Liverpool

25th, 26th, 27th July 2009

The 45 minute train journey from Manchester was a little annoying. Annoying people on trains are not overly pleasant, but thankfully it wasn't very long. We arrived into Liverpool station and were greeted by beautiful blue, clear skies. Hurrah. We trekked up to our hostel - about 45 minutes, mostly uphill, ugh - and checked in. We splashed out on this one and treated ourselves to a private room. Its an okay hostel, with a good kitchen and TV area, pool table etc. We dumped our bags and set off to enjoy the good weather. We decided that we'd make the most of public transport, and save our legs for getting around all the attractions of Liverpool. A 10 minute bus ride, with some directions from a little old lady who must've spotted that we were tourists, and we found ourselves in the heart of Liverpool. We headed over to the Albert Dock area, which we were told was a tourist hotspot. It was really quite nice, with the sun out and people everywhere. We decided to come back to the dock at a later time, and went in search of some lunch. We walked over to the new 'Liverpool One' shopping area, but didn't find much that we fancied. We just ended up at one of the many chain pubs for a cheap meal. We headed back to the tourist information centre to get some maps and ideas of things to do. We found a lovely old man there, who pointed us in the direction of all the best things to see and do in Liverpool.

Our first stop was just around the corner at Mathew Street, home of the famous Cavern Club (Where the Beatles played over 200 shows before breaking the big time), and other various places which claim to be home of the Beatles. We walked down the many stairs to take us into the Cavern Club, and found it to be quite a small venue. There was a cover band playing some really great songs (even some Beatles!) and there was quite a good sized crowd in there, really getting into it, dancing and drinking and carrying on - and it was only early afternoon! We looked at all the memorabilia up on the walls and in cabinets, and were a bit amazed at the number of high quality performers that have played at the Cavern Club. We left the club, and had a look at the wall of fame on the wall opposite the club. Each brick has the name of artists who have performed there over time. Only 2 people have had their bricks removed, Gary Glitter - for obvious reasons, and a Jonathon someone, who according to a guy also reading the wall who told us that Jonathon someone had also been involved in some pedophilia.

We had a quick look inside the Beatles shop, and a few of the bars and clubs in the street also. Mathew Street was a very happening place, although touristy, and we were keen to go back with the sun went down.

We ended up just spending the rest of the afternoon checking out the city centre and the shops, before finding a supermarket to pick up some supplies for dinner and heading back to the hostel.

At the hostel we were surprised to see a Spanish family who were also staying at our hostel in Manchester. The woman speaks no English, but we had a good giggle at the sight of each other.

We also took advantage of the awesomely fast wireless internet at the hostel, stocking up on some movies and TV shows to watch when we enter the world of non English speaking countries. We also had a good chat with one of the guys who work at the hostel. He speaks pure Scouse (The Liverpudlian tounge) and I could hardly understand a word he said and I'm sure he was trying to hide out the back while he was smoking something illegal.

We woke up early in order to catch the free breakfast at the hostel - who only serves breakfast between 7 and 9?? - then caught a bus down into the overcast and glum looking city centre. It's amazing how the weather can affect your perception of a city; rained the whole time in Manchester and we didn't enjoy that city too much - sunny in Liverpool and we instantly love the place. Our first stop was the well talked about 'Beatles story' - a museum dedicated solely to the 'Fab 4'. It really was an impressive place; you walked through various rooms, all set up to show how the Beatles formed and about their rise to fame. I was a little disappointed that it was all done on audio guide (even though it was narrated by John Lennon's sister), and their wasn't enough of the music playing. We were also being continually annoyed by a school tour group of kids that didn't speak English, or show much interest in being there. It kind of made us both a bit s***ty. However, our Spanish friends from the hostels were there so we had another giggle at each other and moved on.

At the end there was a beautiful photography exhibition of John and Yoko at one of their bed-ins. Photographs that were only discovered in the attic of the photographer after he died, only a couple of years ago.

After the Albert Dock Beatles story, we walked over (now in the rain) to the Pier Head Beatles story. Our ticket allowed us into the 2 exhibitions that they had their also. We first watched the Fab 4D movie - it was in 3D, but also the chairs moved in the appropriate spots, when the submarine was underwater the theatre filled with real bubbles and when the magical mystery bus when through the strawberry fields, a sweat smell of strawberries filled the theatre. It was pretty cool.

After the movie we went into the exhibition 'The White Feather" - put together by Cynthia (John's first, and much more sane wife, and Julian), and it was about John's private life. It was really lovely, mainly just a collection of his personal things such as postcards, handwritten lyrics and family photographs. I really enjoyed it though. They had a little film playing about the song "Hey Jude", and Cynthia explaining that Julian had no idea for many years that Paul McCartney had written that song for him when John left Cynthia.

After here we collected some more items to cook dinner and spent the afternoon and evening relaxing in our hostel room. The weather had turned to s*** again.

The next morning we slept in a little and decided to skip the s***ty hostel breakfast. We headed out around 11 and were determined to make the most of the blue skies. After grabbing a quick breakfast in town, we headed down to the Liverpool Museum. I usually hate museums, but this one was really good; it had lots of different things going on, but not too much of anything. A look in the aquarium and bug centre was followed by the temporary exhibition 'The beat goes on'; the history of Merseyside (Liverpool) music - and yes, there was much more to it than just the Beatles. The exhibition was a bit hard to take in, lots of writing, and a heap going on, but enjoyable all the same. We were surprised at how many decent bands have come out of the area; The Wombats, Frankie Vaughan, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Elvis Costello, Mel C, some chick from Atomic Kitten, Space, Cylla Black and Dan believes Flock of Seagulls, however I doubt him on this. I also took an interactive quiz to find out which Beatle I was - turns out on Sir Paul - "Likely to cause trouble and destruction to close mates, but be good hearted enough to earn myself a knighthood". We also checked out the Dinosaurs and Living things exhibitions, but were a bit disappointed at the lack of dinosaurs. They had a wicker box, which had a sign on the top saying "Danger - this box contains the most dangerous species ever" - I was too scared to look in the box thinking it would be a snake or something. Dan refused to tell me what was in there, so I got brave and opened it to find a mirror looking back at me.

From the museum it was time to set off on my wild goose chase across Liverpool. Rather than spending the £15 on doing a proper Beatles tour, I got a copy of all the places the bus went and found how to do it on public transport with our £3 all day ticket. First stop was Penny Lane, then onto another bus and it was onto Strawberry Fields gates. Taking all the necessary photos as we went. From Strawberry Fields, it was just around the corner to find John Lennon's childhood home on 'Menlove Avenue'!!!! From here, using my map we set off to find Paul McCartney's old house. It didn't seem like much of a walk, but about an hour later we arrived at 20 Forthlin Street; took our photos and got on the bus back into the city. All the Beatles sights had now been covered.

Once back in the city we had hoped to go and check out the massive Anglican Cathedral. On walking down to the entrance a tour bus drive past and he heard that this is actually the 5th largest Cathedral in the world. It was big. Huge. Massive. No great spire on the top of the tower, the tower itself was large enough. The gothic style church was by far one of the most impressive I've seen. Beat the pants off the Notre Dame (It is in very similar fashion to it). I wanted to also check out the church gardens "St James Park" to see if we could find Eleanor Rigby's grave, but we were running short on time so we skipped it. (Although I found out later, that the grave was only discovered after the song had been written, and that Paul made up the name from celebrities he'd heard of in the press - coincidental much??) From this humongous cathedral, we walked two blocks over to the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral for some contrast. I cannot explain this church at all. Its circular, modern design with a big spout on the top?? (See the photos and it will all make sense). Although the two churches were completed roughly around the same time (1960 - 1970), this Catholic church is just hideous. But glad we visited, because I've never seen anything really like it at all. Whilst inside I coughed and I swear the echo lasted for 15 seconds.

We grabbed a quite lunch (although it being 5pm) at a nearby café. A really good hamburger, which was just like what you could get at an Aussie fish shop; Damn I'm missing dim sims and potato cakes like you wouldn't believe. We headed back to St James Gardens and had a quick stroll through, rather eerie and overgrown, but still pretty. From here we headed down to the Cain's Brewery where Dan had booked us onto a guided tour. We went into the little bar outside the brewery and had a welcome pint of Cain's Lager. I quite enjoyed it. We went outside to start our tour and guess who was there - Yep, our Spanish hostel buddies. More giggling. It's beginning to feel like we've all gone on holidays together. The tour lasted about an hour and a half, and we got to see the canning plant. It was a bit disappointing as the guide just kept leading us into empty rooms and talking for a bit about the history. The exciting part was at the end, when we got our 2 free pints each and a helping of sandwiches and cold sausage rolls. I had a pilsner and a "Double Bock" - 8% APV, yeah! It was a shame it tasted like s*** though. We had a good chat with some other guys that was on the tour, then decided to purchase a couple of take home beers which were probably the most expensive beers we've bought since being over here! We left the pub a little cheery - well I was anyway after that strong beer. We didn't feel like much for tea so we just grabbed some chips from the nearby chippy and made our way back to the hostel where we caught up with Neighbours and Top Gear online. It was lights out for me pretty quickly after another couple of beers.

So we are now on our way to Blackpool, sitting on a train. I was very careful with our train journeys - avoiding changes at all costs, and just going with direct trains. However when we arrived at the station this morning, all trains to Blackpool have been cancelled because some t*** stole some sort of cable. This means that we now have to make three changes, go in an arseabout way, takes 2 hours instead of 1.5 and we arrive an hour later than expected. Oh well, it's given me a good chance to write this up!!!