Hi all,

Today was our last full day in the UK, and we fly to Ireland tomorrow. England has really been quite similar to home, just with more old stuff, more people, and more trains. On the trains heading North, the countryside reminded me a bit of the area around Delorane, which is what I think the early settlers were aiming for in Tasssie. It's really wet aound here at the moment though and there are flooded areas all over the place, and everything is bright green. Very different to home.

On Saturday night, we went to Macka and Coroline's wedding in Bolton. The ceremony and reception were held in a converted barn at a hotel just outside the city. The night was run a bit differently to weddings that we've been to in Aus, mainly because all parts of the night were spent in the barn with breaks while it was rearranged for dinner after the ceremony, then dancing after dinner. The food was delicious, with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding for mains, followed by individual apple pies. Yum. There was also a buffet later in the night, with some deep fried goodies to satisfy any Mykonos cravings we may have had, along with a chunk of wedding cake (chocolate mudcake with white chocolate icing). Awesome.

The rest of our time in Manchester included a visit to the museum of science and industry, which was full of old machinery and trains. It also included a re-constructed sewer which was advertised to include the sights, sounds, and SMELLS of an old sewer system. Sights and sounds – yes, but I didn't smell anything out of the ordinary. This tells me that one of two things has happened: Either they had complaints about the smells and have done away with them, or the air over here is so putrid that I couldn't tell the difference. The jury's still out. Overall the museum was a little underwhelming, as a number of the exhibits were closed or being maintained. Good thing it was free.

We arrived in Chester last night, and spent today wandering around the town centre. Chester is just south of Liverpool, and is famous for it's almost complete city wall (South Park reference anyone?) It's a quaint little town,and given what an attraction the wall is, it doesn't seem too touristy. You can walk around on top of the wall, which we did; covering the entire length and stopping off at interestinng sights along the way. We checked out some of the locks on the canal system, a ruined castle, uncovered ruins of a Roman ampetheatre, and the oldest racecourse in the UK.

Tomorrow is Zilla's bithday, and unfortuantely we'll spend most of the day in transit from Chester to Dublin. Hopefully a pint or two will make up for that...

TTFN,

Paul.