United in Manchester

My friend Will invited me to visit him in Manchester for my birthday! Manchester is a great city, very fun and packed with friendly people. I don't know what southerners are grousing about; it's like people who roll their eyes and scoff at my home city and when you ask them what parts of it they've seen they sheepishly admit that they've only taken the freeway through.

Will knows how to throw a birthday celebration. The first thing he did was find us a delicious lamburger stand, after which promptly took me to the historical John Rylands Library, where he was a very good sport while I ooh'd and aah'd over everything from the beautiful architecture to the extensive rare book collection. We trolled the Christmas markets for macarons and toffee and then embarked on a best-of-Manchester pub crawl.

 An old printing press!

Off to the Christmas markets:

Last pub of the night: