We found some Pre Raphs

Today saw a much more relaxed start to the day as we had no concrete times to be at things. This was a good thing as Maree has been a touch under par - we are blaming 'typhoid Mary' on the plane - but after 9 hrs sleep last night things were looking up this morning. We headed out to another stunning blue sky day and caught the tram out to the Lowry centre. We arrived a touch early so had a quick stroll round the outlet shops. The Lowry centre had an exhibition titled Lowry and the Pre Raphaelites we were expecting 10 pieces this was so not the case. The exhibition was over 5 rooms 2 of these were dedicated to Lowry so we didn't spend much time in those but the 3 for the Pre Raphs exceeded expectations. Not only did they have Rossetti's Bower Meadow but a chalk version of Persephone and Venus Verticordia along with a great collection of sketches and studies by both Rossetti and Burne Jones. We exited through the gift shop so normal transmission has resumed - thank goodness. Although this exhibition is a 20 min tram ride out of the city it was well worth it. Next on the list was Manchester Cathedral this was an interesting walk as black Friday sales were on and every other street seems to have a Christmas Market on it. Security is tight and there are police with big guns everywhere. The Cathedral was smaller than expected built from a dark stone and quite a simple interior but studded with fantastic details. It also features some stunning modern stained glass windows. A quick cup of tea and some cake and we headed to the Christmas Market where we were going to go to the ice winter wonderland but as half of Manchester was queued there we decided to pass and head home. On the way we found H and M, knowing they had released a range based on William Morris prints recently we went in and were thrilled to find some pieces in stock unfortunately the dress Maree wanted didn't allowed breathing so after a few purchases we headed out and found another H and M down the street that had a better size and a couple of other prints that may have needed to be bought home. We then decided back to the hotel was needed to sort bags out as our final day based here starts with an early train ride to Durham.