The Palace Theatre. The Smiths played a gig on the Meat is Murder tour here in 1985, with supporting act James. It looks remarkably similar to the Manchester Opera House.
Although Morrissey and others have bemoaned the local government from allowing old buildings to be razed and replaced by newer ones, there are still a couple
buildings with old-time charm. No idea what this building is, but while I was mucking about Manchester, I snapped this because looks like a German beer stein attached to the side of the building.
Pics from Albert Square. The first is of a memorial to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Queen Victoria's beloved husband). The statue is of John Bright, noted in Wikipedia as "a British Radical and liberal statesman" from Rochdale.
I know I walked past Manchester Town Hall, but it didn't take a photo. If you wanted to know, it looks like a miniaturized version of Big Ben and the
Houses of Parliament.
I always like walking around Chinatowns all over the world, because there are certain things that you always see there. There are always stores with roast ducks and chickens hanging in the window (sorry veggies), grocery stores that have that smell of spices that you can determine are inherently Chinese, and too many restaurants with neon lighting that hurts your eyes. As I've previously reported, because I don't have the Cantonese "accent" down pat, I wasn't being treated like one of the locals. So I was a bit worried about going out to eat, since I only know Mandarin, and even that's rusty.
By the afternoon, I was just walking about and found a Marks and Spencers to buy some food. Got fruit and juice (always a good thing) and a largish bag of crisps (you have to have some junk food during your vacation) for later back in the hotel. One of the few things I could eat in their takeaway section was sushi, so I grabbed a pack of that; most of their takeaway food was either sandwiches or salads that had noodles in it, so at least I knew the sushi would be safe. I also grabbed a cutesy baby corn and sugar snap pea pack that came with a pea dressing - now, where in the U.S. are you going to get something so cool like that?
I also walked around the shopping around around and within Arndale Center (sorry Smiths folks, but it looks nothing like in the Smiths days!); bought two frilly tops at H&M; and bought a 5 quid "Bona Drag" CD to round out my Morrissey collection at HMV. I talked with two really sweet guys who worked there; one said, "cor blimey!" when I told them I was from Washington and had traveled all this way to see Morrissey. Both had seen him at the Manchester Evening News (MEN) Arena in 2004, and one of them had seen him at the Apollo before and said I'd really enjoy the show tonight, so I was starting to get psyched about the evening!
It was a really spiffy day weather-wise, with all sorts of people sunbathing out on the lawns near Piccadilly Gardens and St. Ann's Square. It was really cute seeing couples with kids in tow, carried on the parents' backs or in strollers. I probably should have just walked back to my hotel, but by that time, I was tired from walking, I had bought a big bottle of water from a Somerfield's, and wanted to go rest. So I jumped on the Metrolink back to my hotel, where I nibbled on some of my purchases and took a catnap before getting up for an early supper. I was set to meet my friend Jackie outside the Apollo around 6 that night, to collect my Bridgewater ticket from her. So I had a quicky bowl of pho at Tampopo, a noodle bar a few short blocks from my hotel, before I had to return to the hotel and catch my taxi to the Apollo gig. Come this way for more on my evening.
I would recommend that anyone visiting Manchester should visit their tourist information center, which is near the Town Hall and library, as they give you all kinds of maps and information for free. Had I known about the 3 free buses that run around town, I probably would have used them the first day I was there. As it was, I only managed to get there the 2nd day, but the city map they gave me was amazingly helpful.
posted 06/06/06
Manchester photojournal index
