the traveling moments of Ryan: May 2011

So I know it's been a while, and some of you are probably thinking that I have forgotten about this. But on the plus side I'M BACK and it's officially SUMMER TIME!

So I think the last time I wrote was right before spring break, so we'll start there. So Spring Break at a glance: 2 guys, 17 straight days of traveling, 3 countries.

We (Bobby and I) flew into Manchester, UK excited to be out and about in another European country. Our first night we met some Aussie girls at our hostel. Made it out on the town with them for a little while until Bobby and I were distracted with the Barcelona versus Madrid game. The next two days we walked and traversed what felt like the whole of the town. Areas of interest include the Cathedral, John Ryland Library, river walk, and a list of other buildings that that Manchester is known for. We were happy to enjoy an amazing Thai food meal while we were there and got some spices back in our life!

Entrance into China Town... more like China Block though

River Walk

Honest Abe makes an appearance

Outside the town hall

Space Invaders... Apparently they are all over Europe

John Ryland Library

Inside the cathedral

Manchester Cathedral

My first fish and chips experience

Pull top beer... weird

Twins?!

Our next stop Leeds / York. Well we were originally supposed to stay in Leeds but thanks to Hostel World, we were out in the middle of nowhere. Ended up not being so bad since this was our only time at an actual hotel during our stay. We traveled our day in this area to York. Small / quiet town. The main attraction here is the York Minister. A ginormous cathedral that sits in the old quarter of town with some great sites around it. Unfortunately there was a service going on when I walked up to the cathedral, so Bobby and I had to result to taking in some of the local scene by visiting the Last Drop Inn, on of the many local pubs. Here I was overly excited to see my favorite SIERRA NEVADA PALE ALE sitting in the refrigerator and I may have indulged in some of Chico's best. From there we continued to walk around for a bit. Saw some old palace ruins in a park (See picture below). Where we eventually made it to every college kids paradis... The York Brewery. Did a tour, learned how to make the good stuff. Delicious! Now don't think you'll find this in the states. It has a pump cask and less of a shelf life than normal kegs. (Highly recommend if you visit UK though)