Leaving York this morning at 9.26 bound for Manchester we once again had some interesting travel companions on the train, not least the crazy cat lady who when speaking to her boyfriend managed to bring every conversation back to cats. The trip was only an hour twenty so we were soon at Manchester Piccadilly dragging our bags towards the Holiday Inn Express. We got there about 11am and were lucky enough to get checked in straight away. We were also impressed by the room which was quite large & all new- not bad for under $100 inc. breaky. Ready to explore town we first headed through the dirty dangerous looking streets of Manchester towards Castlefield where there are the remains of a roman fort, although it was recreated so didn't look particularly authentic. To get back into town we took the tram & when we alighted at Piccadilly gardens they were having a 'picnic' in the square with lots of food stalls & music. The smells were just too enticing so I had some Paella & Sean had a hot dog with pulled pork, coleslaw & jalapeños. After enjoying our quick lunch we went to the nearby tourist info which didn't really tell us anything new, then past the Chinese arch & onto Albert square. In the square they were holding the Manchester jazz festival so we sat down with a beer (a jazz fest special brew) & listened for a while before finding the Walkabout pub, an Aussie style bar which is about the only place in the Manchester city centre that I could remember going to when I worked here during the commonwealth games. They had only a selection of mediocre beers on tap so Sean splashed out on a Coopers & I had a cider while we watched a bit of the cricket. Feeling like we had seen a lot of what there was to see in Manchester (it really is still a big industrial city) we thought we would check out what Manchester does benefit from- lots of pubs! For a cheap pint & a decent cheap coffee we stopped in at the Wetherspoon's, then to the 'Seven Oaks' for the cricket & a few more. On the way back towards the hotel for some dinner we stopped at the 'Grey Horse Inn'- a real hole in the wall, but then each pub we looked at after didn't serve dinner. Eventually we chanced on a bar which served only microbrew beers which did assorted pies with mash. I had a lamb curry pie, Sean had a cheese & onion. They had a very different array of beers on tap but we only managed to try a couple each before returning to our hotel room only to be able to hear the pounding bass from the club next door through the window. Lucky I sleep through anything!