My flight to Liverpool was probably the shortest flight I've ever been on. And I've been on some pretty short flights! I guess I didn't realize how close Belfast was to Liverpool. Then again, I am not from the UK and I haven't familiarized myself very well with the map of the UK.
Jon picked me up at the airport, and when I walked outside, it was freezing! Either it was a little colder here than Belfast, or I had just been inside for long enough that the cold caught me by surprise. Or both! Well I hopped in the car and we drove to his house. We arrived late enough that everyone in his house was sleeping already. He showed me to my room for the weekend (which is actually his room; he would sleep downstairs in his sister's room since it is right next to the TV that his dad watches soccer on every morning). I slept comfortably for the night, and woke up excited to meet the family and figure out our schedule for the day. Jon had a soccer game in the afternoon, so he and his dad dropped me off in downtown Manchester where I met up with Andy Brides (CEL 04, 09, 2010). He showed me around the city, and I played tourist, asking questions and taking pictures. A friend of his (Chris) and his girlfriend (Leann) also met up with us at a pub in the music district of Manchester. We were trying to watch one of the soccer matches on during the day but none of the pubs carried the right channel. So we sat and chatted for a little while; I tried a new beer. Jon called Andy to say he was done with the game, and we were all meeting up at a hotel downtown near Jon's work. He booked it for a great price and we could go out in Manchester that night without anyone having to drive back home. Safety first! Princess (aka Matt Evans) was also staying with us that night, so Andy took me to the hotel where Jon and Princess anxiously awaited our arrival. Andy couldn't stay very long, as he had plans with his girlfriend and some other friends, but we had just enough time to do a self-portrait photo on my camera in the hotel room. Man am I glad I figured that way back when; it's come in handy more than once.
Andy left and we all got ready to go out to Panama Hatty's, one of Princess's favorite Manchester restaurants. We walked over, and immediately ordered a round of yummy cocktails! We ordered our food (appetizers and all), and even a second round of drinks. I had pre-arranged to attend a synagogue's megillah reading for the holiday of Purim, which is celebrated usually in March. I picked a synagogue that was in the downtown area so I could make it there on time and fulfill my Purim obligation of hearing the megillah. I arrived there and only a few people were in the room. The security guard and the man who appeared to be the rabbi, knew my name (because I had made this reservation/inquiry in advance), which was sort of nice and welcoming. But it really wasn't the most enchanting evening I've had in my life. They started with Havdallah, the ceremony that ends Shabbat, followed by the short evening service Ma'ariv, before moving on to the megillah reading. I'm not against doing Havdallah or Ma'ariv, but really I went there for Purim, so I wasn't very interested in the rest of it. Not to mention that the woman who wrote me back to my inquiry could have mentioned that it wasn't exactly the biggest crowd of people who would be attending. Granted, they might not know exactly how many people or who is coming, but I think they could have anticipated not having the craziest Purim party. I hadn't indicated that was what I was looking for, but I felt a little misled. After the evening service we moved downstairs into another room and basically took turns reading in English, Megilat Esther (the scroll of Esther). The rabbi inserted some questions and commentary where he felt necessary. Everyone participated in one way or another, which was nice to see. It just still didn't quite feel like Purim. In the end, I definitely was happy that I got to celebrate Purim in at least a small way, and those who were there were more than welcoming to me.
At 10:00 on the dot, I called Jon to see where the guys were (knowing they wouldn't be too far away) and met up with him on my walk to the club they decided to go to. I walked in and to my surprise, Jen Sugden (CEL 08 and 09) was there, and Jon's brother, Andrew. It was officially a party! I was so excited. We danced all night, the music was great, we got really sweaty, and it was just like a fun day off. After many hours of being in the club, it was finally time to go home. Jon walked Jen to the bus station and met Andrew, Princess, and I outside the club nearby. We finished up our night with some greasy french fries and cheesey garlic bread, and walked back to the hotel. Andrew was originally not supposed to stay with us, as the room was only set up for 3 people. But he came prepared - with a sleeping mat AND a sleeping bag! So we were all set.
