A Trip to Manchester, England

[Travel Rob]

I won a  free trip to Manchester through Virgin Vacations and Visit Manchester.They really were wonderful.I also have looked at Virgin Vacation's prices and they are good even if I had to pay.Visit Manchester has been great and really does a good job of promoting their city. It's good to see people proud of their city and welcoming.

I really was  impressed with Manchester on our recent trip.Not only does the city have some world class attractions but most are free and there is even a free local bus to take you around. It is also close to cities for various daytrips.

Two libraries are really magnificent. John Rylands and Chetham Library, in the School of Music, are really unique.The Manchester Art Gallery and the Museum of Science and Industry are well done and free.

The Manchester Catheral is great and I was really impressed with the stained glass.Although the windows were destroyed in an air raid in 1940, the modern ones are well done and have some awesome colors.

Manchester has an area of town,the Northern Quarter,that has independant stores and cafes with no chains allowed ,which was neat.
The Visitors Information center there is really informative and gave us some excellent suggestions. We  also saw Chester and Liverpool  in daytrips.

Liverpool has a great airport that is full of the budget airlines that go around Europe.It takes about 40 minutes to the Liverpool Airport by bus from cenral Manchester and costs 12 pounds for a round trip ticket. The Manchester airport is a short train ride away and costs under 5 pounds.

The only things I disliked about Manchester was the security at the airport coming home to the US and the weather,but I'll save that for another post.