Liverpool, Check!

Travelled to Liverpool on the 14th and left on the 17th! Honestly was not thinking when I booked my trip that I would be travelling in the UK at the same time as St. Patrick’s Day! Apparently, Liverpool has a large population of Irish people! During my first tour of the city, I saw the town hall lit up green in support of the day in fact!

On my first day, I also went to The Beatles Museum and the Cavern Club where The Beatles historically performed nearly 300 times. They helped build the original Cavern Club and played there as the Quarrymen before they became “The Beatles”. There is still lots of live music that takes place at the club and two of the singers I saw perform were singing The Beatles cover songs which just felt like the right thing to do in the space!

I continued to the Albert Docks and walked along the waterfront! Liverpool is famous for their Port so of course there was a Maritime Museum (that I unfortunately didn’t have time to go to) and there were many statues and memorial sites commemorating the British Navy and the lives lost during the World Wars.

It was a very windy evening down by the waterfront and I froze my fingers taking pictures but eventually, the sun came out and lit up the buildings down by the Port.

On my first night in Liverpool, there was a frenzy on the train coming from London only for me to find out once I got to my hostel that the Liverpool football club was playing a game at the Anfield stadium which was a pretty close walk from my hostel. I didn’t have a ticket but I walked to the stadium anyways and sat outside hoping to feel the essence of the game and all the excitement from within (I think I felt it!).

On my second day in Liverpool, I met a girl from my hostel and I invited her to tag along on my tour day since she had just arrived and was also travelling alone. We went to the Liverpool Cathedral which was massive! I’m not great at remembering facts, but I think it is the largest cathedral and religious building in Britain and the 8th largest church in the world. We got tickets to view the top tower of the cathedral and saw all of Liverpool. From my previous day exploring I was able to pick out buildings that looked familiar and understand my position in the city from that height.

We also went to the Museum of Liverpool. I don’t think any museum will be as grand as the British Museum unfortunately, but there was a lot of history about Albert Docks and the creative culture that filled Liverpool after the docks were closed down due to shipping containers being more efficient.

By this time in the day all other museums were closed so we decided to trek to New Brighton to see the Black Pearl shipwreck. Once we got there it started to rain and I was only wearing my puffer jacket for the day… left the raincoat back at the hostel which will be the only decision I regret making that day! The shipwreck was pretty deteriorated from the photos I saw of it on the internet and no plaque explaining the history, so it was hard to decipher if the little dingy we saw was the real thing! We decided to explore the beach some more and walk to the lighthouse. By the time we reached it, my entire backside was soaked through. By the time we reached the shopping centre to catch a bus back to the hostel, my whole body was saturated! I had a long, hot shower once I got back to my room and changed into comfy clothes to make dinner.

I have been finding the groceries are pretty cheap so to save money I’ll buy breakfast and dinner items to have at the hostel. I don’t have all the spices and sauces from my previous house in Campbell River but I’m making do! Also an exciting discovery, I found the worm gummies that my family loves whenever we go to New Zealand or receive care packages from my sister! I will be stocking up on those the next time I see them in the grocery store!

I didn’t really sleep all that well because I was worried I would miss the bus to get to my train this morning (classic!), but it all worked out!

See you at the next blog post! I think I will do Scotland in two parts so you can expect part one to come within a week or so!