What to do in Manchester

People often ask me what there is to do in Manchester. I guess in actual fact, it's not so much what there is to DO but rather what there is to see. Especially if you love architecture. The juxtaposition of so many architectural styles is part of what I love about Manchester, and to me represents the hotpot of people that you can meet there.

But what is there to do?
- Wander around the crafts markets either at Piccadilly Gardens or St Ann's Square
- People-watch on the balcony overlooking Piccadilly train station (modern but with Victorian elements)
- Ponder over the tulip/onion-like fountains in St Ann's square (Victorian/Edwardian buildings) with the live music in the background if it's a Sunday.
- dim sum lunch in chinatown or further out (the Chinese arch is much nicer than those in London)
- study egyptian mummies or measure your heart rate at the Manchester Museum inside the University of Manchester main building (gothic)
- stand and squint at the Town Hall (gothic), Central Library (neo-classical?), G-Mex (Victorian aspects) and Bridgewater Hall (modern), all within a few hundred metres of each other.
- Broaden your cultural education at the Manchester Art Gallery (neo-classical facade with a strangely sympathetic brick/glass/steel extension)
- Cocktails at one of the bars in Deansgate
- walk around Castlefield (ex-Roman fort) and pretend to pilot a biplane or steam engine at the Museum of Science and Technology (Victorian ex-railway station)
- squint through the gate at the Coronation Street film set at Granada Studios.
- shopping!
- Feel arty at the Cornerhouse or catch an art film/play/ballet down Oxford Rd
- Have some 'PROPER' curry, complete with chip butty and mushy peas (the fluorescent green kind)
- Wander round the free exhibits at Urbis and then go over to the Triangle and sit in that peeled orange that is supposed to be a Cafe Nero
- Have a hot chocolate (with marshmallows!) in the Moet and Chandon cafe and look out of the window into the space pods on the Manchester wheel.

Further outside Manchester -
- Manchester United stadium, just to say you've been
- Salford Quays! Just to get some calm and quiet, or to visit the Lowry, or shopping outlets, or the Imperial War Museum North, or to look at all the different bridges constructed in the area....
I love this place
- shopping at the Trafford Centre, if only to look at the over-the-top kitschness of it all (modelled on Meadowhall, Sheffield, by the way)
- Bolton fish market, where you can get a crate of sea-bass for 25 quid
- ice-skating at Altrincham (where I wore out several pairs of jeans during my teenage years)

- Alton towers. Yesss!
- Blackpool. Not so sure, but must go at least once in your teenage years if you're a Mancunian. Ideally on bank holidays where there's so many people you can't see in front of you. And ooh and ahh at the rather skimpy (but famous) night illuminations. But full of Victorian elements. Including some Victorian bathing huts still scattered around further away from the iron Blackpool Tower.

The list goes on...and on.....and Ariston. (If you remember the washing machine advert back from when we were kids...)

Manchester is fun. :P

Only problem is of course............ it's always raining. So don't forget your brolly.