Who knew Manchester was such an exciting place?

A Christmas market with beautifully lit stalls both inside a fantastically Gothic Victorian Town Hall and outside in one of its many spacious squares, draws the visitor in and even gives the chance of exchanging a word or two of Italian while buying nougat, and what an array of varieties, so wide it was bewildering.

And as a birthday treat, I was taken  to the Palace Theatre for West Side Story, which was beautifully rendered, with original choreography and wow did they pull it off!  Combined with Bernstein's vibrant music it was engrossing, though we all knew the story and the approaching tragedy, the narrative held us till the end, tears tipped over and trickled down in the darkness of the audience.  Young love crushed by the ways of the world, Shakespeare got it!  It never fails to ignite.

Then a new experience for me...a cocktail in a cocktail bar at 'Room', in another very grand Victorian Gothic baronial building.  Built by  the wealth of  cotton barons in the mid-nineteeth century, it still holds its gravitas, grandeur and sense of style in the wonderfully sculpted  and vaulted stonework.  Then behind the cocktail bar, we walked into a vast restaurant still in the same 'room', whose height was at least two houses, and there I had the most delicious sirloin ever...the most delicious whitebait ever, and fabulous sorbet around which the chef had written in chocolate, Happy Birthday and placed a candle in the middle. And the waiter brought an on the house Prosecco with a very fragrant strawberry perched on the glass for me! This was a second Prosecco of the day as I had had a Bellini (Prosecco with peach juice) in Carluccio's with lunch.  That's another thing.  Manchester Station has a great Carluccio's ...so tempting we gave in and went there.

On the way back to Melissa and Paul's flat, we wandered through the Christmas market and saw a stall with fabulous Venetian style masks, which were so beautiful Melissa and I decided that a Masked Ball should be a necessary part of a well lived life...oh to dress up in a long gown, matching sparkly mask and dance, dine and float on bubbles of champagne from crystal glasses.

Happy Birthdayed me!