There is something about the familiarity/blandness/commonality of something like a Holiday Inn Express that can be soothing and relaxing after a couple of days of unknown lodging.  Not that any of the places we had stayed caused major consternation, a cold room or a tiny shower notwithstanding.  I guess it is more along the lines of a “known quantity” – even if it is in a foreign country, and flushing the toilet is always an adventure!

Breakfast at the Holiday Inn was the standard “full English” breakfast, served buffet style.  That meant instead of fried eggs, you had scrambled.  But the standard items were available – (English style) bacon, sausage, potato cakes, baked beans, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, toast, juice, coffee, tea – the whole shebang.

After loading up the Mondeo, we headed into Chester to visit the Dewa Roman Experience.  After a bit of consternation with parking we found the venue (we had parked in a Blue Badge spot, then when we talked to some local “officers” – not police, more like community support officers – they told us the street would be closed off to motor vehicles in about 15 minutes, and if the car was still there, it would get towed so I had to go find a real parking lot).  The entrance was off the street somewhat, but still easy to find.

Roman Chester was known to the Romans as “Deva” or “Deva Victrix – pronounced Dewa – and was the home to a fortress that housed an entire legion.  Begun in the AD 70s by Legio II Adiutrix, it was eventually the home to Legio XX Valeria Victrix.

The Dewa Roman Experience is really geared more to school groups than visiting adults, but it was still an interesting visit.  There are actual digs going on within the building, and a time line of history from Roman, Saxon, Medieval and Post-Medieval times displayed throughout.

An example of a floor mosaic on display at the Dewa Roman Experience.

From Chester, we headed to Manchester, to view the Egyptian Collection at the Manchester Museum at the University of Manchester.

The Egyptian Collection at the Manchester Museum is one of the largest in the United Kingdom.  Only a small portion of the collection is on display to the public.  The first room you enter deals with daily-life type items found in two digs.  Unfortunately, the lighting was poor, and the items seemed to be forced into the place – it looked like they were trying to do too much with limited space.

Once you passed through the first room, the space opened up and you saw quite a few mummies and their associated coffins, in addition to other statuary, jewelry, and other finds.

Coffins found in the "Tomb of the Two Brothers", on display at the Manchester Museum.

There were signs alerting the visitor to the fact that the Ancient Egyptian and Mediterranean Collections were going to be closing later this year to prepare for a new exhibit called “Ancient Worlds”, due to open in late 2012.

In case you didn’t know…

Bumper sticker on a car parked next to us when we visited the Manchester Museum. It says "Witches - Not Just For Burning".

Ever onward, we made our way back to the motorway and headed north to the Lake District, where our lodging for the evening was in the town of Kendal.  As we approached Kendal, we got a flat on the rental car – and much fun would consume the next 15 hours.

Flat tire on the Ford Mondeo in Kendal. It gets worse. The two rear tires were both bald, unsafe and illegal to be on the road.

With the help of our hosts at the Balcony House Bed & Breakfast and a man at the local ATS Euromaster store, we were able to be on the road by 11:00 the next morning.