Visiting Frankie

I got back from my trip to visit Frankie yesterday, so here's a rundown of what all went on.

I got up fairly early and made my way to the train station. I grabbed a breakfast and got on the train. The train itself was pretty empty and I had the car more or less to myself. I got some reading in and in about two hours I was in Manchester. From there I had to hop on a commuter train to get to the Bolton station. I was only on that one for about 15 minutes or so. Frankie, Jackie, and Judy all met me at the station, we piled into her car and drove into the city center. We walked around a little bit and went to go get some lunch. We stopped at at little pasty shop and got some food. We walked across the street to a pub called the Man and the Scythe. This pub was hundreds of years old and had a lot of history. During the British Civil war, a Royalist Earl was held here until he was beheaded. After the Royalists were restored to power, they dug up the executioner and took his head. Apparently they still show it around from time to time. Interesting if a bit grim.

Later that afternoon we had a tour given to us by the Mayor and Mayoress of Bolton. That was really cool. We had some tea and biscuits and a nice little chat. He wears a chain around his neck that has the crests of all the early mayors of Bolton and a large pendent with the town's coat of arms. He also has what is called the Jewel, which is a large pendant inlaid with all sorts of precious stone, gems and pearls around the coat of arms. Its pretty stunning. He also showed us some of the regalia of the mayor like the maces and silver. I should also mention that mayor here is more of figurehead than anything else. He is selected by the town council and is usually the longest serving member, though he doesn't have to be. That's just the order that they go in.

After tea in the mayoral office, we took a tour of the huge city hall building. There were lot of cool rooms that we took a look at. There was the council chamber which had been a law court until a new building had been built and a couple of reception rooms. One was used for dining and had a huge leafed table that they pulled out for special occasions. They also had a one of a kind table that was three stacked layers that you could pull apart to serve people off of. The other room was one that had been used to entertain the Royal family when they stopped by for a visit. Lastly there was the huge main hall, it had to be about 5 stories tall. It had been gutted by a fire and during refurbishment had been given two floors. The decorations around the rooms were amazing. Everything was very nicely preserved.

After that we went to Frankie's house for some tea and biscuits and waited until we had our dinner reservation. We went to a place called the Owls on the Standish. It was a nice old hotel or manor house that had been turned into a restaurant. All the food was excellent and they did something I hadn't seen before. We all had our own main course but they brought out a platter of chips and veg that we all shared. Something different.

The next we drove a bit. We went to an old Roman town called Chester. It's unique for a couple of reasons but mainly of how well the Roman bits have been preserved. For example, a good bit of the old wall had been preserved. This lead to the creation of what became know as rows on the high street. Most of the shops were two stories because of the way the land in the walls curved. I guess its unique in England.

We first tried to find some lunch. We had a bit of a time with this because no one could agree to where the place was. Eventually we got it sorted but soon realized it wasn't going to work. It was rather rainy and blustery that day and this cafe was outside. We instead went to an indoor French restaurant where Judy and Jackie had a full English breakfast. I found this mildly ironic.

After that we explored the town. We walked down and along the river. From there we went and saw what had been excavated of the Roman amphitheater. After that we took a walk up along the wall of the city. The view was really great. It was interesting to see the way the old city met the new. We were going to go into the town's Cathedral but at five quid a person, wasn't really worth. We went and got some tea and than headed to Liverpool. There was an art exhibit there out on the shore that they thought I might find interesting. It consists of a hundred casts of the artist spread along a 3 kilometer stretch of the beach. It was interesting. The weather was good for it too because is was kind of hazy and approaching night.

After that we headed back to Manchester and had some dinner. We ate at place called Cafe Rogue in a huge shopping center. It was an interesting place. It had to be close in size at least in footprint to Mall of America but there were a lot more themed areas for restaurants instead of just shops. We got there a little late so we had to rush to the Manchester station for me to catch my train. We said our goodbyes and after an uneventful trip i returned to the Chandos.