"Manchester comes alive" a Manchester Travel Page by tvor

Between my first visit in 2000 and more recent visits, big things are and have happened in Manchester. The Millenium and the Commonwealth Games in 2002 have spurred on a huge uplift to the city. I have some friends who live in Manchester and also have a fiance in Salford. I've been to Manchester a few times, and it looks like i'll be visiting it regularly for the near future so i'll get to see it from a resident's point of view as well as a tourist's.

A few days is never enough to really see and get to know any city the size of Manchester . It doesn't have the number of tourist attractions that a city like London might have but there are museums and galleries and great theatre and live venus to keep anyone happy. Don't forget to look further afield than just the city center. Areas like Stockport, Chorlton, and Fallowfield have things to offer. Salford has the big MEN arena, the Lowry Center, and Old Trafford for a Manchester United football game. Trafford has the huge and wondrous Trafford Center shopping mall. The sport complex that was built for the Commonwealth games is now the home of the other resident football team, Manchester City and the city center is experiencing a lot of construction and new building, some for the good and some maybe would have been better left alone according to some residents.

It's all new to me though and i like the city, though i still find it a little confusing to find my way around.

Manchester has a lot of interesting Victorian architecture, as well as new and exciting buildings. The city center started it's revitalization a few years ago after the Marks and Spencer's was destroyed by an IRA bomb and has continued into the millenium with shiny new buildings along side the old.

It's a major center for football, home to two popular football teams, Manchester United and Manchester City. The classic tv show Coronation Street has been filmed here at Granada Studios in Castlefield since 1960. There are great galleries and museums and the shopping is every bit as good as it is in London.

Transportation around the city by bus and tram is pretty good as well though some areas on the outlying areas are not that well served at night or weekends. Mind your step in the city center though, the trams sneak up on you !

There are great museums, including the Manchester museum, the Science and Industry museum , the northern branch of the Imperial War Museum, Transport, Police, and People's History museums. : A full list is found here

There are a few very good galleries as well including the Manchester Art Gallery, the Whitworth and the Lowry.

Manchester has an industrial past, with shipping lines along canals to Liverpool and the textile industry in the area providing a lot of factory and mill work in the past. Today the Greater Manchester Area is home to over 2 million. The Irwell River flows through the city and the Manchester Ship Canal connects it with the Mersey in Liverpool. There are other canals as well build during the Industrial Revolution. Pretty much all you want to know about Manchester can be found on Wikipedia's Manchester page

It's large and industrial but has taken great leaps forward into the millenium, moreso than probably any other British City. Let's face it, London, as much as i love it, doesn't change much and when it does, people don't like it! Remember the hoohah over the Millenium Dome and London Eye?

The city center is becoming more modernized, with shiny new flagship stores and tall glass office and hotel buildings but they also have made good use of older buildings too. Printworks is a good example of shops, restaurants and entertainment fitted into an old newsprint factory works buildings. The Royal Exchange is now an exciting theatre with a covered sshopping arcade in the lower level. Affleck's Palace is four floors of funky market stalls in a Victorian building.

Manchester is becoming a really vibrant city after a long and industrial working class past. It's well worth a visit.