England: The Fun!

The first few days of my trip were a bit crazy:

I arrived in Manchester around noon on Tuesday, and was picked up by my colleague, Chris, from our UK office. We drove down to Luton, near London, which was a 250-mile drive. I impressed Chris throughout the trip by not once trying to get into the driver's side of the car.

After spending the night in Luton, we went to the plant Wednesday morning, spent the entire day there, and it was back in the car to drive back almost to where we started. I spent the next two nights in Northwich, in a Premier Inn. Yes, the headboard was purple, but what's hard to tell is that it was fake leather! It reminded me of a bordello. Not that I've been to one, but it's what I would imagine one to look like.

Thursday morning, we drove to Ellesmere Port, about a 40-minute drive from Northwich, to spend the entire day at the plant there. It's almost shocking how different the English accent in the Northwest region is compared to the London accent. For the first few minutes at the plant, I could understand maybe 1 of every 7 or 8 words. Once I grew accustomed, it wasn't too bad. But there really was a striking difference.

Friday was filled with working on the technical proposal for the bids for the plant that we walked through, which really was the entire reason I went to England. We spent the day Friday in the pub of the hotel, tapping away on the computer, referring to documents and notes, and spelling things with the English "u" added to words like honor/honour. I giggled a bit at their A4 paper size, between our normal 8.5" x 11" and our legal size. They simplify in England, and split the difference, and use the same paper size for everything. What a novel concept!

Friday evening, Chris drove me to Chester. He really was a fantastic host - prior to the trip, he had sent me information about Chester as a suggestion of a city near Manchester that was quaint, had enough tourist attractions to be entertaining, and was completely accessible to walking everywhere. He even made hotel reservations for me, and gave me a driving tour of the city before dropping me off at the hotel for the weekend.

Chester is an ancient Roman city. The city walls are still intact, and maintained quite well. I took the time to walk all the way around the city. This is just one of the watch towers I explored along the way:

I also found the amphitheater, dating back to the mid-70s AD. It has been excavated and preserved. It was a pretty awesome sight to see. There is a large curved wall surrounding the inner circle. The amphitheater is very much open to the public. I was able to go walk in the inner circle, on the grounds where they held fights to the death, among other things. I also explored along the curved wall. It was such an amazing feeling to look at those walls, knowing they had been there for almost 2,000 years, and were preserved such that you could visualize people attending events, sitting along the walls and on the hills.

Next to the amphitheater was St. John's Church, founded in the late 600s AD. It had cathedral status for a short time in the late 1070s, but for some reason, was demoted back down to just a church. The church is a beautiful stone building with amazing stained glass windows. It was cool and a bit damp inside, and almost eerily quiet. I walked through the church, and eventually sat down in one of the pews. I sat there for quite a while, thinking about how many people before me had come to the church for whatever reason - to pray, seek sanctuary, be with friends and family, get married, get buried. I thought about my uncle quite a bit, and thought about where my life is headed. And finally, I didn't think about anything - I just sat with an empty mind, not a thought racing through it, and relaxed, listening to my own heart beat. Maybe it was zen, maybe it was meditative...I'm not really sure. But it was the type of moment I know I won't experience very often, and it's a moment I know I will cherish. The following are pictures from the grounds of the church - a tomb and an archway.

Sunday was Family Fun Day at the Racetrack. Chester holds 12 race days

each year. I stumbled upon the track when I was walking a section of the city wall, the day before the races. The track was immense. I can't begin to

guess the area of the track, but it was crazy. The next day, I went back to the track, just to see what it was like all set up. I got there just in time to whip out my camera and snap a shot of the horses running by. In talking to my cab driver the next morning on the way to the airport, the race day had over 35,000 attendees. The center of the track was filled to the bring with spectators, carnival rides and food vendors. Around the track, there were people as far as the eye could see.

There was so much more that Chester offered. I spent a lot of time at Grovesnor Park, located near the amphitheater and the church. The park was huge, with different sections throughout. There were benches everywhere. The lawn was beautiful - the grass was so soft! I had taken my book with me, and found a spot to lie down in the grass and read my book for a few hours. And there were people everywhere! So unlike Lansing, there were all sorts of people gathering throughout - teenagers hanging out with friends, groups of kids playing soccer (football...whatever), couples spending time together, single people doing a spot of people-watching and reading, young families - most every demographic was covered! It was such a cool atmosphere to experience! Downtown Chester offered more shopping than you can imagine, with very few stores duplicated. There were cafes, pubs and restaurants throughout, as well. This has all touched on the wholesome side of Chester...stay tuned for another blog post about a few of the funny signs and lewd behavior I noticed as I traveled the city.