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.

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? ;)

Day 21: Liverpool, City of the Mersey Beat!

This city is so proud of its (rather awesome) musical history. Seriously, not only is everything a reference to the Beatles, but everyone legitimately loves them. The city has retained, through decades of pilgrimages of tourists, the badassness that made the Beatles who they are.

Also, for the first time on this trip (besides the Canadian cyclist girl in Stratford whom I helped book a cheap train ticket to the coast), I made some friends! Sort of.

First is Jen. She's from China and her name is unfortunately too complicated for me to pronounce. So, Jen. She has lived in Sweden for four years and so has a very strange accent, though she speaks good English. Today we went to The Beatles Story museum together, though we ended up losing each other and going separate ways. But the museum was kind of neat - very processed, if that makes sense, but I learned a lot. It did, as my guidebook said it would, gloss over some of the grittier aspects of Beatles history, like the influence of drugs and sex on their music and personalities. And there was not one unconservative picture of John and/or Yoko, which disappointed me because the edgier pictures are some of my favorites. But generally I love Beatles/early rock n roll photography because it's so characteristic and raw and gritty, but there's something clean about it too, something un-alarming, unlike the music photography of, say, the 80s and 90s (think Nirvana). Not that I don't like that kind of photography, too, it's just...different. And I liked the black and white better. :)

Anyway, my second "friend". This one I hesitate to call a friend because I suspect he may have ulterior motives (very strongly suspect, in fact). He asked to sit with me at breakfast (which was weird because I was having a very serious phone conversation at the time) and then proceeded to flirt unashamedly with me (which was confusing because I looked awful, and I'm not making that up - I literally looked at myself in the mirror this morning, flinched, then said, "Eh. Who am I trying to impress?"). So this poor guy's from Beaumont, Texas (go figure) where he studies history. I get the impression that he came to Liverpool exclusively to go to clubs. He's nice, in an arrogant sort of way, I suppose. We talked again before dinner (about his school plans, his affected British accent, his trip, his love of cars, his clubbing adventures...you get the idea). But at least he's someone to have a conversation with, and at least I can be reassured that three weeks of silence haven't totally numbed my social skills. Still, I wish Skylar was here to reciprocate his flirtations. (hahaha just kidding. Sort of. :-P)

But that's basically totally irrelevant, so I will get back to my day. After the museum, I wondered around for a while and eventually got on the Magical Mystery Tour bus, guided by a super awesome Liverpudlian man who played John Lennon in the film 'In His Life: John Lennon". He was incredibly knowledgable, and his accent, coupled with his very Beatles-esque humor, had me laughing the whole time. Seriously, if you're ever in Liverpool, this is the tour to take. We saw the church where Paul auditioned and failed to join the church choir, the stadium that was built for Paul, the original sites where the Quarrymen played, all of the houses they each lived in in Liverpool, all of the parks and roads and shops that had any relevance at all to them, Penny Lane, and, of course, Strawberry Fields. I swear I learned a ton of stuff about them, but it's not the kind of stuff I can just spout out, or I would - it'll come to me randomly when the context is right and I'll be able to show off my superior Beatles knowledge. :)

The tour ended at the Cavern Club, which, to my surprise, is not primarily a tourist destination but still functions as an operating club, pub, bar, and venue for artists famous and brand new. Everyone you've ever heard of has played there, from Bo Diddley to Bob Dylan to Adele. When I went in a guy was playing (really good) acoustic covers of Beatles and Beatles-related songs. That the sound is awesome down there was a definite plus. I will certainly have to go back there one might to see a big performance.

Anyway, that's basically it. Liverpool's a really, really neat town, and there's a lot to do, but it's really not an easily navigable place by public transport. Walking's okay, but the hostel is just far enough away that it's annoying to walk that far to go anywhere. And I have there full days here, so it will be fine. Still, this would be a really fun place to come with friends - full of dancing and music and stuff. But oh we'll. Next time.

PS - The Penny Lane sign is barely a day old. In fact, I'm sure that particular sign is no longer there. The city has to replace it almost every day. Haha.

PSS - As you can see, I have given up on taking good pictures. I'm completely sick of my phone camera. Ugh.