Liverpool

Read the following in a thick Scouse accent:

Hello from Liverpool!

This morning I got up at 5.30am, got ready and headed to the tube. Flew through the tube doors as they closed and saved myself ten minutes - yesssss! Got to Euston and boarded my 2.5 hour train to Liverpool. 

Why Liverpool and why now? Because in March I created a London list and a UK list. Liverpool was the only place left on that list I hadn't been, and home time is creeping up slowly. 

I arrived about 9.30am and walked out of the train station, at which time I IMMEDIATELY started shivering! Lucky I brought tights, hat, gloves, scarf and coat - boy was it cold!!!

Had a bit of a walk around and checked in early to my hostel. Then i slowly made my way back to St George's Hall opposite the station. It is huuuuuge! Here I saw the New Europe people but I know they never start on time so I meandered around the building checking out what I could (lots of fences up - I soon found out why! Keep reading!). I went back to New Europe right on 11 and joined the queue. A girl behind me asked if we had to book, I assured her I have never had to book and always just turn up. But today 50 people decided to turn up as well. It turned out the lady behind me was called Sanja and she is from Serbia but is currently living in Newcastle. The two of us chatted and reached the front of the line. We were incredibly lucky as we were the last two people let onto the English tour, everyone after us missed out. I would have been devastated as I planned my train time around the tour!!

The tour began and our guide's name was Philip - he was fab! Has lived here his whole life except a gap year in Auckland, New Zealand but has no Scouse accent. The Scouse accent is the accent most Liverpudlians have, and extends about a 10 mile radius out of the city. Philip told us it's a mixture of Irish and Welsh....and sounding like you've got a phlegmy cough! It's been voted the second least romantic accent in Great Britain (Birmingham is the worst - I personally find Newcastle horrid!). The word 'Scouse' comes from a Viking stew of meat and veggies because the Vikings were here up until 1207. 

Liverpool gets its name from the words 'liver' which translates to 'muddy' and 'pool' for pool of water. The river running through it is the Mersey which translates to 'boundary'. 

St George's Hall where we started was built in the 1800s, at the beginning of which Liverpool controlled 40% of the world's trade. There was a 1500% increase in the population during this time, and the hall has a 30,000 tile mosaic floor which I'm going to try and check out tmro. At the moment something very exciting (involving the fences surrounding the outside) is happening - they are using the exterior of the building for filming of the Harry Potter prequel 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them'. So when I watch in 2017 I can say "I WAS THERE WHEN THEY FILMED IT!"

Of course you can't venture far in Liverpool without coming across something Beatles related. We walked past the Empire Theatre, where they apparently played their two last gigs, 2500 people got in each night. 35,000 people camped outside for tickets - woah!

It's also hard to miss St John's Tower here. It was built to ventilate the shopping centre beneath it but is now home to Radio City! It's hideous - think I may go up it tmro so my view of Liverpool is nice and I don't have it in the photos haha. 

We walked through the Gardens behind St George's Hall and we saw a 'Harry Potter' van from Warner Brothers Studios - AAAAAHHHHH!!!!! Then we continued to the Cavern Quarter. We got to Mathew Street and walked down it. It's lined with places claiming Beatle fame! We saw 'The Grapes' - a pub they used to have a drink at before performing at the Cavern Club. Then we reached the original entrance to the Cavern. It was built in the cellar of a warehouse and was closed in like a cave (funny that!). The Beatles played here 292 times between 1960-1963, sometimes sessions even went all night. Five hundred people could fit in and it was extremely hot and stank like disinfectant apparently. Sometimes the condensation got so bad it would stuff up their equipment! The Cavern Club was demolished in 1973 but a replica has been built that sits on 50% on the original premises. Tonight it was booked out but I'm going to go in and check it out tmro. 

We kept walking and randomly came across Oktoberfest in Liverpool (could hear all the drinking songs!) and then got to the river. We walked along and saw some weird sculptures called 'Super Lambananas' - apparently a Liverpool thing. There's a giant yellow one somewhere then lots of painted baby ones. 

We ended up in Albert Dock after this. It was created in 1846 and is a parking area for ships. The tour ended here. Sanja and I decided to stick together and next went to 'The Beatles Story'. This is a 1.5-2 hour tour with an audio guide, information boards and lots of visual props telling the story of the Beatles. It was great and I learned lots about them! Obviously the Beatles were before my time, but my parents have brought me up telling me all about them and familiarising me with loads of their music. It was interesting learning all about them though and I'm looking even more forward to my 'Magical Mystery Bus Tour' tmro now! And in case you're wondering....my favourite song is 'Eleanor Rigby' (I'm listening to it right now!)

Now Ian, please let me know how I go, because you're the expert!!

