Christmas Tour and Lunch: Manchester Art Gallaries and Restaurant Rosso

We start the day with a visit to the newly refurbished Whitworth Art Gallery. The gallery has been extended into the park, with new exhibition spaces and greatly enhanced visitor facilities. The extended display areas reach into the landscape, with new and recently acquired sculpture on display in the gallery grounds and in a new art garden and orchard designed by painterly garden designer Sarah Price.

The Whitworth programme will open with a major solo exhibition from one of Britain’s most acclaimed contemporary artists, Cornelia Parker whose work invites viewers to witness the transformation of ordinary objects into something compelling and extraordinary. This extensive presentation will feature a wide range of work made during Parker’s career, including her signature piece Cold Dark Matter; An Exploded View, (1991), a garden shed blown up and then displayed around a light bulb.

Also on display will be work by Cai Guo-Qiang, a leading Chinese-born contemporary artist, known for his remarkable projects using gunpowder, including the firework displays for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. His installation Unmanned Nature (2008), a forty-five metre long, four metre high gunpowder drawing, will be the first exhibition in the Whitworth’s new Landscape Gallery.

We then move into the City Centre where there is a chance to explore the City Art Gallery and the Christmas Market.

As well as the permanent collection, the City Art Gallery has a special exhibition entitled The Sensory War 1914 - 2014. This major exhibition marking the Centenary of the First World War explores how artists have communicated the impact of military conflict on the body, mind, environment and human senses between 1914 and 2014. The show examines how artists from 1914 onwards depicted the devastating impact of new military technologies utilised in a century of conflict beginning with the First World War. It brings together work from a range of leading artists including Henry Lamb, CRW Nevinson, Paul Nash, Otto Dix, Nancy Spero, Richard Mosse, Omer Fast and features works by the hibakusha; survivors of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima which were created in the 1970s and are being shown in the UK for the first time.

Home, Land and Sea Art in the Netherlands 1600-1800 is a new exhibition which brings together over 50 paintings from Manchester City Galleries’ exceptional 17th and 18th century Dutch and Flemish collection, one of the most important in the country. It includes exquisite paintings of everyday life, portraiture, landscapes, seascapes, and still lifes by Pieter de Hooch, Gerard ter Borch, Jacob van Ruisdael and many more.

The Christmas Market with over 300 stalls is mind-boggling, with mouthwatering delicacies from all over Europe. The choice includes gifts, crafts, jewellery, clothes, toys and an array of food and drink. Relax with a hot chocolate, German or Spanish beer, or French wine. Soak up the atmosphere of a truly international event with a uniquely Mancunian flavour.

We finish the day with a three-course Christmas lunch at Restaurant Rosso in the city centre. Rosso blends a stylish interior with unforgettable menus, to provide an unique experience. The Christmas menu combines a sumptuous selection of traditional Christmas favourites with an authentic Italian twist to help you celebrate the joyous winter season ahead. The restaurant is owned by Rio Ferdinand, and is a favourite haunt of footballers and celebrities.