Liverpool

We awoke early on the morning of 18 July and biked to the ferry port of Dublin. Weaving in and about the heavy lorries and motor traffic, we finally made the boat to the UK. It was a year and a day ago that we landed in the UK, and now we are heading back! Yay, Liverpool!

Even better, the weather was glorious! We're guaranteed a smooth crossing to the UK!

Coffee in hand, wind in the hair, sun in the face, and headed to Liverpool! 

And here's boB contemplating the magical couple of months spent in Ireland. And imaging all the new things to come ...

And now we're off! Boat docked and we make our way through the gagging exhaust fumes to the bow.

And into the, well, somewhat murky daylight. 

And it's a wee foggy, but it it'll clear off soon. 

Yea! Liverpool!

Er.... Wait .... 

Um..... Hang on..... Why is the sign in Welsh? 

Turns out, and this is a little embarrassing, the ferry that we thought would take us from Dublin to Liverpool actually took us to Wales!! We knew it was landing at Holyhead, and waaaaay in the deep recesses of boB's brain he knew that Holyhead was in Wales. But never was the connection made that the Holyhead ferry would land us in Wales. It's a really long story, and a sort of comical string of innocent errors that lead to us landing in the wrong country. 

But have no fear! The train is here! All you need to do is buy a really expensive ticket from Holyhead to Liverpool!

At least it was the Beatles train. That was pretty cool and helped us to sort of forget a little bit that we landed in a different country than we had intended. (Considering how well we've managed all the country-hopping we've done for the last year, one fairly smallish mistake is pretty not-bad?)

Five or six hours later and we were in sunny (and HOT!!!) Liverpool, England, ready to begin our Beatles adventure. We started off exploring the water front at Albert Dock and getting the lay of the land in the city. 

A walk on the water front revealed these amusing and confusing creatures...

It's called a Lambanana. It's a cross between a lamb and a banana. Of course it is. 

Lambananas are about as Liverpudian as scouse, you know!

We learned that people from Liverpool are called Scouses, and there is a traditional dish called Scouse, and it is quite popular with the lambananas. 

Scouse is a throwback to the Viking heritage, but the name has stuck. Some restaurants serve Scouse, but we didn't partake. Apparently it can be quite tasty, if you like meat. 

We struggled a bit to understand the liverpudian accent. Not to mention, they have a neat lexicon of their own here. Can you guess what this means? Is it English?

(well= very)

(Kecks= trousers)

(Antwacky= old fashioned)

Here's the hostel we stayed in:

This historic building looks grand and impressive on the outside, but unfortunately it was crowded and woefully inadequate inside. We had a room on the top floor facing west. The week we stayed there it was record-breakingly hot (like in the 90's F) and our room was absolutely broiling hot every night. And the kitchen was barely large enough for a ten-bed hostel, never mind a place that covered seven floors and two basement levels! But, you get what you pay for, and the price was right- cheap, cheap, cheap!

One evening we went for a walk and found the former Church of St. Luke. 

It's a shell of a church now because it was bombed out in WWII. On the fifth of May, 1941, the Germans raided Liverpool and caused a huge amount of damage. The church was hit directly, but the shell remained standing. It was stabilized and left standing as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the raids, and is now also home to a beautiful Garden of Remembrance. 

We also found the Liverpool Anglical Cathedral, which is absolutely massive. 

The Anglical Cathedral was built from 1904 to 1978 and is the largest cathedral in the UK. It also houses the largest pipe organ in the UK and holds the heaviest bells, at 31 tons. In the fading evening light red sandstone positively glowed. 

Apparently, back in the day, Paul McCartney failed his audition for the Anglican Cathedral Choir, done deliberately to enable playing more guitar with friends!

And of course we had to stop in the Picton Reading Room at the Central Library, in honor of our friend Lance Picton.

The Central library was lovely!

And now on to the good stuff:  The Beatles!!!

We hired a private 'Fab Four' taxi tour to take us to many of the major Beatles sites, many of which lie outside the city center. Our man for the day was Jay, a life-long Scouse and dedicated Beatles fan himself. Jay took us to Beatles sites as well as loads of other culturally- and historically-significant locations throughout Liverpool. As you can see below, Martha was his counterpart. She was a fine lady!

Here's boB and our man Jay standing at what was the very first ever train station in the world. 

Well, it's a newer station that is built on the site of the first ever train station in the world. The original Broad Green Station was built in 1830 at the Liverpool-end of the Liverpool-Manchester line, which was the first ever train line in the world. The station there now is newer, but remains the oldest passenger rail station site in the world. 

We stopped at the LIPA (Liverpool Institute of Preforming Arts), pictured below. The building dates back to the 1830's and it served as a boys high school until 1985- George Harrison and Paul McCartney attended high school here. Later Paul McCartney cofounded the LIPA (now housed in the same building) as a way to give back to the Liverpool community, and he remains quite involved with the school to this day. 

Jay took us out the neighborhood where Paul McCartney and John Lennon spent their teenage years. This is the childhood home of Paul McCartney:

And here is boB outside of gate at the home where John Lennon lived with his aunt Mimi:

These homes are now owned by the National Trust to ensure their preservation.

Sadly, John Lennon's mother was run over by a car just infront of the home. Later, he wrote the song 'Julia' (White Album,1968) in her honor.

We ran into a few other cabs while out and about at the sites. We were amused by the personalized names of the various cabs reflecting one Beatles song or another (Look above the front wheel of the Taxi).

