Just back from Manchester

I’m just back from Manchester, where I enjoyed a weekend hanging out in the real world with fellow travel bloggers at Travel Blogger’s Unite. I’ll be telling you what I got up to very soon but in the meantime I wanted to share some pictures from a previous visit, when I explored Manchester’s creative side as a guest of Creative Tourist, the online guide to all things artistic and creative in the city. These were my impressions of Manchester from that visit;

Industrial Heritage

Manchester doesn’t do picturesque, it does a gritty industrial landscape that is full of canals, warehouses and cranes. Manchester made it’s money from mills and making things and now things have come full circle as those canals and warehouses that fell in to decline have been renovated and reinvented as smart apartments and areas for leisure. You’ll see this clearly if you take the metro line out to Salford Quays where we enjoyed visits to the Lowry Arts Centre and the Imperial War Museum that sit on opposite sides of the Manchester Ship Canal, linked by a metal bridge that rises from time to time to let the ships through.

LS Lowry at The Lowry Centre

It’s not every artist that has an arts centre named after him, and although you may not know much about LS Lowry, you’ll almost certainly have seen his pictures of matchstick figures hurrying with their collars turned up against the wind, on their way to the factory with smoke billowing from chimneys or hurrying to the football match. Lowry painted what he saw on the streets of Manchester and his work is on show at The Lowry Centre in Salford Quays.

Manchester’s Creative side

Manchester may be better known for football, nightlife and shopping, but we took the opportunity to explore some of the many free museums that are on offer in the city. At the Imperial War Museum we saw the thought provoking black and white war photography by Don McCullin at the Shaped by War exhibition and listened to the voices of children at war  in the audio-visual presentation in the main exhibition hall.

At the Museum of Science and Industry or MOSI, we were able to press our noses up to the Mona Lisa  without the usual crowds in the Louvre, including the unframed back view of the masterpiece with nail holes and scribbles from past curators. Of course, she wasn’t the real thing, but an extremely detailed photographic copy taken with a special camera that reacreated every tiny detail. Both of these exhibitions have moved on, but you’ll be sure to find other exhibitions to enjoy and plenty of information on the latest artistic happenings on the Creative Tourist Website.

Street art and Vintage in the Northern Quarter

The Travel Bloggers Unite Conference was being held in the Northern Quarter which is a real antedote to the sleek, modern designer labels that thrive in the Arndale Centre. Here you’ll find a street vibe of clubs, cafes, and vintage fashion peppered with street art like these tiled cars that we spotted down a side alley. It’s a great place for wandering around, checking out the most interesting and original that Manchester’s artistic community can come up with.

More Manchester memories

Up Close with the Mona Lisa at MOSI in Manchester
Getting to know LS Lowry at the Lowry in Manchester
Street Art and Vintage at the Northen Quarter in Manchester

www.flickr.com   heatheronhertravels’ Manchester photoset

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Your guide to the Guided tours of London

This sponsored post from LondonNights will give you some great ideas for guided tours to try in London, from the ones you may have thought of, such as a river or bus tour, to some lesser known tours such as those guided by homeless people to give you their own unique perspective of the capital city.

London is a huge city and choosing what you want to see can be pretty difficult on a short break. Narrowing down your options can help but can also mean missing out on visiting the places that you really wanted to see. Getting lost in London, of course can mean losing precious time on your break and missing out on even more of what you had planned to see.

Taking a tour of London, whether by open top double decker bus, a boat on the River Thames or a walking trip through some of the suburban neighbourhoods can maximise your time and how you spend it in London.

For those with a specific interest like music or celebrities, there are tours in London that focus specifically on a certain subject matter and cover places that do not appear in any of the guide books. Well informed London locals take tourists to some of the least visited but most astonishing places in London.

Infamous London serial killer Jack the Ripper has a tour in his honour that cover the Whitechapel area, from the pub where he met the girls and lured them away to the church where he prayed for sanctuary.

In-depth tours are offered by homeless people who have lived on the streets of London for many years and know far more about the hidden and secret attractions that London has to offer than any university educated tour guide or student.

Tours by the homeless certainly won’t include anything about the history of hotels in London but will lead tourists through the streets in which they have lived, capturing the atmosphere and secrets London has to offer.

Tours that take in all the most known attractions are appealing to the first time visitor to London. The best known tour of this type is the Big Bus Tours, a hop on hop off service with pick up points close to many London hotels. This tour will take you by open top bus past the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London.

After a hard day out sightseeing in such a fascinating city it will be time for a rest. With a huge choice of hotels in London to choose from, there is something to match every budget and need. A trip wouldn’t be complete though without an evening out in the West End or Shoreditch before retiring for the night.

