Day 22: Liverpool, City of the Sea.

In Liverpool, on the very edge of the Mersey River waterfront, are three imposing decorative old buildings, known as the Three Graces. Atop one sits two giant birds, cormorants of sorts. These are the Liver Birds, the only two of their kind (though they are, of course, made of brass), sitting six meters tall on the roof high above the town. The female faces the ocean, calling the sailors home from rough seas, and the male faces inland, watching over the city. It is said that if they were ever removed from their perch, the city of Liverpool would cease to exist.

I learned this charming tale as I took the helpful advice of good ole Gerry and the Pacemakers and "Took a fe-e-rry ... 'cross the Me-e-rsey" today. Though it was raining, Liverpool looked beautiful from the water and I had many interesting buildings pointed out to me by the audio tour. Definitely worth doing if you're ever in Liverpool, as well as the U-boat tour you can choose to do if you're into WWII history, but I decided to save that for another trip. :)

I also went to the other half of the Beatles' Story museum, because my ticket covered it, at Pier Head. The exhibition included an almost astoundingly lame "Fab 4D" show which I guess would be more entertaining for children but was clearly aiming to be all romantic or something and still seriously sucked. I have no idea what it had to do with the Beatles except that it had out-of-context covers playing the whole time. But there was also a fascinating gallery of the lost photographs of some sixteen-year-old guy who did a photo essay on behind-the-scenes Beatles before they were so famous, then forgot about it until two years ago. There were some neat candid shots, and some that sucked but were interesting because they were the Beatles. So that was cool.

Then after a while I decided to walk to the big cathedral to go up the bell tower because I had nothing better to do. Except I didn't exactly gauge how far away it was (or how to get there...or how far uphill it was) but I persisted! Even though I had to go through a pretty crappy part of town to get there. But I did pass through the gates to Chinatown, which is the oldest Chinatown in Britain, if not Europe. Anyway, eventually I got there and eventually I went up the tower (3 elevators and 145 steps later). On the way up I passed through the reverse side of the church's arched ceiling, which was really interesting, as wells the (gigantic) bell chamber. And on the top, I got a 360° view of the city. Then I came back down, glancing at an embroidery exhibition on the way, and browsed through the displayed entries to the city's annual photography competition. Some of it was pretty good, mostly typical nature stuff and some portraiture, mixed in with cultural stuff and avant garde nonsense. But it was neat.

Then I returned to the hostel and collapsed, feet hurting. I read for a long time (The Heretic Queen by Michelle Moran - thoroughly good ancient Egyptian historical fiction) before wandering out again in search of dinner. By this time, though, it was pretty late (by shop standards) and the only places I could afford were closed. So I ambled around Albert Docks for a bit, wishing I could go down to the waterside where the sea had receded for low tide. Then I ended up at McDonalds, out of sheer desperation. And I didn't even end up eating all of what I got because it made me feel sick. I still don't feel great, but now I'm also hungry. Thanks McDonalds. -_-

Oh also, Happy Independence Day, America.

PS - I'm not even gonna bother messing with these photos. The thing with the ferris wheel is Albert Docks. If it has birds, they're Liver Birds. If it looks like a church it's the Cathedral (which apparently has the largest pipe organ in the world with 10,000 pipes. But I forgot to look at it. Poop.) if its something else, take a guess, you're probably right.

PPS - Oh and if you're ever driving in England, watch out - apparently there are some rogue zebras that like to do it in the road.

PPPS - Yes, sometimes I am immature. Shut up, you would have taken a picture of it too.

PPPPS - But did you catch my Beatles reference there? Eh? Eh? ;)