On my way to a conference, I spent the weekend on the Isle of Man. This was at the end of August 2003. Earlier in the Summer Europe had suffered a heat wave, but that had broken, and the weather this weekend was delightful, sunny with temperatures that I'm estimating to be in the 70s, and a breeze.
Getting to Man was easy. After I flew from Raleigh on the direct American flight to London Gatwick, I just switched to a British Air flight direct to the island.
I had a little trouble reserving a room, which was a surprise. When I got on the island I found out why. This was the end of the Grand Prix motorcycle races. I had a chance to go see some of the action.
| The Promenade in the capital city
of Douglas runs along the waterfront. I caught the picture on the
right of a statue along the promenade. The bird seemed very happy on
the soldier's helmet. There's a very helpful tourist office in the ferry station near one end of the Promenade. They gave me a little advice on what to see (for example, a good viewpoint for the motorcycle race) and loaded me with maps and brochures. There's also a pedestrian-only shopping street, the Strand, with a variety of stores including a Marks and Spencers. |
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The image on the left shows the steam train station.
It is one of two tourist trains. I took the electric train (below),
which goes to the North end of the island, mainly because there's a stop
that let's you go up to the highest mountain on the island.
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