The last few days were filled with two road trips to two very different cities, historic York and exuberant Blackpool and there was an exciting and romantic end to the trip!

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May 27

The main reason for Vera's visit was today's main event. Her late husband's best friend Stan and his wife Jean were renewing their wedding vows and we were all invited. Vera's youngest son, Adam, accompanied us to the registry office ceremony and we went back to their house for something to eat and drink after. It was a nice little house though had a treacherously steep staircase. They were also have a do in a private club later on but as we didn't know anyone except the celebratory couple, we made our excuses and went home about 5 o'clock or so. We decided to order in a Chinese takeaway and picked a place from the various flyers Graham had accumulated. We were lucky and the food was really good and nice and hot when it arrived. We spent the evening watching television including the latest installment of Doctor Who.

May 28

No sun today. Again. Vera, Graham and I went over to the Trafford Center for a short shopping excursion. Vera had never been there and seemed to like it. We walked around, did a bit of shopping and then had a look at the themed restaurant areas and had a coffee stop. The Trafford Center food and entertainment area is called The Orient and area themes include Egypt, Inca, New Orleans, New York and Oriental. There's a cinema complex as well. There's a shuttle from the MetroLink Stretford station, lots of free parking and a bus terminal so it's not difficult to get there. I got more films developed at Boots while we were there. I've been pleased with my photos, they've pretty much all turned out good. We dropped Vera back at the flat and went out for a drive around Salford, taking photos of churches and other notable buildings and locations for that calendar I am going to make for Graham's dad. One other think I wanted to do was have a go at driving the rental car. It's a stick shift which I haven't driven in 20 years so we needed an empty parking lot. Unfortunately, due to Sunday Shopping, the only lots we could find were too small to even get out of second gear and I really didn't get enough practice to feel confident enough to venture out into traffic, driving on the opposite side of the road just to make things more complicated for my North American brain. I think Graham was more than relieved!

Later on we drove out to Chorlton to meet up with our friends for another meal. One of our group was newly arrived from Seattle, Washington, the first time I'd met her in person though we have been members of the same chat room for a number of years. The Lloyd's Hotel on Wilbraham Road apparently changed their menu and it doesn't have near the selection it used to have. We stayed anyway since we were settled in there. The food was ok, nothing spectacular but the company more than made up for it as always.

I can see for miles and miles

May 29

We have some friends in the city of York who had urged us to come over and visit for a meal and a drink if we had the time and since we had nothing special planned for today, we decided that would be a nice day trip. It's a Bank Holiday Monday but the traffic didn't seem too bad at all, surprisingly and once out of Manchester, even the weather cleared up! Good thing, too because it was miserable when we left.

We got on the road to York fairly early and arrived by 10:30. The breeze was cool but that's good for walking around. We found a car park and walked into the city center, browsing in the market behind the Shambles and checking out some of the more unusual shops. York is wonderful. It's one of our favourite cities. Even though it's usually very crowded with tourists in the daytime, there is just so much to see and do. There are some great museums, both large and small. There is the towering Minster. There are walls around most of the city that you can walk along. There are hidden gems and we located one of them. We found a lovely old church, Trinity church (pic, right) which is located down a little lane off Colliergate, one street over from The Shambles which is the street that you always see pictured for York, with it's crooked, medieval houses. These are actually all over the city center, though and though crowded, the other streets aren't nearly so packed out as the Shambles.

Some parts of Holy Trinity Church date as far back as the 14th century with stained glass from the 15th C. but most of the exterior and interior dates from the 17th century now. The peaceful church yard is small and green with a few tombstones. The church itself was bright inside with some pretty stained glass windows and boxed pews. Apparently the church is supposed to be haunted but we did not see any ghosts today. Someone was taking a group around and talking about the church but we didn't stay overly long.

