Even though Markus and I visited Manchester and other parts of the United Kingdom in 2012, we've always wanted to go back. I think we always will, it's such a wonderful and amazing place. On our previous trip, the three days we spent there were really great and something that we always reference when we talk about the U.K. When we were planning this trip, we had to fly into Manchester to meet our mates before we traveled on to Stokey Town for Christmas. I was ecstatic when our flight arrived early in the morning, that meant we had a full day in Manchester to revisit old haunts and find new ones as well! 

After 12 long hours of travel and an interminable wait at baggage claim, we spotted our friends, James and Ari at arrivals! Thankfully the first thing they had planned was breakfast at Koffee Pot. We ate there back in 2012 but it was worth a second trip. Markus ordered a Full Irish Breakfast and I ordered the Rarebit. The Full Irish came with sausage, bacon, bury black pudding, white pudding, tatty cake, beans, fried egg, hash brown and grilled tomato. The Rarebit was made of smoked haddock, cheese, mustard and Worcesteshire sauce on sourdough bread topped with poached egg and tabasco tomatoes on the side. Both meals were incredibly delicious. The haddock wasn't too fishy and worked extremely well with the cheese and other sauces. Everything on the plate for the Full Irish was so satisfying. It was greasy, tasty and the perfect beginning to seventeen days in the United Kingdom. 

After we ate breakfast, we walked around a bit trying to find a Christmas market, but for some reason we couldn't find a single one. Which was surprising considering it was December 23rd. You would think they would be all over the place. I did want to see something really Christmasy and while we were wandering around, we found the Santa monstrosity that was erected in front Town Hall. I know I wanted Christmasy, but that was kind of cheesy and not at all expected. We ventured inside hoping to see some grand ornaments and decorations, instead it was business as usual, but it was still quite pretty. After looking around a bit, we left and sought out other fun places in Manchester, which will be included in another post!