Manchester, the Second-Largest City in the UK

As dusk falls on the corner of Piccadilly in Manchester, Victorian red-brick buildings gaze across at modern glass skyscrapers, while tram tracks carve silvery curves into the cobblestone streets. Double-decker buses shuttle office workers bundled in coats, and the air is filled with a mix of espresso and fish and chips aromas wafting from beneath a sea of umbrellas. A street performer plays jazz improvisations on a saxophone, with the notes intertwining with the honks of taxis under the spire of the Gothic-style Town Hall. In shop windows, mannequins are draped in Northern England's signature tartan wool, while a couple shares a steaming Turkish kebab roll beside a dark red phone booth. Raindrops slide down the bronze reliefs of the World War II memorial, and puddles reflect the never-dimming LED advertisements of the Primark shopping center. This cradle of the Industrial Revolution pulses on, now in the rhythm of the 21st century.