Met the first of our friends at the Last Drop Inn on Colliergate for a quick drink and then proceeded to meet more friends for lunch. We ended up at an Italian restaurant called Caesar's on Goodramgate, not far from the Minster, because our original choice was full and had long queues waiting. The restaurant had a reasonable lunch special and the food was quite tasty. We had an enjoyable meal with our friends in nice surroundings (well, just about anywhere in York is nice!). Another drink at the Three Legged Mare (refers to the gallows, a replica of which is erected in a little garden area out back) on High Petergate and we all parted company.

On the way in to York, across the fields, I spotted one of those observation wheels. We found out that it was on the grounds of the National Railway Museum so we headed over there. The Yorkshire Wheel is newly built and while it isn't as high as the London Eye, at 54 metres high, it still affords views for miles over the city and the Yorkshire countryside. It has 54 pods that are climate controlled including a VIP pod for private hire. You go around several times in pods that can hold a maximum of 4 or 6 adults and 2 kids but that would be a bit crowded for me! We had a pod with 2 aside and that was plenty! The views were indeed very good, you could really see the height of York Minster in relation to the rest of the city center. As I mentioned, it was a breezy day. Windier than I realized, though, and when we started to rise up we could hear a fierce whistling sound! The wind was really blowing against the pods though it wasn't really swinging them much. The noise was a bit disconcerting, however. The National Railway Museum is free but it was 6 pounds per person (less for children and seniors) for the wheel.

We were quite footsore by now and not sure how far away the car park was so we took a cab from the nearby train station back to where the car was. Again we were lucky with very little traffic back to Manchester on the M62, normally quite a busy motorway. The Pennines were sweeping away from the road and I think the scenery was nicer coming back than going over. Not sure how that worked! The sun was bright but then the clouds got thicker and darker closer to Manchester, similar to when we returned from sunny North Wales the other day. We joked that we were returning to Mordor! (dark city of doom in Lord of the Rings!) In fact, it had rained most of the day there and by the time we arrived back, the sun was only just starting to break through and we saw first one rainbow and then a double rainbow as we entered the city. Tomorrow is my last day here. We're going to stay in an airport hotel tomorrow night for our last few hours together.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

May 30

We had no particular plans for today but had half a tank of gas in the car. Since we'd prepaid for it and could take the car back to Avis empty, there was no sense in wasting it. On impulse I suggested Blackpool. Blackpool is not a place I ever really fancied going. Think cross between Coney Island and Las Vegas! It was a small village with 7 miles of great beach and in the Victorian era, it's

popularity exploded. It's now a very famous and popular vacation resort city filled with amusement parks, arcades, bingo halls, and other exhibitions and attractions guaranteed to exhaust both your spirit and your wallet! Still, it is only about an hour's drive and it's a sunny, windy day and hey, it's got a tower to go up! Graham loves the place and never thought it was some place that I would suggest so he was pleased!

I was astonished at the long streets of terrace houses where every single one on both sides of the streets had signs outside advertising that they were hotels and guest houses. There are hundreds of places to stay from small Bed and Breakfasts to 4 star luxury hotels. All the streets are very densely built with houses and shops and there's a pedestrian shopping precinct around the tower which is modeled generally after the Eiffel Tower. We parked near the Tower on the brash and sassy Golden Mile. This part of the miles-long sea front Promenade is probably the tackiest part, lined with souvenir shops, casinos, a pirate themed leisure center and various exhibitions. There's also a Sea Life center with a great shark tank.

Blackpool Tower was built in the late 19th century and the building also houses an elaborate ballroom, a small aquarium, and now, a circus. There are other games and play areas for kids and it offers entertainment at night for the grown ups. The entrance fee is quite steep at £12.50 per adult but is all inclusive. However, we were really only interested in the tower and the ballroom. The viewing platforms for the

tower range from 380 - 420 feet depending on the platform you go onto. The outer decks are enclosed with iron railings and mesh wire so no chance of falling off. Views up and down the sea front and around the area can go for miles on a clear day. There is also a section with a glass floor that you can walk on if you have the nerve! Yes, I did! It's a queer feeling though. You know, logically, that it will hold you but your body says uh uh! That's glass and it's going to crack! It doesn't of course.

