Manchester

So - Wednesday was our Manchester day. We started by taking the bus and then the tram out to Salford Quays to go to the Lowry and the Imperial War Museum. It was noon pretty much already.
We spent ages at the Lowry. It was so cool. I really love Lowry and all his stuff. The exhibition started with a really well done video that talked about Lowry and his life and his work - it was very successful at contextualising the exhibition and explaining the idea of Lowry's art as one big extensive self portrait.
His pencil stuff in particular was amazing.
Then we went to the Imperial War Museum which is across the river. That was AMAZING. I love museums! and this one was spectacular. First of all there was an incredible exhibition of Don McCullin's life work as a war photographer. It was really well done with explanations of the politics behind each war he covered, as well as videos and audio clips of Don talking about his work.
The we went into the main exhibition. MIND BLOWING. Its a purpose built space that has all these silos, and walls were in places that meant lots of large white surfaces at different angles around the room - all high up - that images could be projected onto. As we walked in we were told that a video was about to start. And we at first were really confused and didn't know where to look but then it started all around us. The video was about children at war starting with the British evacuation in the 40s right through to children in the middle east being trained for war. And all of this was communicated by projected images around the space and audio of children talking about their experiences. It was so effective. Really really cool. We were blown away. The displays in each silo were really well done too. Some about women and war, others about ANZACs, others about the Irish War, others about refugees. I highly highly recommend this museum to anyone planning to visit Manchester. We were really impressed.

By the time we got back into the city it was nearly 4 and we hadn't eaten. So we went to the Northern Quarter - which as it turns out is the hip part of Manchester now - and had some food in Dry Bar. Dry Bar is owned by Peter Cook (of New Order) and is notorious - Liam Gallagher has a life ban from the place. Awesome.
While we were in there Jess pointed out that ALL the Manchester boys look like members of Oasis. Consequently nearly every time any boy walked into the bar we would start giggling. They really really do.It was a cool bit of town. We didn't really have much time in the actual city at all. So may need to come back at some point to explore properly.

Then we went to meet Pete and Rose for a drink in the city. And a bar that used to be a bank. It was cool. Then we went and had dinner at a noodle house. As Pete said - the best of British cuisine. Haha.
Awfully taken photo sorry, but that's Jess, Rose, Pete and their daughters Heather and Rachel.
After a delicious dinner we went back into Salford to the pub.
Woohoo! Salford!

The Kings Arms. I hear my parents know it well.It was a really cool bar. I remembered being there as a child. Its cooler now. Lots of cool nik naks everywhere. Apparently the new owner likes junk shopping.The bench on the right is the very spot where 25 years ago my father drunkenly passed out after an England v NZ test match. Awesome. History!

Trip to Manchester was really good. Another day to explore the city would have been nice, but we had lots of fun. And once again excellent hospitality. It was cool seeing where Dad came from. CANT BELIEVE YOU NEVER SAW THE SMITHS OR JOY DIVISION LIVE!
Jess and I feel like we have seen lots of different parts of Britain now. Its been really really good.

More soon.