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Wednesday 19 May 2010

Cloud 23.......

One of the gifts I received from my colleagues when I retired was a £40 gift voucher for drinks at Cloud 23 which is a bar on the 23rd floor of the Hilton Hotel in Manchester.   It's a quite exclusive bar that boasts a 'walk of faith' glass floor panel which enables you to see the ground below 23 floors down.




Last Friday MWM and I made the trip into Manchester by bus and tram to enjoy a late lunch at a lovely little Italian restaurant (The Bella Italia) before going on to Cloud 23 where I had booked a table for 6p.m.
MWM enjoying a glass of wine with his lunch.

We arrived at The Hilton Hotel a few minutes before 6 p.m. to find a queue of people waiting at the high speed lift to get into Cloud 23, thankfully because I had made a reservation we were able to go straight to the front of the queue and straight into the lift to the 23rd floor.  Don't you just love it when that happens?

We were shown to our table right near the window, by a hostess, where a waiter took our order for a bottle of wine.   



Me enjoying wine and the view at Cloud 23

We didn't realise for a good ten minutes that we had actually walked across the 'walk of faith' glass floor on the way to our table as it was right there next to us!  So of course we stood on it and took a photograph.


MWM taking the 'walk of faith'.


The view down through the glass 'walk of faith'

We had quite a laugh watching other people dithering over whether or not to walk on the glass and I'm sorry boys but many more men than women refused to do it!    I somehow managed to end up as 'official photographer' being handed people's mobile phones to take their picture stood on the glass floor.

We were enjoying ourselves so much we ordered another bottle of wine and then being totally greedy had a champagne cocktail each!     The drinks are very expensive and we had to put £30 towards the bill besides the £40 voucher!   Well it was my retirement 'do' in a way wasn't it?



We had great views all over Manchester  from our table like the Manchester Wheel



and we could even see as far as where we live in Heywood.




We took lots of photographs of the views of Manchester from the 23rd floor which I've put in a little slide show for you.






So, there you go, that's why I wasn't around blogland much last Friday.

33 comments:

Dumdad said...

Heady stuff - especially after all the wine! Sounds like a lot of fun.

Bernadine said...

My cousin Keith works at the Hilton hotel. I wonder if it is the same one where you were. If it was than this is a small world...

Enjoy your day. :)

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

yikes! i'm not sure i could stand on it but i loved looking at it! amazing place, thanks for showing us!

smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoxoxo

Elaine Denning said...

Yikes!Not sure I'd have the faith.

You look amazing!

Ron said...

"I'm sorry boys but many more men than women refused to do it!"

Yes...and I would be "one" of those men - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'm so chicken when it comes to heights. I can look "out", but I just can't look "down."

What a faaaabulous time you two had! The view looks spectacular! So does that WINE - tee, hee!

Thanks for sharing, m'dear! I always enjoy your trip posts!!

Have a great Wednesday....X

buffalodick said...

Hilton's are always excellent places to eat or stay!

Akelamalu said...

It was heady without the wine Dumdad LOL

Does Keith work at the Hilton on Deansgate, Manchester Bernadine?

I didn't mind standing on it because it's inside Bee. I couldn't do the one at the top of Blackpool Tower though - too open for me! :0

Oh I bet you would Laney and thankyou m'dear, how kind you are. x

You may not have stepped on the glass floor Ron but you would have loved the place and the wine! ;)

Yes I believe they are Buff but in this instance we neither ate not stayed there unfortunately. We did enjoy the wine and the views though. :)

Flowerpot said...

What a great time you had - and much deserved!

Anonymous said...

First you look so good all the time How fun this would be and what a view. Heights is one thing I don't do well but I would pucker up and squeeze for this one. Fantastic photos. Thanks for sharing. :)

MarmiteToasty said...

oh what a wonderful evening you had....... there is a glass floor in our Spinaker tower in Portsmouth, Ive yet to go up the tower......

I LOVE the photo of you, the last photo...... absolutely stunning..

x

Spiky Zora Jones said...

akelamalu: you get to do and see the most wonderful things. Walk of faith...I want to stand on it too...the view is great there. I've seen great photos from you and you know each time i want to visit the UK more and more.

I'll get there in a few more years when I take my trip to Europe

thanks again honey. xxx

Me Just Me said...

YEAH!!! Great pictures!!! It's so great to be able to get out and do something unexpected....

Something You will remember forever

Betty said...

