What a huge surprise Liverpool was. It is a super city and the mix of old and new is so interesting. They have some crazy and fun buildings and everything just fits in like a jigsaw puzzle. Again, I was very surprised.
The info on the city says it is "walkable" and I an in total agreement with that. Even as tired as we were we walked down from the very usable and efficient train station through a large downtown filled with tons of great stores with shopping galore and many nice eating places. Saw the Cozy Club (my favorite) but weren't able to return for lunch.
We stopped along the way many times to take our photos. I took a short tour of the St. George Hall and visited a photo exhibit called "Look Photo Biennial 2019, which seeks to bring cultures together through photography. The show will travel to Shanghai The Visitor's Desk showed us at least 25 things to do.........guess we should have tried to stay longer.
Liverpool is a maritime city, so we saw the marina and Mersey River, a muddy, swift river and we saw the tide change quite drastically there. We walked along the back and on the chain fence there were hundreds and hundreds of "locks of love" that were nice. We would have taken the "Ferry 'cross the Mersey" but it was pretty cold and windy. Besides that we had no rain and the sun would occasionally peak out. We were lucky as the weather forecast was saying lots of rain -- and that did not happen. We've been so lucky with the weather.
We visited the Museum of Liverpool which shows the history of the city that was founded in The origins of the city of Liverpool date back to 1207, when King John issued letters patent advertising the establishment of a new borough - 'Livpul'. Soon after, in 1235, the building of Liverpool Castle was completed.
Something that I learned at the museum that shocked me was that after World War II, Liverpool took many (numbers in large range) and sent them back to China. Some were taken in the middle of the night, some were just taken from the docks. Families didn't know what had happened to their fathers. More info: http://www.halfandhalf.org.uk/index.htm This is a sad story from Liverpool history and it probably happened in other places. There has been much prejudice against the Chinese, using them as workers and exploiting them. American railroad is a good example. Anyway, I had just never heard of this before.
The museum is excellent and covers many topics and we were lucky to be able to see the current Exhibit sponsored by Yoko Ono, Double Fantasy. An excellent presentation of John and Yoko's life together, the challenges they shared, their relationship, parenthood and art and music. Very well done and enjoyable.
Had a terrific Thai lunch. Had satay chicken with their peanut sauce and it was the best I ever ate. We had looked along the dock at all the places and I'm so glad we picked that place. Cheryl and me are pretty well in agreement (thank goodness) on what we like to eat so that makes it nice since we do enjoy our wonderful lunches out each day.
After lunch we headed over and got tickets for "The Magical Mystery Tour", a bus tour taking us to all the "Beatle" areas, where they were born, went to school, met, and places in their songs like Penney Lane and Strawberry Fields. By this point in the day we did not even get out of the bus to take photos, we were just plain too exhausted and it was so cold. But we saw what we could and enjoyed our tour. After the tour we had to rush back up the hill to the train station. We were happy to see the station and grab a cup of coffee before our two hour train ride to London.....and then the underground, and bus............and then happily home. No setting the alarm!!!!
So surprised to find palm trees in Liverpool
Block after block of shops
Always love to see the big ferris wheels in Europe
Great old and new buildings
Some cool reflections here
Locks of Love - Mersey River
Famous song written about this river by
Jerry and the Pacemakers - have a listen:
They have some of the largest seagulls I've ever seen
Statue of a young family commemorates migration from Liverpool to the new world
...and the story is: https://wearehomesforstudents.com/blog/city/liverpool/story-behind-liverpools-superlambanana/
Lovely tribute to the hard working horses on the docks.
Thai lunch, terrific!!!!!
The pattern in this piece of "junk" wood is amazing
Here since 1800
Long day, glad to see our station for home
Lots to see and do here. One could spend two to three days here seeing most of the city. Really enjoyed it all. It is much more than just the Beatles.
