Although it was gray when we first arrived in Douglas, the skies soon cleared up and it actually became sunny by the time we left our B & B to go sightseeing.

I couldn't help but notice how quiet it was everywhere. What made the day look even gloomier was the fact that there was hardly any commercial activity that afternoon and the streets were practically deserted. Marc and I had gone inside inside the Marks and Spencers supermarket in the city center when the employees began clearing out the shelves and the customers all began lining up at the cash registers shortly before 5 pm.

Since we had not eaten dinner yet, we went to the only restaurant open in the vicinity at that time and that was Colonel Sander's Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. While waiting for our order, we actually saw some fellow travelers from the Steam Packet ferry, Mannanan, come in and buy their dinner there too.

Once full, we went for a walk along the long and picturesque promenade. With the exception of the busload of British pensioners who checked in their seaside hotel as well as the middle aged lady walking her dog on the beach, we saw no one else.

What was surprising to me was the presence of a restaurant named New Manila at the Acacia Hotel along the waterfront. "Ah, I'd be able to eat delicious Filipino food in the IOM," I thought to myself. I had after all been eating everything Irish and English since we left the US. Much to my dismay, the restaurant and the hotel turned out to be Thai even though both had Filipino names.