Day 1
We didn’t have far to drive today as we left the Welsh part of our tour and setoff back to England – our destination being Liverpool.
We had quite a long conversation with Sharon, the owner of the B&B, when we checked out. She and her (I assume) husband had owned the B&B for about 8 years after she had worked as a nurse and wanted a change in lifestyle. They have decided to sell as she has been having back problems from her nursing career and it is a pretty full time job, in fact it was getting top reviews everywhere for accommodation in Llandudno so they have done a good job with the place – though, I don’t think the husband seems to do much – other than look after the bookings side, and after our experience perhaps not well ? Anyway, thankfully for us our stay ended up being very comfortable.
Our first stop on the way was the city of Chester and we parked in a parking station at a spot known as the New Market – a complex of cafes etc which looks fairly new – for a light breakfast before setting off on another of Adrienne’s pre-planned tours around the town. Chester also claims to have the most complete set of town walls in Britain so take your pick who is right ! It does have a lot of old Tudor style buildings and it is unique in that as the ground was too hard to dig to build basements, all the old houses/shops were basically built with a “mezzanine” level which became know as the “Rows” – so these days there are basically 2 levels of shops.
We walked around part of the city walls and through the shops before getting on our way. This area around Chester seems to have taken on a bit of a USA feel as just further along we reached a huge US style “Outlet centre”. And many of the shops were the US brands we were used to mixed in with some local brands. We wandered around for a while – Adrienne hoping to find a dress for Simon & Tracey’s wedding and had a late lunch before driving on to Liverpool.
We had a bit of a delay getting out of the tunnel which runs under the Mersey River – there is a large music festival going on just across the road from the hotel we are staying at – with the traffic banked back down into the tunnel but eventually settled into our hotel – the Mercure.
However our big event for the day was yet to come. You can’t come to Liverpool without the Beatles looming large and we had booked an evening show to see the iconic Cavern Club – the place where it all started – and a show called the “Beatles Experience” show, which has fantastic reviews.
Our show started about 7pm with a “support act” and the main show about 8.30 but as they had indicated only “limited” seating we decided we would be there at the start to make sure we got a seat. Our tickets indicated the entrance was in the next street from the main/normal entrance in Mathew St – and when we got to Mathew St we found out why !
Being a Saturday night the city was busy but when we reached the corner of Mathew St, just a laneway really, it was absolutely packed almost wall to wall with people. Music was competing from every venue at ear popping decibels and each venue seemed to be packed with people inside as well ! We made our way through the crowd as we were trying to find somewhere to eat before the show and managed to find a quiet(er) place at the far end of the street. We had a couple of drinks and dinner was Bao Buns and Rice Bowls and we were entertained watching the crowds below in the street.
We then found our way to the back of the Club and joined the queue which had already started to form. Once inside we managed to snag a pretty good seat and the place filled pretty quickly. The support guy was pretty good and he also turned out to be the “5th Beatle” when the actual Beatle show started.
The show was excellent and with a background video introducing each an “era”, the band had four dress changes – from their early suits through to their “hippy” outfits. They did three sets of about 45 minutes with a break between so it was good value and they pumped out most of the best and had the crowd involved right into the atmosphere. It was a really great night and highly recommended if ever you travel to Liverpool.
We were actually so late when the show finished – although Mathew St was still pumping ! – we got to see darkness for the first time on our tour as we walked back to our hotel !
This is a link if you want to watch some Beatles highlights !
Day 2
With our late show, Yesterday was a Hard Days Night. However, I Feel Fine and we Let it Be as we had another day underway – look, after our Golden Slumbers, Here Comes the Sun and we need to Get Back on the Long and Winding Road. So, Don’t Let Me Down, We Can Work It Out, Something will make it Come Together.
However, as we don’t actually need to Drive My Car today, we’ll need a Ticket to Ride instead, a Day Tripper perhaps ? I Saw Her Standing There looking for Help – what about a Ferry Across the Mersey or Here, There and Everywhere – Oh! Darling, When I’m 64 I’m not sure I can do this, she said. With All My Loving, I said, Girl don’t worry, Now and Then these things happen.
With a Little Help From My Friends at reception, Lovely Rita, we were set – You’ll Never Walk Alone while I’m on duty, it’s just A Day In The Life she said – Hey Jude, she said to the lady next to her, organise them a Magical Mystery Tour , starts just up the street at Penny Lane – so things were Getting Better for us, and we don’t need to get Across The Universe today !
Now back to reality – we went down to breakfast a little later than normal and with the bus tours staying in the hotel we had to wait to get a table, plates and food were running out, and by the time we left the queue to get in was back down the corridor to the lifts ! We then collected our walking shoes and were off for the day !
First stop was the statue of the Fab 4 down at the pier. We had registered when we came in yesterday that there was some kind of event happening at the pier. We finally worked out at breakfast that it was some African reggae / rap festival as various groups were complaining about being kept awake the night before by the noise. It had obviously stopped by the time we got back from the Beatles show so we didn’t hear it !
However we were now getting the effects of it as when we got near the statue the area was behind big hordings with 2 security guards patrolling and only letting people get to the statue site and nowhere else on the pier forecourt. And the statue itself had been surrounded by a wire fence ! Obviously those African reggae / rap revellers are not into the Beatles and they had to be protected !
Next stop was the British Music Experience, just near the statue but its entrance also changed due to the areas being blocked off along the pier. We were the first in for the day and other than a couple of other groups who arrived shortly after, basically had the place to ourselves. As you walk in there is a big stage which shows a “feature” every half hour or so – Boy George was doing an “AI” performance when we walked in and later there was a short Spice Girls documetary – they currently have a “30 years of the Spice Girls” anniversary exhibition running also.
The museum itself was interesting with two sections – the early years, up to about the mid 70’s and then everything since and then particular genres within each era – skiffle, punk, new wave, rock etc – and music clips in the background. We wandered for a while then headed off to see some more of the dock area.
The dock area is huge – Liverpool was such a major shipping port in the 18th and 19th centuries – but the docks have now changed. With the advent of containerised shipping methods the docks gradually ceased to be viable and for many years fell into disrepair. Like many cities efforts have been made to reinvent disused areas. We walked down along the docks to the Merseyside Maritime Museum, which as well as covering a general history of Liverpool’s shipping era it had two excellent exhibitions devoted to the ships the Lusitania and the Titanic. When we finished there we then headed off to see things around the Cavern Club area in a more peaceful atmosphere.
As you can expect, every possible angle has been covered as far as using the Beatles name is concerned – as well as the Cavern Club there is the Cavern Pub, a pub called Sgt Peppers, another called Rubber Soul, a hotel called Hard Days Night, I think you get the idea. Amongst other things we found the statue of John Lennon, there is a statue of each Beatle along the balcony of the Hard Days Night Hotel, and we found Eleanor Rigby on a seat in a nearby street.
We then walked further away from the river to the Walker Art Gallery. We had a light lunch in the cafe and then spent a while wandering the galleries which displayed quite a variety of collections. With our legs starting to give out, we made our way back to our hotel where we chilled for a while and then went to the terrace bar which overlooks the nearby pier and docks and watched a few ferries and ships moving along the river – could be the name of a song amongst that ! As there was another lot of buses in the dining room for dinner, we ended up having dinner in the bar – a couple of nice pasta dishes.
