Day 23: Liverpool, City of Beatle Pride (duh)

I went on a guided tour of John Lennon's childhood home, Mendips, where he lived for eighteen years, and Paul McCartney's childhood home, 20 Forthins Road, where he spent maybe ten years after his mother died. Both have been restored to their original 50's glory, as accurate as possible to John and Paul's homes. A neat old couple, both of whom know Yoko and Paul personally (who donated the houses), guided the tours. It was fascinating comparing the stories and anecdotes they shared with the movie Nowhere Boy (excellent movie, by the way) about John's teenage years. Though they got some stuff wrong (where were the students Mimi boarded in their house to supplement her husband's meager income?) the vibe of the place definitely came through in the movie. It made me laugh to look through the passport John used as the Beatles started traveling and seeing a young rebel with Elvis hair staring back challengingly - that part the actor portrayed perfectly. It was also neat to see the memorabilia: John's school reports (often "shows promise but lacking in effort"), a photograph from the 60s legitimately signed by all four of them, and photographs taken by the (enormously talented) brother of Paul, Michael, of their family and home life, which made me really want to get my vintage cameras working. I stood in all the places John, Paul, and George would rehearse and write in on Sunday afternoons (hm, that reminds me of someone... :-P) : Paul's living room, John's parlor, and John's bedroom, the room in which, as he told Yoko, he "did his dreaming in" as a boy. Overall, a very neat tour, but I couldn't take pictures of the inside.

The rest of my day was pretty simple: wandered, wondered what to do, got food, wandered, ended up at the Cavern Club, watched some music, wandered, got lost, went back to the room, got bored, wondered what to do, wandered, got food, ended up at the Cavern Club, watched music, came home. Now I'm exhausted, even though that doesn't sound like much, it's a lot of walking. The Cavern is not really near my hostel at all. But that's pretty much it.