Liverpool- Wendesday, July 31, 2013

We skipped breakfast at the "B & B" and went to McDonald's instead.  Then we started to explore the Beatles' city of Liverpool.

We started at the Beatles Story, which seems to be the most important attraction dedicated to them.  The museum takes you through many rooms that represent the different stages of their career.  It starts with the instruments used by John's first band, the Quarrymen.  The Cavern Club where they rose to fame on the Liverpool scene was recreated in detail.  There is an emphasis in their early story, on the people and places in Liverpool that supported them, like the editor of Mersey Beat magazine and their manager, Brian Epstein.  Throughout the museum, there  are instruments that they used at different points in their careers, and clothes that they wore an related artifacts.  John's mohair "Beatles jacket" from early in their career is on display, as are his characteristic round glasses that he wore later.  Ringo's Sgt. Pepper uniform was on display (but since it didn't say otherwise, we think it was a replica.  Somethings on display there were.).  Really, we have one complaint about the museum.  We used the ubiquitous audio guides that we've grown accustomed to, which was fine, but there were also detailed signs everywhere, and usually additional video and audio playing in the exhibit rooms as well.  It was a bit of information overload and difficult to decide what to focus your attention on.  Their story is heavy on the early years but seems to get thinner when it gets to the years of their biggest fame.  For example, almost all of the "late Beatles" stuff is covered in one room, albeit a large colorful one.  The post-Beatles solo careers of each seemed to be nicely summed up and interestingly contrasted with each other, with one round room for each of them.  John's white room with the Imagine piano was quite a moving way to end.

Included in our Beatles Story admission, but located a little ways away, was a 20 minute movie called, "Fab 4-D Experience"  It was an animated 3D movie that used Beatles songs as a sound track.  It was basically an excuse for a cartoon with 4D effects thrown in.  There was a thin plot about a boy who had to get to the Albert Docks to perform with a girl named Anna, whom he had a crush on.  A Sgt. Pepper-esque guide drove a magical bus in to get him there.  Then the soundtrack kicked in from, "the greatest band in history."  The chairs would shake when there was a collision.  You got wet when the bus changed to a yellow submarine and submerged, and bubbles filled the theater when it entered the octopus's garden.  That sort of thing.  It was cute, and something for the girls to enjoy.  Emma said it was her high for the day.

Liverpool may have seen some hard times, but the parts we saw today were dynamic and exciting, and obviously part of a relatively recent revitalization of the area.  The Beatles Story museum and the visitors center where we bought our bus tickets for the afternoon tour are just two small parts of the huge Albert Dock area.  Between Beatles activities, we explored the Albert Dock and beyond, and we were amazed at the things to do.  There are quite a few museums in and near the complex, and many appear to be free.  If time had allowed, we certainly would have had more things to do.  Scott liked seeing several tall ships, and appreciated finding a statue of an emigrant family considering the necessity of leaving to America.  He had to listen to himself and Rush the Growler singing, "The Leaving of Liverpool" as he looked at these. 

We also learned two mythical animals.  The most obvious one was the Liver bird.  It's a mythical bird that you see all over Liverpool from the tops of public buildings to the logo of the Liverpool Football Club, and many things in between.  A lady at the visitors center told us it has become a symbol of Liverpool.  We also saw the Liverpool version of Chicago's painted cow statues (or Buffalo's "Herd About Buffalo").  Liverpool is using a "super lambanana"- half lamb, half banana.  We're still trying to figure that out.

There were many specialty shops in the Albert Docks buildings, and we browsed through some of them.  Julie bought a Liverpool sweatshirt because it has been a bit chilly today.  Anna bought a shirt with the "YOLO" slogan on it, and Emma got some candy.  We ate at a cafe in the Albert Docks and are starting to recognize some food.  Anna got a tuna fish sandwich with cucumbers on it like she's gotten before (although when she got it before, the tuna fish had oranges in it as well).  Scott got a "sausage roll" again which has a sausage, obviously, but it's baked inside a flakey pastry-like crust.

Just before one o'clock, we returned to the visitors centre at the Albert Dock for a Beatles bus tour, called appropriately enough, "The Magical Mystery Tour."  And of course, the bus was appropriately painted like the Magical Mystery Tour bus.  At 12:50, the driver called for everyone on the tour to follow him, and Scott was just a little disappointed that the guide didn't say, "Roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour!  Step right this way!"  The tour was good, though, even if it was a bit pricey and as expected, Emma slept through most of it.  Our guide's name was Paul, and he claimed he didn't just use that name because it was a Beatles tour.  Then he introduced the driver, Ringo.  We thought that the tour did a better job of telling the Beatles story than the museum did, partly because there wasn't information overload.  When the guide wasn't talking, an appropriate Beatles song was playing.  Julie said that she was glad to be on a bus and able to get a break from driving, and it's understandable how stressful it is for her.

The tour takes you to at least one important home in each the four Beatles' lives.  We saw the home where Ringo was born, the nearby home where he spent his childhood, and the pub between them that he used on the cover of his solo "Sentimental Journey" album.  We saw the home where George was born, and where their manager BrIan Epstein's family lived.  We saw the church where Paul first met John, when John's band was playing a local festival.  We saw the home where John grew up with his aunt, and the nearby home where Paul grew up.  Both of those homes are  now run by Britain's National Trust, and it was in Paul's home where they did a lot of their early songwriting.  

Scott thought the most interesting parts of the tour were the parts that have been immortalized and made legendary in their songs.  We visited Penny Lane where there is still "a shelter in the middle of a roundabout," a barber shop, and on the corner there's a bank.  It was a scene that Paul drew upon from the many times he saw it growing up.  Unfortunately, the suburban skies weren't blue today.  We also stopped at the replica gates that stand outside Strawberry Field, which was the inspiration for a song that John wrote about his childhood memories.  Both songs are classics, recorded at about the same time, and that show the two very different but complementary styles of John and Paul, as well as their different childhood memories.  John's seems much sadder than Paul's.   At both places we were able to get off the bus for pictures.

At the end of the tour, we had the option of backtracking on foot for a block or two to see the Cavern Club, but the rain wasn't stopping and we didn't think going back was a good idea.  We went through a rather nice shopping area to cut back to the Albert Docks and find the nearby car park where our car was.  We left Liverpool at shortly after 4:00, with Scott listening to "The Leaving of Liverpool" again with his earbuds.

Tonight, we sleep in Carlisle, our last stop in England.