Trip to Chester

The town called Chester

We finalised our trip to Chester, and what fun it was !!

Trang, Suryasen, Santosh, Xinxin, Qifei and yours truly booked our tickets to Chester – a small sleepy twilight town, near Manchester. The plan was to go there early morning and return by evening. We boarded a train to Chester from Manchester Piccadilly and were off. It takes around 90 minutes by train to the Chester Railway Station and the ticket is around £8.30 per head. Cheap !! The first STRIKING thing about Chester was that it was JUST LIKE SHIMLA  (dunno) Slow pace of life. A library, some museums, river side cruises and country architechture on the one hand, and an aquatic center, a *very* big christmas market, and the LARGEST zoo in the UK on the other !

We started off with visiting the river side, walking along the river Dee. The river runs along a large curvature around what is now a race course. BBC had predicted heavy rainfall for this day in Chester. However, the weather was completely dry and on our side !! After taking a few snaps at the River Dee in the wee hours of the morning, we decided to move into the city – which had just started to wake up.

Our first stop was the Cathedral, which was built way back in 1052 A.D. Amazing how these people managed such a magnificient structure in those days. However we had to wait for our sightseeing tour of the cathedral as a prayer service was in session. It was general consensus that instead of killing time loitering around without an aim, a snack would be a positive NPV decision. We headed to a McDees which, I guess, would be the only one in Chester. The pleasures of small town eateries. After hogging on the burgers and chips we headed back to the Cathedral. Now the Cathedral is a *big* Cathedral. I mean really *bigg*.

The Cathedral

Although there was no prayer service when we went in, the sheer magnificence of the place had everyone talking in hushed voices ! (haw) The Cathedral precinct also has a cafeteria and a gift shop to buy souvenirs from. And since X-mas was around the corner, the gift shop had quite some deals in it.

Having scoured the premises of the Cathedral, we took a walk around the city, taking pictures, trying out some snack or the other and shopping some or the other stuff. Another major attraction, aledgedly, was the Chester zoo, which is the largest in the UK. We took a cab to the zoo (£10 total, cheap !!), and it took us about 15 minutes to get there. At the enterance of the zoo a “frost-fair” was put up. So what if it doesn’t snow on Christmas? They created their own snow! Ice Skating, Snow-globe, Fire and Ice Show and what not. The zoo, admittedly is HUGE. What was more was that I found further proof of my Simian Origin…

Monkey Prototype ONE

Monkey Prototype TWO

Monkey Prototype THREE

Monkey Prototype FOUR

So who do you want to meet?

Apart from me and my friends, the zoo had many other wild animals.  This zoo, the largest in the UK, houses over 7000 animals and hires a staff of over 500 at peak time!!

The good thing about the zoo is that in case you get tired walking around the zoo, you are never far from a good snack. There are major cafes and restarurants and small kiosks dotted all around the geography of the zoo.

Having visited almost every exhibit in the zoo, there were two instances that certainly stood out.

The Twilight Zone, (remember the horror-thriller series on Star TV, back in the good ol’ school days?), houses bats in the Chester Zoo. What is unique about the Twilight Zone is that it is Europe’s largest free flight bat area. Which means that you go into the huge, dark bat-cave, while the bats fly around you trying to avoid you, using their inbuilt radars. Cool !! We didn’t spot Batman though… The bats really do come swishing past your clothes and hair, but are supposedly harmless. Quite a thrill.

Another instance that stood out was the penguins. Now, the penguins were housed in a *big* glass aquarium. We hollered and howled and shouted and yelled and bellowed and roared and screamed and squalled and whooped and… well, you get the idea, but were still unable to catch the attention of the high and mighty penguins. Then, a little girl, as if she wanted to help us, showed us MBAs the power of a simple thought. She picked up a leaf and waved it in front of the glass aquarium, and the penguins came rushing at it as if it was something edible. She literally had them “eating out of her hands” !! She continued playing with the penguins for so long after that! Amazing!!

Playing with the penguins!

Having finished our acrobatics around the zoo, we came back at the entrance at the Cafe Tsavo, a *huge* cafe that caters to over 270 visitors in a single go! With the sun setting, we finally called another cab and went directly to the train station, to board a train to Manchester through the calm twilight countryside.

Next stop…? Liverpool, Blackpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, York… now where did I put that Travel Guide… again!!