We woke up in the morning around 9am, all still feeling exhausted (we were out too late for sure!), but ready to set out on our next adventure. Despite the rain, we packed up the car, got our daily dose of Starbucks (man, there are a lot of Starbucks in England! I guess I got used to no Starbucks in Israel and now they are everywhere!), and went back to casa de O'Brien for a quick switch of items. We dropped off Andrew at home, had a huge breakfast (including many eggs, toast, bagels, fruit), and packed up the car for an overnight at the Lake District where we had a small cabin booked for the evening. Given the cool temperatures, Mama O'Brien gave us all the blankets and sleeping bags she could find, tons of pillows, and we packed up the car for our day. The first little town we stopped at was Windemere, on Lake Windemere. It was still overcast and misty when we got there, but we walked around anyway, in attempt to get some hot beverages or a snack to hold our tummies over until dinner. We found a cute little tea place, walked in and upstairs to be served, and it was like a "Candid Camera" moment. There were at least 10 people in there, all at respective tables, most of them with other people, not alone. Yet, it was almost silent up there. A room with at least 10 people and no one was talking? It was strange. Clearly it wasn't an English "thing" because both Jon and Princess were very confused! Well we were hoping for some soup or a scone or a small bite to eat, and when the waitress came over and we asked about the soup of the day and other meals, she enlightened us, "We only serve food until 4." "Oh, thank you, ok, give us a second please." "What time is it" I said to Jon, who had his watch handy. "It's 7 minutes past 4." We all rolled our eyes in confusion and decided to leave the menus on the table and head out. What a weird experience. They stop serving at 4? Ok, well then you aren't getting business from us. We wandered around the town a bit more until we found somewhere else that actually did serve food past 4pm! Some minty hot chocolate and a bowl of soup later, we were back on our way. I wanted to see the Peter Rabbit store, and shop around for a bit, maybe buy something cute. Meanwhile, Jon and Princess asked the two clerks if they had any recommendations for dinner nearby - in town or on our way to our campsite. They gave us a few places including one that was listed in the top 50 pubs in the UK. Man, this place would have to be pretty good! We got a little worried when we were already back on the road and hadn't seen it yet, but out of nowhere, it appeared on the side of the road, kind of its own stand alone place. They had a great specials board, lots of beers on tap (but we were not playing that game today) and a full menu. We placed our orders and the food came out. It was presented nicely, but I think we were over-critical because of the girls telling us it was in the top 50 pubs. So the food wasn't the best food I've had in my life, and we figured that it was probably in the top 50 pubs in the UK because of the ales they had on tap there, which we chose not to experience. The food wasn't awful, but it wasn't amazing. We were fairly satisfied and off we went to find our campsite.
The sun was almost down and we had pretty spotty confidence in our directions, and a dying battery on Jon's phone with GPS. After many curves down the dark winding road (and many "Oh I feel sick" comments coming from me in the back seat), we got to the campsite. It looked like an axe murderer's haven! It was so sketchy. It was also rainy and muddy and misty and dark. No one was around. It was just a bit too shady for us. We looked in the cabin, which was VERY cute, but...we decided against staying there. As long as Princess had enough energy left in his body to drive back, I was fine with that! So about an hour and 15 minutes later, we arrived back to casa de O'Brien to surprised parents. We explained to them what we encountered, and blamed Andrew for the whole mess, since he had been the one to recommend the campsde to us in the first place. He had stayed there a few weeks ago but in much nicer weather and he arrived during the day. So we blamed our dissatisfaction on the difference in arrival factors and called it a night. Princess slept on the couch in the living room, Jon slept in his sister's room, and I slept in Jon's room again upstairs.
The next morning, we all got up when we got up, and had planned on going to The Windmill, a restaurant nearby in Parbold, which he knew would be good to make up for the not-so-great food from the night before. I have to say - it was delicious! Our waitress, however, looked like she came from the circus. Her makeup was layered and caked on over and over again. How silly! English girls really do it up a little too much I think. Thank goodness she wasn't cooking the food! After we finished up our lunch, we drove to Liverpool so I could go to the Beatles Museum. It was definitely on my list of highlights of the trip and we now had the entire afternoon to make it happen. Jon and Princess decided that they didn't want to go, but were happy to walk around Liverpool for a little while and let me go in and see it. I paid for my admission (student ticket, with my student ID, thanks Buffalo for not putting an expiration date on my card!) and received my audioguide to help me through the maze of the museum inside. I enjoyed the museum on the whole (how can you not enjoy a Beatles Museum?) but one of the main problems I found with it was that there was music playing in many of the rooms along the way, and therefore it was hard to hear the audioguide some of the time. There were also a few small groups of young people who were being louder than I would have liked, not helping me with the listening situation. But I tried to just steer clear of them when I saw them, going ahead of them or letting them pass me. I ended up at the Fab 4 Store to make my purchases (you're welcome Dad!) and go back outside to meet the guys. We hopped back in the car to head back to Parbold, and stopped at a grocery store on the way back to pick up some items to make Jamie Oliver's tomato soup. Princess is a PRO! He knew exactly which ingredients and how much to get, so we did a quick run around the store and went home. Immediately, we all went into the kitchen to start prepping the food. Princess just jumped right in, Jon guided him around the kitchen to find knives and cutting boards and oven dishes, and I sat there reading Jamie Oliver's recipes! It was so nice to have the guys cooking. I DID offer to help out and just said to let me know what I could do and when. But otherwise, I basically stayed out of the way. Jon's sister made her way back home that night too, so we had a full table for dinner! We started with Princess's tomato soup, and Mom O'Brien prepared a goats cheese and tomato pastry. Man, I've had a lot of tomatoes for a girl who doesn't really love them all that much. Everything was delicious though, because none of it was raw tomatoes. I got my share of antioxidants to last a while I'm sure.