You look way too young to retire! I've been up the Spinnaker in Portsmouth and watched people walk across the glass floor. Didn't dare do it myself!

snowelf said...

A little glass floor wouldn't have scared me. ;) I love the city view!! I'm so glad you enjoyed!!

--snow

Linda said...

What a great retirement gift for you, looks like you and your MWM had a fantastic time! That's quite the view, too - even the one straight down!

Queenie said...

Looks great, but I wouldn't even have dared look down.... Queenie X

fionas rotties said...

Glad you had a lovely time, you 2 certainly know how to live!
However, it looked like another grey day over manchester with those looming clouds over the concrete jungle! Great pic of the sun though!

Valerie said...

My Manchester family never told me about this...
I can understand the hesitation about walking on the glass floor, but I'd love to have a go if only to test my bravery.

Thumbelina said...

Wow - you look fantastic! I always wondered what that thing was - it looked like a giant computer motherboard on end and now I know. It's a bigger walk of faith than Blackpool Tower has and probably higher up! Brilliant views. Thanks for sharing. Glad you had a great time.

tony said...

WoW! What A View! I,ve Never Been Up There.....Another thing for My "Do-Do List" !

nitebyrd said...

What an amazing way to cap off your retirement, lucky lady! You look incredibly happy!

Travis Cody said...

Looking straight down like that would have been troublesome for me. I don't have much trouble looking out, but the looking straight down makes me a little dizzy.

Great views!

Mother of Invention said...

Congrats on your retirement! What a way to aplurge on the way out! Good for You! My teaching staff is taking me out to a restaurant tonight actually, to celebrate 33 years of teaching Public School. This day seemed so far off way back in '77!

Akelamalu said...

We certainly did Flowerpot and thanks. x

Why thankyou Thom you're so kind. I'm sure you would have loved it, even though you don't like heights. :)

We did have a great time Marmie and thankyou. It seems the norm now for towers to have a glass floor doesn't it?

You must come to England Spiky - I'll take you to Cloud 23 - give me plenty of notice though so I can save up! LOL

Doing something unexpected gives a real buzz doesn't it Torn?

Ah Betty you should take a chance and try it! Thanks for the compliment m'dear. x

The views were incredible Snowelf. :)

The gift voucher was a great idea. It was something we probably wouldn't have thought of doing had I not received it Linda :)

I bet you would after two bottles of wine and a champagne cocktail Queenie! ;)

Thanks Fiona, we're trying to pack in as much as possible. The weather wasn't too bad really.

You have to come to Manchester and give it a whirl Valerie, I'm sure you're brave enough. :)

Glad you enjoyed the photos Thumbelina and thankyou for the compliment. x

You have to go and try it Tony - let me know when you do. :)

It was a great experience Nitebyrd :)

I wouldn't have been able to look down if I was outside on a balcony Trav but inside didn't bother me.

Thankyou MOI and have a wonderful time tonight - 33 years teaching is a great milestone!

secret agent woman said...

Love that glass floor!

ann said...

l'chaim you lushes you - sounds a great place - hope you enjoy your well-earned retirement

Cloudia said...

LOVE your wonderful smile!



Aloha from Hawaii


Comfort Spiral

Gledwood said...

CONGRATULATIONS ON RETIRING!!

Somehow I get the impression you will never "retire" at all... in the sense of retiring to the drawing room of life for port and cigars ... hey that hi-bar reminds me of a very posh version of the Holiday Inn, Utrecht which had a 20th floor bar, which was quite something in 1983 Europe!

Daryl said...

You look so happy and rested .. retirement agrees with you ... but that glass insert .. OMG .. no way would I ever walk there ..

Akelamalu said...

Great isn't it SAW? :)

Oh yes we were lushes last Friday Ann LOL

Why thankyou Cloudia x

I've only retired from work Gleds, definitely NOT from life. LOL

Retirement does suit me Daryl it's only been 5 months but I can't remember what it was like to work now! LOL

San said...

I believe I'd need a little liquid courage before I walked the Walk of Faith. I am skittish about such things.

Mimi Lenox said...

Oh honey I will not be walking across that thing. You couldn't pay me to do that. I got weak-kneed looking at the picture.

Unknown said...

OMG That photo looking through the 'walk of faith' made my stomach do a flip.
I have been to the top of the BT tower in London through work twice now and both times I have had to sit with my back to the window and not walk about. The second time I went I managed to get close enough to the window to hold my camera up and take pics, but I really do not have a head for heights at all.