We had already seen some of the places we were taken to, particularly around the centre of the city, but we now know a lot more about their history and the more general history of Manchester. Sibby even pointed out our hotel during the tour; unlike many of the other buildings in this area it wasn't a cotton warehouse; as far as I know it was a Bank but she mentioned it because of the building style - Palazzo - which she says and wikipedia agrees was very popular for a time in Manchester.
It isn't a "hop on hop off" tour, but when showing us buildings or places that we might want to see again the guide explained how to get there, when it was open etc.
There were people from all over the world on the bus - she asked us to say where we're from - but she called out the Australians in particular to ask us to confirm that in shops at home the word "Manchester" is still used as a generic term for household linen (sheets / towels / tablecloths etc) - because of course the term is only used that way in Australia and NZ and apparently the people of Manchester get a bit of a kick about their name being used in this way.
Sibby was also quite clear about the Liverpool / Manchester rivalry that I mentioned yesterday. I decided to look this up later and came across an interesting article written by two people - one from Liverpool and one from Manchester. This bit probably said it best:
"These were cities that developed in fervent competition. They owe their past wealth in part to an urgent sense of one-upmanship. The burghers of Liverpool never forgave their wily Mancunian rivals for digging a canal to bypass their port. While the glorious Manchester Town Hall – the finest Victorian building in the land – was commissioned as a civic riposte to Liverpool’s soaring waterfront architecture. Anything they can do, we can do better."
Speaking of rivalry, of course Manchester has two major soccer - sorry, football - teams - City and United. We were taken to both grounds and a big deal was made about them having "special permission" to drive the bus into the carpark so we could look at the outside of the stadium. Not particularly thrilling for us, although I was interested in the amount of other sporting venues near the Manchester City ground - 20 practice football pitches as part of an Academy, plus a velodrome, tennis and squash facilities and probably a bunch of other things I've forgotten.
Overall - you'd never get this much information or see these many things going around by yourself and it was a really enjoyable and interesting way to spend a couple of hours.
Just a few of the other things we saw:
Roman ruins at Castlefield - we had seen these from the train and Paul and I had planned to go and find them. The remains in front are real but the wall behind is a reconstruction. It's called Castlefield because over time people forgot that this had been a Roman fort and they assumed that the ruins were of a castle.
Ordsall Hall - a Tudor manor house but there has apparently been an Ordsall Hall here at least as far back as the first mention in records in 1177. There hall is haunted and there's a webcam you can watch to look out for them. Apparently one of them - the White Lady - will respond to you on twitter!
The Old Trafford that isn't the Manchester United stadium. This one is far more interesting to me, of course.
We took this photo yesterday on our way to catch the train to Liverpool, with the intention of looking it up to see what it was all about. We went past it today and the guide explained that it is the Manchester Cenotaph - their memorial to the Unknown Soldier of World War One. It's in the process of being moved to this site - just up the road from our hotel - because of an expansion to the Metrolink (tram) system.
Similarly, we took this photo yesterday (again, it's just up the road from our hotel) with the intention of trying to find out about the incredibly detailed monument in the background. This is outside the Manchester Town Hall and you can't get much closer to it at the moment because of construction work. Today we found out that this square is called Albert Square and the monument is to Prince Albert (Queen Victoria's husband and Prince Consort). The memorial is incredibly detailed and all the decorations are full of significance.
During the tour, the guide mentioned that there are markets on in the city today and that we'd be able to get this traditional Manchester delicacy - the Manchester Tart. As guests in the city we felt obliged to try it out :-)
Bottom line - yum.
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