Liverpool

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Wednesday August 22 – to Friday August 24 - Liverpool

I arrived safely Tuesday evening and have been exploring Liverpool since. I'm pretty wore out at the minute but have found my way around and the locations of things.

Liverpool is quite an impressive place. I took the 500 bus to Lime Street Station from my hostel. When I got off the 500 bus next to Lime Street Station I was really impressed. The station and St George Hall as well as several other buildings really were massive structures and the last time I recall feeling so impressed was when I came out into the Mall at Washington DC.

The 500 bus is the one that goes to the Airport and back but you can stick your hand out at a bus stop and it will stop. If coming from the airport and going to Lime Street Station to catch a train stay on the bus when it stops at Liverpool One and continue on up the hill to Lime Street Statio, or for that matter unless someone wanted to visit the tourist bureau at Liverpool One the best thing to do would be to go up to Lime Street Station and walk down the hill after exploring locations near the station. There is a space in the front of the bus for the luggage. If someone wanted to take the bus to the airport they could catch it at Liverpool One as well as at Queens Square. The walk from Lime Street Station to the bus stop for the 500 bus for the airport at Queens Square is about 100 yards, but thru heavy traffic. There is a stop near the YHA hostel for the 500 bus if going to the airport or Lime street station if staying at the hostel.

The tourist info center is at the Liverpool One bus stops. This is where you can buy a Saveway Pass which will allow you to ride on most of the busses as well as the Mersey ferry. It is well worth getting.

The Post Office is in the Upstairs of the W H Smith across from Debenhams and Not on Ranelagh Street as shown in the Lonely Planet Guide Book. What used to be the Post Office on Ranelagh Street is now a bank.

Most of the war material from America going to Britain during WW 2 went through Liverpool. This made it a primary target for German Air raids during the war. There we over 80 air raids on Liverpool during the war and my mother was in one of them. She told me when she got off the ship from Ireland there was an air raid going on and the man sent to meet her and escort her to the railway grabbed her hand and they ran to the train station during the raid. Quite an adventure. He later came to Cambridge to see her and wanted to go with her but she told him she wasn't interested in going with anyone at that time.

I invested Tuesday evening as well as Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday exploring Liverpool. I tried to stay 3 more days but my hostel as well as everything else was booked up with reservation because of some Beatles celebration. So I guess I will head on to Cambridge Saturday morning.



August 24 Friday – Liverpool

Today I finished up seeing what I wanted to see in Liverpool and bought a Senior Railcard (over 60) for £28 which entitles me to up to 33% off on Train Tickets. I then bought a train ticket to Coventry that leaves from Lime Street Station in Liverpool and goes to Cambridge. Cambridge is where Mom went to Nursing school during the war. The ticket would have been £73.40 but since I had the Senior Railcard it only cost me £48.45. Thus saving £24.55 on the ticket. So the Senior Railcard almost paid for itself the first time I used it.

I also reserved a bed at the YHA hostel in Cambridge through next Monday. After Cambridge I am looking at going to London for a bit before heading on to Portsmouth if I can find a reasonable priced place to stay.

Thursday I went to the Slavery Museum and the Maritime Museum at Albert’s Dock. Friday I went to the Liverpool Museum and went to take the ferry across the Mersey that is in the Beatles song but just checked it out and took a picture or two and so that sufficed. I didn’t see any real reason to ride it over and back. It was trying to rain and a cold wind started blowing.

Since the Beatles museum is in the same building as the ferry I checked out the gift shop for it and was surprised that one side of it , fully half, was Elvis memorabilia.

After another full day I went back to the hostel and drank my tea and looked over a few details on the internet. There is no free internet at this hostel so I had to buy a £5 a day card and it runs out at 22:30 so after that I will not have access to internet till sometime Saturday. Hopefully they will have it on the train.

BTW: Liverpool and everything around it is called Merseyside by the people who live there.

The Lonely Planet guidebook said there are some beautiful places to walk in Cambridge so that sounds good.

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Photos

YHA Hostel
YHA Hostel 25 Tabley Street off Wapping. Next to the Hampton.