Fiona, Calvin and Kate headed into Liverpool today. Barnaby had the day off today though - he got to stay home with Val. It was fairly late by the time we got into Liverpool - around noon. It was very cold today - there was snow forecasted. We stepped out onto the streets of Liverpool to rain and hail while we walked (quickly) to the Albert Dock to the Maritime Museum and the International Slavery Museum.  We spent a couple of hours in these museums which were extremely interesting. We learnt about the history of the Lusitania, German U-boats, life at sea, the story of the Titanic (there was no Jack Dawson listed on the Titanic), the history of slaves throughout the ages and also stories about modern day slavery. The exhibits seemed to go on forever and there were more rooms the further you walked in - a lot of information to process.  We left the museums and headed off in search of food - a late lunch. After walking around Liverpool for a little while, we ended up at a Thai restaurant, Chaophraya, where we had pad thai and green curry and chilli basil rice - very much missed cuisine over the last few weeks! We then headed back out into the cold to the Tate Gallery. Kate wasn't so keen to see works of modern art, but since it was warm and there was only half an hour til it closed, we all went in. The first piece of art we saw contained performing robots in a gallery talking about the impact and obsession society has with technology. Kate's interest was spiked! She had thought a modern art gallery was just paintings from the noughties. We headed up to a few more floors of the gallery to look at more works. A few times, we read the placard next to the work to try and understand it but more than often, we scratched our heads and said we didn't get it. By the end of the half hour, Kate was converted into a modern art appreciationist.  It had been a while since Fiona had had a coffee and she was desperate for one. We made a beeline (read as run) to John Lewis up to the cafe for a coffee and a snack. Kate had a decaffeinated gingerbread latte which she very much enjoyed.  On the drive home, it started to hail - small white balls of ice pinging down. It soon started to lie and form a layer of white on the roads and pathways. Kate was so excited as it looked like snow! We weren't sure if it was just hail or if there actually was snow but we decided it was snowing after a few minutes of driving through a flurry! There was a lot of traffic and we could see some emergency vehicles on the M53 attending to an accident. Everyone was driving very cautiously and we made it home safely without any incidents - funnily enough, there was no sign of snow at all around Heswall. A quick stop off at M&S for some dinner and we were soon home preparing the stir fry for dinner.