Information for your London Guided tour

For sightseeing from the Thames, I recommend Thames Clipper service who offer commuter services that can also be enjoyed by London visitors as they are good value, fast and cover a number of popular river sightseeing routes

Jack the Ripper tours are offered by Jack the Ripper Tours (cost £7) and by London Walks, who also offer a wide range of London walking tours (cost £8) – no need to book for either tour.

Unseen Tours of London  are offered by Sock Mob Events, led by Homeless people who can show you well known landmarks through their eyes as well as some hidden places that you may not notice.

Big Bus Tours offer one of the best known sightseeing tours around the best known London landmarks and you can hop on and hop off as many times as you like within your day ticket – cost from £23 per adult £10 per child.

Thanks for this sponsored post to LondonNights.com who can save you time and money when booking your London Hotels.

Photo credits: London river cruise by Heatheronhertravels, Jack the Ripper by hey mr glen, Big Bus Tour by Andrew HA

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

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High in the Treetops at Kew Gardens

I visited the Xstrata treetop walkway at Kew gardens a couple of years ago with my son and and returned recently with my daughter and some friends visiting London. We had a fun time climbing to the top and getting a bird’s eye view of the treetops. I’m assuming that the name Xstrata is after the company who sponsored the walkway rather than any Latin botanical reference to trees, but the equally strangely named Rhizotron information centre that you walk through beside the treetops stairway is named after the Greek word for Roots, as it tells us what’s happening below ground where the insects and worms are busy burrowing and feeding off the trees.

We passed by the wooden blocks of different named woods and enjoyed looking at the little animated creatures, beetles and maggots in the cases and some videos telling us about their life underground. At the foot of the dispay was a colourful stained glass panel representing the interwoven roots and fungus and life at the roots of the trees.

Rhizotron Information centre by the Treetop Walkway

Stained glass in the Treetop walkway, Kew Gardens

The walkway was opened in 2008 and I guess we must have visited and taken these photos not long after it opened, but I was back there a few weekends ago when there were not so many leaves on the trees. You need to climb 18 metres up the steps to the top, which is half the fun (the lift is not currently working) and then you are up in the treetops, able to admire the tall trees and observe the bird life. It is a little dizzying but fine if you don’t look down too much.

Treetop Walkway at Kew Gardens

Treetop Walkway at Kew Gardens

At stages around the walkway we came across sculptural metal plaques that had motifs about trees and poetic phrases such as where bees come to feed, flowers can make seeds and powered by sunlight, trees make their own food from water and air. I think most younger kids there loved the idea of running up the steps to be in the treetops, even though they might not see much close up except these plaques. One of the fun things was the coin slot at the top of the staircase, where you put your donation and heard the coin rattle all the way down to the bottom into the collection box.

Treetop Walkway at Kew Gardens

Treetop Walkway at Kew Gardens

Another unique perspective was on the beautiful Victorian Temperate house viewed from above. These giant greenhouses are one of the highlights of Kew Gardens and house all sorts of exotic plants and trees as well as plenty of benches where you can sit and eat your picnic on colder days. A little further on by the lake, you’ll find the tropical house which on the cold winter’s day when we visited was very busy. I guess I’m not the only one who longs for a little tropical heat in the English winter.

The Xstrata treetops walkway is great for families from toddlers to school age, but all ages will enjoy a unique perspective on the woodland that normally only the birds and the bees enjoy.

You may enjoy the video below from Kew Gardens about the Xsastra Treetop Walkway

Visitor Information for the Xstrata Treetop Walkway at Kew Gardens

The Xstrata Treetop Walkway is located in Kew Gardens, West London. You can find Visitor information for Kew Gardens here including opening times and prices

Tickets for Kew Gardens at the time of writing are Adults £13.90, Concessions £11.90, Children Free

The best way to reach Kew Gardens from Central London is by Tube to Kew Gardens Station which a 10 minute walk away

There are many attractions at Kew Gardens and I recommend you schedule a full day for your visit. The things we particularly enjoy in addition to the treetop walkway are the Temperate House and Tropical Palm House by the lake, The Marianne North gallery of botanical paintings, Kew Palace which is only open in summer and be sure to stop for a coffee and cake in the Orangery.

Compare prices and book hotels in London through Hotels Combined

 

 

www.flickr.com heatheronhertravels’ Kew Gardens photoset

 

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com – Read more travel articles at Travel Blog Home

You’ll also find our sister blog with tips on how to build a successful travel blog at My Blogging Journey

Don’t miss out – subscribe to Heather on her travels

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