We spent the rest of the night relaxing at casa de O'Brien, while Princess took off to head home (sad story!). I haven't seen Jersey Shore Season 2 in Miami, but Season 3 was on reruns (or had been recorded on the DVR) so I watched a few of those. Hilarious. Dumb. But hilarious. Another day in the UK came to a close.
Tuesday finally arrived, which was the day I had planned to meet Mona Bloom (a cousin of my grandfather Ralph's) in Leeds. I'm still not 100% sure how we are related, but she was so excited to hear from me when I originally called, and she was incredibly sweet about meeting me and showing me around Leeds and taking me for lunch! So she met me at the train station in Leeds, and we took the free city bus to Victoria's Quarter, where we sat down at a restaurant for lunch. Plenty of vegetarian options available, including soup (I'm really loving soup!), and we were able to sit for a while without being rushed out, which gave me just enough time to hear from Emma Speake (CEL 09, 2010) when she was done with her class at 3pm. She came and met us there and we did a nice little transition of tourist in Mona's hands to tourist in Emma's hands. I said my goodbye to Mona, promised her to call her once I got back to the states which she knew I was looking forward to. And Emma took me to her apartment via bus (my first double decker bus ride in the UK so far!) which is in a highly populated student area. The apartments and streets reminded me a little bit of South Campus at UB, filled with student houses and apartments. It was such an unusually nice weather day, that we saw people setting up BBQs, walking around in flip flops and shorts. I haven't seen that for a long time! We went from her apartment to the pub she works at, so we could chill out for a bit with a drink before I had to leave and she had a meeting at work. She knew everyone in there! Customers, other people working. Emma was just miss popular! I guess when you work somewhere for 2 1/2 years you get to know the population! Eventually I had to go get the bus back to the train station so I could get into Manchester, so she walked me to the bus stop and told me to get on one going into town. I wasn't exactly sure which stop to get off at once in town, but fortunately, this is an English speaking country! So I asked someone standing next to me if she knew which one to get off at, and she told me. I kept asking people on the streets as I was walking, if I was going in the right direction, and they just said to keep walking and I'd see it. Well they were right! I followed instruction well and arrived at the station.
I got on the next train I could going to Manchester Piccadilly, the only station I really knew, and told my dinner gang that I'd be in the city around 7:30. Rich Wagstaff (CEL 09) met me there at the station right as I came off the platform. And we walked across the city to meet Jon and Laura Hallows (CEL 2010) so we could all go out for dinner. Wagamana it was! It's a chain here, and cheap and reliable Asian food, so I was totally in. It was surprisingly not that crowded, compared to the day Carla and I tried going in London and it was packed. It was also near one of the theatres right before showtime, so they must make a killing on theatre nights. This was much more calm and quiet. It was so nice to see Rich after not having seen him in over 18 months. I knew I'd be seeing Laura this summer too, and just saw her in August, but, it was also still good to see her! Reunions are just always fun in my book. And camp reunions are the best. By far.
We called it a night and we all went our separate ways. Rich lives in the city; Laura went back to her car to drive home, and Jon and I caught the train back to Parbold. What a night, what a few days I spent in Manchester. I got to see a ton of camp people that I wanted to see, saw the surrounding areas, and met what I think is the equivalent English family of my own. I couldn't ask for anything more.
The next morning, I got to the Parbold station to head back into Manchester to catch the train to Newcastle, as planned. I was the most sad to say goodbye to Hattie O'Brien, the dog! Luckily I got a photo with her right before I left. I hope I see her again sometime soon!
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