Manchester
After our stay in London, Jordan and I spent a week in Stretford, a short 20 minute tram ride from the center of London. Stretford is also about a 20 minute walk from Old Trafford, the home of Manchester United football team. Jordan was especially keen to go watch match while we were staying here, but we both agreed it was far out of our budget.
What we hadn’t anticipated was a cricket match happening at Old Trafford during our stay. If I had known, we definitely would have bought tickets so I could have bragged to my dad and grandpa, who are probably the biggest cricket fans in the world (besides our dog Dash).
In Stretford, we were taking care of the lovely Luna, a golden retriever who had as much love to give as she did fur to shed. Although she was seven years old, she had the energy and spirit of a puppy. So much so that every single person she met in the park asked her age and were always surprised to learn she wasn’t a puppy.
Jordan and I really enjoyed this housesit, it had everything we could ask for! A nice kitchen, comfy bed, and to Jordan’s excitement a dvd collection, a record collection and a DJ level sound board. Jamie, the home owner, is a DJ, so the set-up was very impressive.
Jamie and his girlfriend left us pages of recommendations and things we had to try while we were in Manchester. I wish we could have gotten to do all of them, but we squeezed in as many as we could while we were there!
On our first full day in Stretford, Jordan and I made our way over to the Trafford Center, a well known mall famous for its lavish interiors. The mall is intentionally designed to be extravagant to prevent the mall from looking outdated as so many other malls do. And it really does feel extravagant, with gold leaf, paintings, glass domed ceilings and statues scattered throughout.
On our first venture into Manchester, Jordan and I went to the library tackle some much needed work. Sometimes it feels like there is an endless stream of tasks, but maybe thats just because we’re not working regular hours and therefore not finishing projects as fast as we used to. Either way, we had a great time working at the library, we were so productive we didn’t even notice the library was closing around us until an attendant came and told us to leave.
While walking to the library, we accidentally saw one of the attractions we had put on our list to see without even realizing it, St. Peter’s Square. Conveniently enough, St. Peter’s Square is located directly in front of the Library. When we arrived at the library, there was a Free Palestine rally being held in the square which was very inspiring to see.
As we were leaving the library there was another event being held at the square, which appeared to be a charity event aimed at feeding those experiencing homelessness.
We started off the next day at Treetops Golf and played two, very close, rounds that devastatingly Jordan won in the last hole.
Afterwards, we made our way to a camera shop, so Jordan could get the sensor on his camera cleaned. We tried to clean it (against our better judgement), and when we made it worse we decided it was better left to the professionals.
Then we headed back to Manchester Printwork’s, where we had played golf earlier, and watched the movie Trap. I enjoyed the movie, I thought it had a few pretty good plot twists.
The next day Jordan and I took care of Luna and did some work in the morning so we could enjoy a night out on the town! We went to dinner at Noodle Alley, an authentic Chinese place with delicious food. After filling ourselves up, we headed to Albert Schloss, a bar downtown known for hosting different musical acts every night of the week!
The night we went, they were featuring cabaret. Neither Jordan nor I had been to anything like it, and we had a great time! I loved all of the costumes and the dancing and the all around energy about the bar. Jordan and I even made a few friends while we were there!
The following evening, we went out again to catch to some live music, this time at Blues Kitchen.
We got there a bit early, so we decided to walk over to a South African restaurant in search Koeksisters, a South African donut (which I had been craving). Sadly, they didn’t end up having any, but we ended up with two of my other favorites, milk tart and some Malta pudding! After we had gotten our sweets, we headed back to Blues Kitchen and enjoyed a night of jazz and some drinks.
The next day, we spent our time closer to Stretford and went on a scenic hike following the canals and a nature reserve to a little town called Chorlton, where we stopped for tea. The hike was very pretty and we were greeted by lots of dogs on their daily walk. We wish we could have taken Luna, but was recovering from leg injury and couldn’t manage long walks.
After a week’s stay in Stretford, we moved to another housesit in Central Manchester, a short walk from the city center via the canals! At this housesit, we were looking after two rag doll cats named Nimki and Noori. They were both a little shy, but incredibly sweet! Noori was a little kitten and Jordan and I had a great time annoying and cuddling with her.
Despite the 20ish minute walk, Jordan and I opted to take the tram into the city on our last Saturday. To our surprise we ended up with the perfect view of the pride parade from above! We then went to the Arndale Market, an eclectic market with different artisans selling all sorts of unique goods! We wandered through, trying to see as many shops as possible, but as the layout was that of a maze I am sure that we missed a few gems.
Next, we headed to the craft market, which turned out to be more of an office and retail space for makers rather than a traditional market. Still, we enjoyed browsing and seeing all of the creativity that the space held.
Sunday was our last day in Manchester before we headed to Chester to stay with some family friends of mine. As much as we wanted to go out, I wasn’t feeling well that day so we enjoyed a day in filled with tv, movies, ice cream and cuddling with the cats.
I love Manchester! It is a much smaller city than London, which makes it feel much more manageable. I feel like I got to see and do so much more here without feeling overwhelmed or like a typical tourist. By the end, I even started to know my way around the city, which was a great feeling.
If you want to read my recommendations for Manchester, click here — although you probably read about most of them in this post!
Thanks for reading as always
xx abby