After having much-needed showers following our arrival, we went out for Dave's mum's birthday dinner. It was a lovely tapas meal; the only thing I couldn't bear to even try was the liver and onions dish. Seriously? Who chooses to eat that when not a last resort? Blech. It was a nice way to meet Dave's family, beyond the minor bombardment of those who were anticipating our earlier arrival at the house. Thankfully, everyone seems wonderful and does not yet appear to resent that I am somewhat crashing their holiday routines by being here.
Dinner was followed by eleven and a half glorious hours of sleep. We aimed to wake up at 10, but... oh well. Waking up to breakfast in bed at nearly noon is not something I'll ever complain about. Except, you know, if it's in the hospital or something. That might not be so great. But anywho, vacation is fabulous. We went into Manchester today to finish our Christmas shopping. If not for the unexpected snow and gloomy skies, I'm sure it'd be a beautiful city. I just love how much there is all concentrated in the city centre though; that's definitely something we're lacking in most parts of America. In between the shops, Dave took me to "Carols by Candlelight." While he knew it was in St. Ann's Church, neither of us really expected it to be the proper church service it was -- which I found slightly humorous. It was a nice service -- EXCEPT -- WHO KNEW that the British have a different version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem?!" Seriously, wtf. I was all excited to sing, and then here comes this whoooolllleeee other version. Ridiculous. Thankfully, the other songs were the same. As for now, we're having a quiet evening in. Biggest disappointment of the day? Dave's been promising me for about 2-3 weeks that we'd watch Love Actually tonight because "it's always on, on Christmas Eve, really, it is." And it's so not. I've watched pieces of Home Alone twice, and they have movies like Fred Claus on. Really, England? That movie made you famous, and you're not showing it? Fail.
Evaluation so far:
Pros: Public transportation, Manchester city centre, shopping options, accents
Cons: Different Christmas carols, no Love Actually
Dinner was followed by eleven and a half glorious hours of sleep. We aimed to wake up at 10, but... oh well. Waking up to breakfast in bed at nearly noon is not something I'll ever complain about. Except, you know, if it's in the hospital or something. That might not be so great. But anywho, vacation is fabulous. We went into Manchester today to finish our Christmas shopping. If not for the unexpected snow and gloomy skies, I'm sure it'd be a beautiful city. I just love how much there is all concentrated in the city centre though; that's definitely something we're lacking in most parts of America. In between the shops, Dave took me to "Carols by Candlelight." While he knew it was in St. Ann's Church, neither of us really expected it to be the proper church service it was -- which I found slightly humorous. It was a nice service -- EXCEPT -- WHO KNEW that the British have a different version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem?!" Seriously, wtf. I was all excited to sing, and then here comes this whoooolllleeee other version. Ridiculous. Thankfully, the other songs were the same. As for now, we're having a quiet evening in. Biggest disappointment of the day? Dave's been promising me for about 2-3 weeks that we'd watch Love Actually tonight because "it's always on, on Christmas Eve, really, it is." And it's so not. I've watched pieces of Home Alone twice, and they have movies like Fred Claus on. Really, England? That movie made you famous, and you're not showing it? Fail.
Evaluation so far:
Pros: Public transportation, Manchester city centre, shopping options, accents
Cons: Different Christmas carols, no Love Actually
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