Visiting Manchester part 2
I should get round to posting about the rest of my Manchester trip. (There might even be a part 3).
So the next day I had to myself, ended up being a very windy cold day, so it was a good thing I had mainly museum visits planned.
Again I mainly took photos with my DSLR (which I still haven't fixed up yet) and only a have a few instagram snap shots to share.
My uncle dropped me off at the closest Metrolink (that is what they call the Manchester tram) stop to their house, because I was quite keen on trying it out. I bought myself a day pass because it was only a pound more expensive than a return ticket to where I was going. I took the tram down to centre city and then changed to get another out to Media City UK which is on the Quays along one of the main rivers of the city. Media City was quite interesting, very modern and ridiculously windy. I nearly got blown over crossing the bridges from one side of the river to the other.
Media City is a complex of big modern office blocks that houses a lot of the UKs big public tv and radio stations now that they have been moved out from London. The BBC television and radio is now there, as is ITV and Granada and others. I discovered that Coronation Street is actually shot in Manchester too. I saw the studios.
Across the river is the Imperial War Museum North. It's quite a striking modern building, all very metal and angular. Inside it's not all that big, but I thought it was very well done. I'm not really into war, so I didn't look at the exhibits, but just walked round the space. I liked it's lay out and atmosphere. It seemed rather influenced by Liebskind and the Jewish Museum in Berlin.
A bit further down, back across another windy bridge is the Lowry, another angular PoMo metal building, that house a theatre and cinema and other cultural things. Opposite it is a fairly large retail outlet.
After freezing in the wind down there, I took the tram back to the centre city and visited the Museum of Science and Industry or MOSI as they call it. This is another really cool museum that I very much enjoyed. It is scattered over several industrial buildings.
Off to one side is a nineteenth century glass and metal building that looks like an old covered market that shelters the Air and Space Hall, and is full of beautiful old small aeroplanes and a couple of old cars, motorcycles and bicycles.
The other buildings are opposite all in the same lot. They contain all sort of displays with gorgeous old machinery and technology, a whole section on gas and another engrossing one on the evolution of Manchester's water and sewage network. But best of all was the Power Hall that housed a gorgeous collection of steam engines. Not just the shells, but actual engines, many of which were working, pistons going, steam spouting. I probably shouldn't have found it all as sexy as I did....
I then went to see the John Ryland Library that I hadn't managed the day before. This is a gorgeous gothic style library that was too dark to take any proper photos with my phone, but had a total Harry Potter feel to it.
And then I was quite cold and tired, and my knee was hurting again, so I took advantage of my travel pass and decided to see the suburbs. First I took a tram to Altrincham and then another all the way to the other side of the city to Bury.
So the next day I had to myself, ended up being a very windy cold day, so it was a good thing I had mainly museum visits planned.
Again I mainly took photos with my DSLR (which I still haven't fixed up yet) and only a have a few instagram snap shots to share.
My uncle dropped me off at the closest Metrolink (that is what they call the Manchester tram) stop to their house, because I was quite keen on trying it out. I bought myself a day pass because it was only a pound more expensive than a return ticket to where I was going. I took the tram down to centre city and then changed to get another out to Media City UK which is on the Quays along one of the main rivers of the city. Media City was quite interesting, very modern and ridiculously windy. I nearly got blown over crossing the bridges from one side of the river to the other.
Media City is a complex of big modern office blocks that houses a lot of the UKs big public tv and radio stations now that they have been moved out from London. The BBC television and radio is now there, as is ITV and Granada and others. I discovered that Coronation Street is actually shot in Manchester too. I saw the studios.
Across the river is the Imperial War Museum North. It's quite a striking modern building, all very metal and angular. Inside it's not all that big, but I thought it was very well done. I'm not really into war, so I didn't look at the exhibits, but just walked round the space. I liked it's lay out and atmosphere. It seemed rather influenced by Liebskind and the Jewish Museum in Berlin.
A bit further down, back across another windy bridge is the Lowry, another angular PoMo metal building, that house a theatre and cinema and other cultural things. Opposite it is a fairly large retail outlet.
After freezing in the wind down there, I took the tram back to the centre city and visited the Museum of Science and Industry or MOSI as they call it. This is another really cool museum that I very much enjoyed. It is scattered over several industrial buildings.
Off to one side is a nineteenth century glass and metal building that looks like an old covered market that shelters the Air and Space Hall, and is full of beautiful old small aeroplanes and a couple of old cars, motorcycles and bicycles.
The other buildings are opposite all in the same lot. They contain all sort of displays with gorgeous old machinery and technology, a whole section on gas and another engrossing one on the evolution of Manchester's water and sewage network. But best of all was the Power Hall that housed a gorgeous collection of steam engines. Not just the shells, but actual engines, many of which were working, pistons going, steam spouting. I probably shouldn't have found it all as sexy as I did....
I then went to see the John Ryland Library that I hadn't managed the day before. This is a gorgeous gothic style library that was too dark to take any proper photos with my phone, but had a total Harry Potter feel to it.
And then I was quite cold and tired, and my knee was hurting again, so I took advantage of my travel pass and decided to see the suburbs. First I took a tram to Altrincham and then another all the way to the other side of the city to Bury.