The Canadian Mancunian: The Rest of the Best of the Parents

It took a long time to pick all of the pictures from last week's Mallorca blog that didn't get posted, so I have to finish that right now.

Some more shots of our place on the sunny day.

This the nuttiest black flower I have ever seen.

Mallorqui Cats!

This is Blanco.

This is Simon.

This is Jermaine.

This is Hummus and Tzatziki.

This is Dustin.

This is Lisa.

Pretty good huh?

OK, so now to the real 'Big Catch-Up.'

We had a good rest of the vacation with my parents. I had a nasty chest infection, so I wasn't able to take Mom and Dad on my usual routine of jogging every morning, but we managed with the other boot camp routines (Can I even joke about this? It almost makes me puke thinking about it.)

We walked around Manny a whole bunch. I took them to the library where I write these blogs and look at chavs drinking. We also popped into the John Rylands Library, which houses one of the greatest old book collections of the UK. It doesn't have a Gutenburg bible, but has one that his assistant (and the brains) printed a year or two after the first run. You couldn't take any pictures inside, which was a real bummer. The
books were stunning.

We then headed off to my favorite Manny museum--the MOSI. Dad really enjoyed it (as I knew he would) and explained how all the machines worked. It was very fun.

That night we met up with Heather and went out for a curry on the curry mile.

I really love the curries there. We have found our favorite on the mile and it is called Punjab. MMMMMMMMMM. Mom and Dad enjoyed it (or at least they are good liars). They headed home and Heather and I went out to a going away party for one of my softball mates. He was having it at his friend's house on the river that separates Manny from Salford. We didn't know it, but it was actually waaaayyy up from the river in the penthouse! It was an insane apartment. The guy who lives there is from Japan and attending uni in Manchester. He says it is way too big for him and his wife and sometimes they get agoraphobic. I could handle that. Anyway, it was kind of fun being so high up and getting a different perspective on the city.

Sayonara Sagen (in the middle below)! Kim is leaving too (on the left), and we just missed her going away party. I heard it was grand. The guy in plaid is my Manny celebrity friend, DJ Levatron--Some of you may have a few of his albums. Good DJ, horrible ball player.

The next day we pulled ourselves up and went to Buxton in the Peak District. We hit up the market and bought a bunch of countryside delicacies. The cupcakes did not last the train ride home.

We also rented a car and went on a road trip to Northern Wales. It was not the nicest of days to travel or see things, but we made it work. (The day before in Buxto, I had picked up a double CD of the Brit Awards 1994 at a thrift store to listen to on the ride, which contained classic UK hits by artists like Gabrielle, Stereo MC's, Terence Trent D'Arby, and Peter Gabriel. Great CD for a poundie. Man, I love T.T.D'A).

We started off in Llanduando. It was quite windy and rainy.

We then headed down the coast and up a mountain for some panoramic shots. Didn't really work.

Thinking the wind and rain would eventually have to stop, we kept on down the road to Caernarfon Castle. It was hands down the absolute best castle I have ever been in. It was also the first castle I had been in, but it was wicked. I really enjoyed it. The best part was you could go everywhere--up, down, on slippery walkways, and regardless of danger levels! You fall and it's your own fault. Love it.

We just lucked into it. I had a blast. The only problem with Wales was I felt bad for all the dead badgers. They were smushed all over the road. Badger was my favorite character from Wind in the Willows. I tried to take a pic of the "Warning: Badgers on Road" Sign, but it didn't turn out.

The last day we spent out at the Imperial War Museum in Salford Quays. It was a n interesting museum in terms of the spacial positioning of the exhibits. You sort of got squeezed into tight corners that would force you into areas with horrifying and/or huge images of war. It didn't glorify it at all, and was kind of more like a giant peace museum. They also had a pith helmet and I loooooovvveeee pith helmets.