Falling in Love with Manchester
Well, armed with my desire to find the beauty in everything, an offline map of the city centre on my phone, the Christmas spirit crawling into my bones in mid-November and my huge FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), I hit the streets with a direction in mind, the point where I would have my first Mince Pie Latte!
As far as reading directions go, I am not that great. I disagreed with myself many times as to which way I should be holding my phone (and it didn’t help trying to switch between the Compass App and Map App). In the end, I ditched the phone and wandered along. My reckoning, I can always catch a cab if I get too lost.
Along the way, a beautiful Manchester was bragging to me. The city was clean, and sparkling, from the slight drizzle. The people were genuine. They smiled, they offered advice on which direction to go to find the best spots, and referred to me as “Luve”. After the recent tragedy in Manchester, I was expecting people to be cautious and cold, but they were anything but that. I fell in love with the buildings. While staring at one building, I was advised by a passerby, that it was originally a cotton factory, and that the best view was from the other side. I stumbled upon the City Hall, and the Manchester Christmas Markets. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Santa sits in the City Hall, it is larger than life, and all glistening. Wooden huts with everything from Nutcracker princes, to handmade tree ornaments, Nutella pancake’s, mulled wine, handcrafted sweets and decadent hot chocolate. A true winter wonderland, as the icy cold wind blows through the huts straight from Santa’s North Pole. Ahhhh, it is good to be a child at heart in a city that delivers Christmas dreams.
I decided to try out some local transport. Taxis are convenient, the free Metro bus is, well, free. But my heart was stuck on the Tram. What a pleasure. Quick, clean and affordable (and I could now locate a station I needed to get off at, which was close to my hotel).
I spent a further 4 days in the city whilst attending a Conference. I walked mostly everywhere, and found many gems that made my heart smile.
I found my Mince Pie Latte and was served by a lovely friendly young lady, who seemed as excited about my coffee experience as I was.
Don’t discount Manchester as a business city, it has so much more to offer.
“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must take it with us, or we will find it not” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.