Eleanor Rigby. 1966, Paul McCartney:

Here is St Peter's church- where Paul McCartney met John Lennon in 1957. Later they became friends and band mates, returning to the graveyard to sunbathe (aka.drink beers-they were underage at the time & it would seem like a good spot...)

Although when asked initially, Paul McCartney reported the name Eleanor Rigby came from his imagination, it was later determined that he was trying to protect her gravesite from vandals and crazed fans. Apparently the real Eleanor worked as a scullery maid at the Liverpool city hospital. Her signature, on a pay stub from said institution dated 1911, recently went for 115,000 pounds at auction. 

Here she is... Eleanor on Stanely Street:

Strawberry Fields Forever. 1967, John Lennon:

Strawberry fields was children's home for orphans run by the Salvation Army. It was not so far from where John Lennon lived with his Aunt Mimi. Apparently, as a child he enjoyed sneaking off to Strawberry fields to play with orphans. He was often caught there in the lunch line with the other orphans and was subsequently sent home... but that didn't prevent him from going back. Sadly, it was demolished in 1973 as the old home suffered from dry rot. The beautiful red gate remains although it has been stolen a few times. Just like the Penny Lane street signs....

Penny Lane. 1967, Paul McCartney:

"In the shelter in the middle of the roundabout

A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray." 

The shelter is still there but we didn't see any nurses with poppies:(

Penny Lane Video:

Penny Lane is a major bus route and  was a place Paul and John would pass through on their way to Liverpool. Penny Lane was named after James Penny, a prominent man in the 18th slave trade. 

The Beatles Story is a fantastic museum that outlined the chronological journey of the Beatles to stardom - from their humble beginnings in Liverpool, to Hamburg, Germany, and to the USA. 

It included a replica of the stage at the Cavern Club, the venue where the Beatles got their start in downtown Liverpool in the late 50's;

And an interesting exhibit in the British Invasion:

Bob takes a ride on the yellow submarine:

Here's the Fab Two with the Fab Four:

Later that same day, the Fab Four are mobbed!

Crazed Japanese school children suffering from Beatlesmania!

Throughout the day loads of bus tours stopped here and everyone waited for their turn to stand with the bronzes and have their picture taken.

We stopped in for a pint of real ale at 'Ye Cracke', a pub once frequented by John Lennon:

Of course we had to stop in for a pint and listen to a Beatles tribute performance at the Cavern. The Beatles played here at this club some 274 times back in their early days:

(You know it's hot: boB has the cuffs of his charity-shop bell-bottoms rolled up, leading the wave of fashion conscious and over-heated tourists in Liverpool. Yep.)

The original Cavern Club was partially demolished in the 70's, but they were able to save the original bricks and faithfully reconstruct the basement club to its original dimensions.....

It was fun to simply walk the streets and admire random street art.... The number of Beatles references were impressive. 

Here's the Mersey Passenger Ferry, painted in awesome Razzle Dazzle camouflage. 

This is Albert Dock, where we spent a good bit of time during the week. The Albert Docks are home to the Beatles Experience, the Slavery Museum, the Maritime Museum, and loads of shops and restaurants. 

The Albert Docks were built in 1846 and were the first-ever dock warehouses to be made of cast iron, stone, and brick. That was particularly revolutionary because it made them fire-proof. Also, they were the first docks that allowed ships to load and unload directly to the warehouses, thereby saving time and labor. The docks were damaged in the raids in 1941, and fell into a derelict state. In the 1980s they were redeveloped and now house museums, shops, and high-end apartments. 

Look, more lambananas! 

This one is gayly painted as a creepy clown!

On the waterfront walkway is a chain fence. Planted right in the middle of the walkway. And with this warning. 

Can you imagine the person who designed that sign sitting at their desk and trying to figure out to convey to pedestrians that they need to not walk smack into a post that tops out exactly at groin-height?

Here a nice view from out top floor of the International Slavery Museum at Albert Dock to the civic buildings. 

It's hard to imagine the city of Liverpool as the capital of the transatlantic slave trade, and hard to imagine that the George Dock in the photo above was once bustling with ships used in the slave trade.

The Slavery Museum at Albert Dock is a sobering reminder of how the merchants in England, the US, and Africa made their money trading commodities and humans. 

Slavery Museum Video of the journey they call the 'middle passage' :

The 'middle passage' refers to the central voyage of the triangular route of the transatlantic slave trade. It was the forced journey from Africa to the Americas endured by millions of enslaved peoples. This voyage lasted 5 weeks or more and Africans were kept in cramped, airless quarters with limited food and water. Not surprisingly, huge numbers died en route. 

The museum is well done, and conveys the history of slavery in the UK & abroad  in an effective and sometimes graphic manner. There is also an exhibit on modern slavery - a reminder that such deplorable practices continue even they're not so blatant as 150 years ago. 

This is the monument to Slavery. It's located in the heart of the business district that was once occupied by the commercial barons and trading empires that made their fortunes on the backs of slaves. 

This uniquely Dutch-styled building was once the headquarters of the White Star Lines. 

The White Star Lines, if you remember your Leonardo Di Caprio Hollywood History, owned The Titanic. After that fateful voyage ended so tragically, the owners of the company stood on the balcony of the building above and announced the names of the survivors to the distraught families listening in the street below. Anyway, it's now a luxury hotel. 

For the fashion-conscious and John Lennon wanna-bes out there: 

You can have your own pair for just 9 quid! (That's 9 pounds.)

Here's a dry-dock with a Dazzle-painted ship. 

Here's another nice shot of Albert Dock. 

All too soon it was time to pack up and head north ... To Scotland!