You can buy certificates in the little shop to declare that you've either walked on it or chickened out. The clerk there seemed to be having some difficulty spelling names and going past any speed over slow motion! The ballroom is very elaborately decorated. There's a big dance floor and the music is provided by a guy on stage playing a large white Wurlitzer organ. Couples both professional and amateur can dance and there's lots of tables to sit and watch with a drink from the bar. The ceilings are ornate to the point of being overdone but it really is something to see!

The main drag along the sea front is the Promenade. It's all lit up at night with neon and lots of lights strung across the roads, the "Illuminations" get even more elaborate in the fall. Down on the beaches, children can go on donkey rides and there are horse and buggy rides for hire and old tram cars that traverse the front from the North to the large South side Pleasure Beach fun fair and amusement park. We didn't go in there but it contains one of the scariest looking roller coasters I've ever seen!

We walked along the windy front and spotted a Doctor Who exhibit. Both of us being fans, we couldn't pass that up and it was very good, too! Lots of costumes and models of the monsters and aliens from across the 40 year history of the BBC series. There was a replica of the original Tardis interior and there were displays of Cybermen and Daleks, two of the most popular and menacing villains in the show's history! There was also a speaker that made your voice sound like a gravely metallic Dalek! There was Bessie, an antique roadster driven by one of the Doctors and a model of K-9 the robotic dog. Fabulous!

More walking, more pictures, and of course, you can't leave Blackpool without a couple of sticks of Blackpool rock, the famous rock candy with "Blackpool" visible right through it! We drove down the whole "golden mile" on the way out to get a closer look by the Pleasure Beach which, by the way, is only open seasonally from March until November. It's got rides, entertainment shows, bowling, skating, Ripley's Believe it or Not, and the water park. The actual beach at that end of the city looked quite nice with high grassy dunes hiding much of it from the road. The seaside is a popular place for holidays and the determined will even sit out on their lounge chairs in a brisk wind or a light rain! Along the beach we saw a huge mirror ball and a replica rocket from the old series the Thunderbirds. There's a large water park on the south end as well. The trams first appeared in the late 1800's and travel along the seafront for about 12 miles from one end to the other. Will i go back again? I suppose I might, even if just to see the Zoo and a bit more of the sights. Never say never!

Going to the chapel

We came back to Manchester, sorted out my suitcase and went over to say goodbye to Graham's dad. Vera was still out but I had said goodbye to her last night just in case. We took the car back to Avis at the airport and got the courtesy bus to the Holiday Inn, a couple of miles away. The room was nice though small for a double but that doesn't really matter much. We had a bite to eat in the bar though the service was quite slow.

Later on we were snuggled up under the duvet, saying sweet things to each other when Graham asked me to marry him! A proper, official proposal to end an amazing trip! (Well, of course I said YES!)

Not much can top that as a highlight!

May 31

Too bad the morning started off badly with a broken down courtesy bus and a replacement that took over a half hour to show up. I did make it to the airport and the gate in time but I hate, hate, hate being late like that! It causes me no end of stress! The flight to Heathrow and transfer to Terminal 3 was uneventful. Air Canada was unkind enough to have me flying home via Ottawa, an hour and a half *past* my destination. The flight was a bit bumpy and seemed very long. Because of weather disturbances, we could not get a gate straight away and so there was another long delay getting off the plane. Many of us had connections to make so I was in a bit of a panic there too but in the end, I made it to the next gate. Turns out I needn't have worried because the plane that I needed to get on was late arriving! In the end it was an hour late by the time it finally left the ground and I was that much late getting home to Halifax. Gah! I was never so glad to get home in spite of the fact that I left a fiancé behind me! Well, ideally I would have brought him with me but that's not to be just yet!

Aside from that last day, though, the trip was absolutely wonderful! We are both looking forward to the next time!

Web page by Tvor (tvordj @ gmail.com) last updated June 2006