The Beatles story began when George Harrison and Paul McCartney met on the school bus. They were in different year levels but soon became good friends. Paul McCartney went to a school fete that John Lennon and his then band were playing at and tried out. Lennon loved him and let him in the band, then called 'The Quarrymen'. The band then needed a new guitarist so Paul introduced John to George, and John saw through the apparently "embarrassing" three year age difference and let him in because he could play a song called 'Raunchy'. Originally there was a fifth member of the band, Stuart Sutcliffe. But he was only in because he was John's best friend and apparently he wasn't up to scratch. 

The story took us through recreations of various significant places for the Beatles - Casbah where they used to play, Star Club etc in Hamburg where they started off playing, the Mersey Beat Newspaper office, Hessys guitars where they all bought their guitars on credit, Mathew Street and of course the Cavern Club! Pa - did you know Acker Bilk performed there? Brian Epstein came to the Cavern Club and saw The Beatles perform. He was impressed with their music but not their scruffy appearance. He signed as their manager, but took them to buy suits and get their famous Beatles haircuts!

Along the way Pete Best (the drummer) was replaced by Ringo Star (which apparently lots of fans were not happy about). But by 1964 The Beatles had become the most successful British group ever. It was time to branch out overseas. In '64 they went to the U.S. and were met by screaming crazy fans just as they were in the UK! They were on the 'Ed Sullivan Show' and a whopping 73 million people (1/4 of America's population at the time) watched. In Canada at one stage 9 of the top 10 songs on the radio were Beatles ones. Whilst in America they also played the first ever stadium concert in front of 55,000 people. Throughout their time they amassed 20 #1 hits worldwide and 17 of these were in the UK - they had highlighted Liverpool as the pop capital of the world. 

The Beatles officially split up on the 10th of April in 1970, Paul even took out lawsuits against the others. Over their time as a group they had produced over 200 songs and made 4 movies. 

Can I just say that despite other problems in the world at the time (for instance racism was very rife back then) I am extremely jealous and wish I grew up at the time the Beatles were at large. It must have been an absolutely magical time to grow up, and the only thing I can relate it to for me is having 'Harry Potter' whilst I grew up. Very different but that's all I can compare it to! It must have been amazing though, I can imagine the excitement when all the new songs came out. 

We finished up here and then Sanja left for her train whilst I went to the free International Slavery Museum. I didn't know this until a few days ago, but Liverpool was heavily involved in the transatlantic slave trade. This was the largest forced migration in human history, with 1.5 million people from Africa being transported to the Americas to be slaves to work for European countries' colonies. This figure is 10% of all the people ever transported for slavery. It's Black History month at the moment and we've been doing a fair bit about it with the year 4s at school. Last week we were looking at Olaudah Equiano and Benjamin Zephaniah, so when I sat down and read the huge wall of famous and brave black people I knew their accomplishments straight away, as well as lots of others like Mandela, Martin Luther King.... 

While the museum was really interesting, it was also really depressing. The conditions for all those poor innocent people were absolutely atrocious. And while this chapter is now over, slavery still continues today. There was an exhibition about slavery in India today and I'm not ashamed to say it made me cry. I sat watching a video about young girls in India who are married to the goddesses. They are called Joginis, and this basically means when they hit puberty they become the property of all the men in their village who can use them sexually whenever they see fit. It was absolutely horrendous and very upsetting, but was good to read there are lots of charities doing everything they can to stop this awful practise. India has 1/3 of the world's poorest billion people, and many of these are Dalits, who are seen as the lowest class in Hindu society. 

I went downstairs to the Maritime Museum and had two more levels of depressing information - but a different kind. First there was an exhibition about the Titanic because the papers for it were all signed here. I picked up a card at the start of a passenger, went through and found out his fate at the end. He was lost at sea :( I then read about the Lusitania, which was hit by a torpedo on 7/5/1915 and sank in 18 minutes. 1191 men, women and children died. 

The museum then began to close so I had to leave. As I was heading downstairs, a big group of boys about 16 years old looking with Newcastle (the premier league team) jackets on came past. Then a big group of PSV Eindhoven (a German team), them a big group of Chelsea. I couldn't help myself and asked one of the adults with the last group who had a Chelsea jacket too. Apparently there's a tournament on for the under 16 premier league squads here ATM. He was so lovely and literally talked to me for 5 minutes, asking me how popular the premier league is in Aus and if I follow it. I said a bit but that my brother is a big fan. He told me I probably walked past some of what will be the highest paid premier league players one day!!

I then walked back to my hostel but took my time. I went up the main shopping street and people watched. I bought some dinner from Tesco and sat in the street listening to South Africa vs Wales (the Boks won - bet Mandela is beaming down proudly!!) and continued people watching. Once the rugby ended I had fun listening to buskers and people's horrendous accents haha. 

I walked past the Cavern Club which was bustling. Apparently there's a Beatles show on tonight and I wish I had known as I would have booked. Never mind, I have the bus tour tmro!

Just chilling in the hostel. I should go out, but I'm wrecked, I'm alone and it's cold. I'm going to watch the rugby on my iPad and relax as this week is very very busy and then I'm away again. 

What a great day - another one coming up tmro!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox