered underground. The museum gave a great impression of what life was like for ancient people living in Eboracum (the Roman name for York). 

I've started my weekend already!  We're going to Durham and Lindisfarne all day Saturday with the class, but other than that I think I'm just going to get ahead on some assignments - lots of novels to read!

Manchester City Hall

Brunch in Manchester

The Wheel of Manchester

Roman mosaic found in York.  You could walk on it and everything!

The ruins of a church near the Yorkshire Museum.