Jul 2006

Today was the first day that I've travelled on my own in the UK. All the other days so far have been with family and in the car.

So off I began getting a train from Warrington Central to Manchester (£5.55 return), arriving in Manchester at 11am. After some minor issues with the train (namely it not running according to the timetable I had seen, nor reaching Piccadilly station), I went to Urbis. Urbis is the museum of cities and it's brand new. I loved it, but I think that has more to do with me liking cities than the museum itself being good. The highlight was the exhibition on he IRA bomb in 1996 and the repecussions of that. Many believe it was the catalyst for cleaning-up and rebuilding the city centre into the bustling, modern place it is today. Others in turn find it impossible to see how you could say such good things about a terrorist act.

Whilst the jury is still out, I tend to agree with the exhibition in that it wasn't a good thing, but the response was. Manchester bounced back very quickly and very professionally and made the most of a bad situation.

The other big thing I got out of that museum was the notion that all cities are quite similar - most have similar structures, networks of roads and rail, rivers, buildings etc. Quite profound when you think about it.

For lunch I walked through the town centre, deliberately avoiding going shopping, as I can do that anywhere, and you're only in Manchester once! Eventually I settled on a pasty (Cheese and Bacon - mmmm!) and headed on the tram to Stafford Quays. The Quays are relatively new, and very modern. They house the latest housing developments in Manchester, the Lowry and the Imperial War Museum North. It seems to be obligatory that all museums in Manchester look imposing and are made of steel or glass to excess.

Regardless, the museum was brilliant and focused on the effect of wars on people - both directly and indirectly. I love that sort of stuff so it was great!

And then I got a call from Camilla, who I met in Singapore last year. She lives in Manchester, and it had always been an aim to see her and say howdy. So we went for a drink and caught up. It turns out she's just graduated and is heading down to London to work - look who has a couch to crash on after all! Thanks SOOO much Camilla - I'll take you out in style with all the money I'll save!

After all that I was spent, so I got the train back to Warrington and had tea at Helens house. We watched the World Cup Final in between looking at photos and discussing the ever-confusing family tree which Mum is writing up as we speak. I also heard loads about many of the places I'm planning to visit in Europe, as both Andrea and Helen are avid travellers.

And just before I went to bed I got to speak to Flis, which was great as I hadn't actually spoken to her since I left.

Tomorrow its off to Wales so I better head off now. Ciao!

PS: For photos of Manchester, click here

I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but I have found it really easy getting up early here - which is brilliant because I'm shite at it back home. I guess it's a positive byproduct of not having the internet where I am, and of the jet lag.

I digress: Today we visited York, which is about 90mins on motorways (which are free in UK btw) from Warrington.

To backtrack slightly: I'm staying with my cousin Andrea (who's older than me owing to her being the daughter of my mum's late older brother Paul) in Warrington. Warrington is a town of about 300,000 almost halfway between Liverpool and Manchester. The majority of people in Warrington work either in the local community or in Liverpool, therefore there is a greater allegience to Liverpool FC not Man Utd/Man City.

But back to York...wow! We saw so much today I won't go into it all to save you from being either jealous or bored or both.

It's well worth a visit - we managed to walk around everywhere - the old city is walled and still has cobblestone streets, which I love! We started at the York Railway Museum, which has exhibits from the first locomotive in the UK to the latest in Japanese Shinkansen (bullet trains). It's great, especially with Andrea and Helen, who are both quite interested and knowledgeable about the railways.

From thre we went to have pasties (oh they're good!) in the town square, before I headed to the Jorvik Viking Centre (great for kiddies, not so great for us older folk), and rejoined Andrea & Helen for the York Minster - the impressive Roman/Saxon/Viking place of worship. We went to the Undercroft and the Tower as well, which gave us a great understanding of the history of the town and the Minster, as well as a great view.

Unfortunately we didn't translate this understanding of the topography of the city to our subsequent walk back to the bus stop, as we got hopelessly lost!

Dinner was had at the Trafford Centre. It's this great monstrosity of a shopping complex without a supermarket! It has 10,000 car parking spaces and services Warrington, Liverpool and Manchester. We had a great curry and watched a bit of the Germany-Portugal 3rd place match - thank goodness Germany won that one!

For photos of York, visit here

I'm not sure what most people think of when they hear the words "liverpool". For those of us Sydneysiders, you must remember this is the real one - the one ours was named after!

It's the home of the Beatles, the docks and the Liverpool FC football team - and never shall ye forget! Essentially they milk those three as much as possible - even though they were named 2008 European City of Culture and have loads of European money to fix up the city. So what do they do? Build a Beatles museum and a new stadium!

Anyways, living with Andrea is great - I can't believe we've never met before (She's my Cousin btw!). I have my own room and a hot shower and I love it! I met Helen (my Auntie) as well last night, and so we've had a good 'ol chat about relatives etc. Much more of that to come no doubt.

So our first stop was the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour on a great 1960s bus. It was total tack and never pretended to be anything else, which was ace. Really can recommend it as a way of seeing the city.

Got my UK mobile sim card (email me for the number if you're interested) and had M&S for lunch. M&S has really changed - the food is brill! M&S is Marks & Spencer - their version of DJs I guess. Or Myer with own brands (and nothing else) and a food hall.

In the afternoon we hit the Maritime Museum in newly-revamped Albert Dock. The museum itself was OK, but the sub-section on European Slavery was fantastic and really well done. They have recognised this and are completely revamping it soon to take up most of the museum!

Then went back to Warrington to meet Mark (my other cousin) and have tea (dinner). 'Dinner' is lunch, as in 'school dinners'. Anyway, had a great chat that focused mainly on the family - as we're all related - and the differences in opinions between the three of us of my Grandma (on my Mum's side).

Guiness here is grand.

Some Liverpool words for you:
ace - great, awesome.
dead - very
dead 'andy - convenient
butty - sandwich
chippy - fish and chips.

PS: For photos of this leg of the trip, click here

So here I am in Warrington!

It's taken a hell of a long time to get here - a flight from Singapore to Frankfurt (12hrs 40mins), a 5hr layover in Frankfurt airport (the most boring place on the planet!), a 90min flight from Frankfurt to Edinburgh, a 45min drive to Renfrew and finally a 3hr train to Warrington.

Phew!

The key points:

• European Maccas is EXPENSIVE! €5 for a McChicken and a Coke! Argh! I better get used to it

• The shorter flights are the best for meeting people on - I sat next two two Kiwis on their way to the World Canoe Polo Championships. Great people and I wish (I'm going to be shot for saying this) them the best of luck! Apparently the Aussie males and the NZ females will win. That seems fair.

• Relatives get along instantly if theyve met briefly before. It takes a bit longer if you've never met - but it does happen.

• Scotland can be 30 degrees! It just doesn't happen often.

• European train stations are old and generally huge. They also have great architecture. Warrington Bank Quay does not follow this general rule. Trains in the UK also randomly stop for no apparent reason. However, having spoken to Andrea who works for National Rail it now seems fairly reasonable. Trains can derail surprisingly easy seemingly.
  

And now I'm off to bed!