Liverpool - Home of the Beatles

April 1

Since we had another day off from the hospital (yes a four day weekend), we decided it was a good time to take a day trip to Liverpool.  The city is home of the Beatles, but there was a large dock city there prior to the emergence of the Beatles on the music scene.

When we arrived in Liverpool the nice weather we had been having for the weekend failed us.  We stepped out of the train station to find it snowing on the basically empty streets.  We fought our way through the cold in search of the Liverpool Cathedral.  It is supposed to be the largest cathedral in the country, a statement that is easy to believe.  It is not however a very old cathedral having been built at the turn of the century (that is around 1900).  While it is a large building, it wasn't exactly easy to find.  Every time we were about ready to give up and ask for directions we saw a sign pointing the way to the cathedral.  Along the way we ran across the entrance to Chinatown which is marked by a very large and elaborate Chinese arch.  This arch is the largest of its type outside of China (no I don't know why it is in Liverpool of all places) and was rather interesting.

From Chinatown it was a very short walk up to the cathedral, and by the time we stood in front of it I had crick in my neck trying to take it all in vertically while I had no hope of seeing all of the outside horizontally.  As it was very cold and still snowing, we didn't hang around outside very long but went inside to see the splendor.  As you can see in the pictures, the entire cathedral was large and elaborate that seemed to be never ending.

The Beatles Story is exactly what it sounds like, a museum that tells the story of the Beatles from the days they first started playing together as the Quarymen to when they announced that they were splitting.  While it does not have a large number of items, there are a few interesting items that once belonged to some of the Beatles and the audio tour includes remarks and memories of people that new the group.  I learned a lot about the Beatles history, including the fact that one of their latter albums together (that includes a lot of my favorite songs) was actually written before they became famous.  I won't go through all of it, largely because I can't remember and also because you can find it all online.  Here are a few pictures from the museum though.

 Guitar played by several of the Beatles before they became famous.

 Beatles set up at a mock Cavern Club stage.

 Recording system used to make the Beatles first album.

Steps (one set) at the entrance to the Beatles Story.

Albert's Dock is an old dock that has been turned into a shopping area, a little pricey but pretty.  There are a lot of shops and restaurants as well as a few museums, the Beatles Story, and a few old buildings and ships.  We also had lunch there, and yes I took a picture of my food, and you may be able to tell that portions here are much smaller than in the US.

After that it was back to Southport, exhausted after a very full weekend.