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Published: August 6th 2008
Well, Liverpool is not one of my favourite cities, sad to say. I seem to have managed to see a huge portion of the city in just a few hours. I also wasn't very impressed with my hostel, which may have influenced my opinion of this place....
I got out of the train station to wet weather, so I put on my jacket and started walking to the hostel. A 10-15 minute walk? Maybe if you're not carrying a million pounds of stuff on your back!!! Anyway, I arrived at the hostel, sweaty and hot, and was able to dump my stuff in my room. The first thing I noticed was that the bathroom (ensuite) was dank and had a moldy smell to it, and the other, was that the beds creaked with every movement. And this was the place that said that it went all out and bought good beds so that you wouldn't have a sore back in the morning! Yeah, right.
I got a map from reception and asked them where the free exhibits were, since I had heard that there was one about the Beatles as well as other bands. I was told to go down to the docks and visit the Tate museum. I headed down there, and stopped at the cathedral along the way. It was okay. I also stopped by the "largest Chinese arch outside of China". Yeah, okay. I guess they haven't seen the one in Montreal.... I wasn't that impressed. I did, however, see some funny sculptures around the city, much like our Toronto moose. These were called Bananalambs. It's a cross of a banana and a lamb. Weird.
I walked down to the docks, and found a tourist office. I saw a flyer about the free exhibit that I had inquired about, and discovered that it was NOT at the Tate, but rather at the World Museum, which was a good half hour walk away. It was already 3:40pm and the place closed at 5pm. I was NOT impressed. I rushed down there, passing a bunch of stores along the way (like an outdoor mall), and made it to the museum by 4ish. Again, I was NOT impressed by the exhibit. I don't know quite what I was expecting, perhaps more info on the Beatles, but it was haphazardly displayed, with no real order to it. I explored the rest of the museum during the remaining time, and was also not impressed. It had nothing on the ROM! Good thing it was free!
I wandered down to the Cavern Club, which is where the Beatles first played and made the club famous. There were a few sculptures down there of the Beatles, and names of bands who have performed at the Cavern Club have their names engraved on the bricks outside of the club. I got a few photos of that. I wandered around some more, and then decided that I was too hungry to do much else. I went to a pub for fish and chips, and some cider, and was disappointed by that. It tasted like an overdone Captain Highliner fish filet. First time I'd had fish and chips over here that was crummy. 😞
I headed back to the hostel just a little while later, and met one of my roommates. She was italian, and found it easier to communicate in French, so we chatted a while in French. I decided to hit the kitchen for a cup of tea (it was free there) and met up with a girl who I had met at the hostel in Cardiff! What a strange coincidence! We chatted for about half an hour about where we'd been and where we were going. I never did get either girl's name.
Finally, I tried to get some sleep, but like I mentioned, the bed creaked and groaned with every turn. Not comfortable at all. Around 2am, two other girls crashed their way in and got settled (I think that they had just arrived in Liverpool), but of course it woke me up.
I finally got up around 9ish this morning, and then headed for breakfast. No bread available for toast, and my cup of tea tasted like the lemon dish soap. Blech. Again, not really impressed with the hostel. I checked out at 11am, and tried to figure out what to do before catching a bus to the airport. The hostel would keep my bags, but for £1 each, even though their website had mentioned free luggage storage. The internet cafe next door (where I am now) told me their internet was down. I wandered around for a bit on the street, and then came back to the cafe to see if the internet was up. It was!!! Hallelujah! Nothing worse than having to carry huge heavy bags around and have nothing to do. I suppose that I could have walked up to the Anglican church (which from a distance looks really ugly!) and checked it out, but I really didn't feel like lugging all my stuff that distance.
Anyway, I'm off to Belfast this afternoon, and looking forward to it!!! The Giant's Causeway looks amazing, and Belfast should be quite interesting!
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michelle
non-member comment
BANANAlambs????
i can't wait to see a picture of one of these things...i'm having a tough time putting those two items together in my head!! what's next??? applepigs? pineapplegiraffes? kiwicows? have fun in belfast :)