liverpool 1

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we are in liverpool. came up on the train. it took 2 hrs, 15 min to go the 173 miles. i thought that was moving pretty fast for a train. on the news the rail system is talking about building a new line that will allow 200 miles per hour so liverpool will be less than an hour and they were saying that it would be fast enough so that you could comute to london from scotland. i quess we are a tad behind in public transportation!

first day here we walked down to the docks to see a special presentation set up at the ferry station about john lennon. on the way back we found the cavern club but it was closed. liverpool has about a 10 block section of downtown that is only pedestrian and is loaded with shops, threatres and of course bars.

second day we went to find st peters church where john and paul meet as boys. then wandered around and saw john's family house and the park strawberry fields. after that was penny lane. at penny lane we got hit by rain the first time in england and got soaked. we came across a laundry mat and we stopped in and put our coats th
ru the dryer and waited for the rain to stop. after supper we went down to the cavern club for a bit. in liverpool the idea of a club is to take a room good for about 50 people and shove 150 in and the musicians have at it. (vern went and bought ear plugs the next day!)

the beatles stuff starts on thursday (today) and goes to tuesday. there are hundreds of performers and performances across about 50 venues. on sunday and monday the mathew street festival is on with 6 stages running side by side plus the beatles convention and a fringe festival. most of the performers are tribute bands but there are many up and coming new bands trying to get a break. we see tribute bands from all over the world including canada. we heard and excellent tribute band from brazil. there are people here from many countries, this morning johnnie shared stories with one from argentina.

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Photos

johnnie shopping
shop, shop, shop - it never ends

strawberry fields
johnnie writing on the wall

penny lane
in the rain!!!

another exhibit
johnnie in front of a john lennon display in another beatles exhibit called the beatles story

cavern pub
across the street from the cavern club. we went in to listen to a band. bit crowded eh!

cavern club
inside the cavern club. after the pub we went to the club to listen to another band. bigger so not quite as crowded but that may have been because the group was not as good

more cavern club
johnnie in front of a john lennon relief

and more cavern club
johnnie with her graffeti