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Published: February 20th 2008
Pool of Life
"Liverpool the pool of life" Quote by CJ JungIn between touring some of the major cities and countries, we explored bits of England. From the Tor in Glastonbury, rock formations in Stonehenge and Avebury, to a different kind of rock in Liverpool…
Liverpool: The Beatles and the Culture Capital (November 2007) A young girl sits next to the old, gigantic dark wood stereo cabinet. Morning sunlight streams through the house’s many windows. Next to her, sitting cross-legged, her dad, barefoot and in faded jeans, holds an album jacket. Records are scattered on the floor as the jangling guitars and melodic voices of John Lennon and Paul McCartney blend in song.
This is one of my earliest memories of the Beatles. Every Saturday, before commencing our chores, my dad and brothers and I sat around the record player listening to the Fab Four. I vowed someday that I would visit the home of the Beatles.
But Liverpool is not just known for the Beatles. It is one of the country’s busiest ports. In the 1940s and 1950s, sailors would bring back all kinds of things from abroad—this is how England (and John, Paul, George, and Ringo) were introduced to rock and roll
music. This year Liverpool is the Capital of Culture.
All of that said, we were really there to see the Beatles' birthplace. We booked ourselves on a Beatles Official Bus Tour on Sunday morning. Along with 8 or 10 other souls braving the cold, we took a ride around Liverpool to visit the homes of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. We saw Penny Lane, including the barbershop, the banker, and the place where the nurse sells poppies. My favourite stop was Strawberry Field. Strawberry Field is a Salvation Army children's home. As the tour went on, we sang along to Beatles songs, steaming up the windows, all thoroughly pleased with our back-up vocals we provided for the Fab Four. The tour ended at the Cavern Club. The Cavern Club was filled in with concrete in the 1973. In 1984, excavators discovered the club and restored the club. The atmosphere is similar--like drinking a pint in a cave while listening to the Beatles!
We found Liverpudlians to be friendly, too. We sat in the pub with a pint talking to people who grew up here. We met a lovely couple just out for a couple of drinks
on their wedding anniversary before heading home, as well as another man who had more than his share of ale and was fascinated with our accents!
We took a ferry ride, walked around Liverpool, and sampled the Chinese buffets, which were filled with Liverpudlians. Liverpool has many Chinese buffets due to the many Chinese people who live in Liverpool. Liverpool has the oldest Chinatown in Europe.
Glastonbury: The Tor (December 2007) Glastonbury in the winter, I have a feeling, is much different than Glastonbury in the summer. For one, we were in between pagan holidays. Samhain is celebrated on October 31 and Winter Solstice doesn’t happen until December 21. But off we went.
Another train ride, a wee bit of a bus trip, and there we were. All was quiet when we arrived in Glastonbury. There was nary a soul in sight as we made our way to our guest house on the main road into town. We wandered around the charming town, before finally settling on an Italian restaurant, run by an Italian family, next door.
The next day we planned our route up to the Tor and the Chalice Well Gardens.
We decided to walk, rather than take the shuttle bus. Again in town, it was very quiet. The town was deserted. I mused that the people must all be at the Tor.
According to Wikipedia, Tor is a word for “conical hill” and is Celtic in origin. Some say it is a mystical place; some say it is a great tower on a hill.
The day started out with a light, misty rain; no problem, we were less than a mile away. We made our way along the muddy path, surrounded by green trees, fields, and grey skies. We began our ascent, wind ruffling our hair. On the way up, we met a guy with his dog. “Be very careful up there—it is very slippery" he said tipping his rain hat at me. Wind? Slippery? What was he talking about? We continued our way to the Tor, the wind blowing harder and harder. I felt worried, but continued; I had to make my way there. The wind practically howled past my ear as we ascended the last few steps; I only had two steps to go. Jason was at the top, already running around St Michael’s Tower. Despite
the wind blowing me sideways, I made the last two steps up to the Tower. The wind was relentless up there, too. After taking in the view, we decided to climb down, and possibly find the Chalice Well Gardens. The lower we came on the hill, the harder it rained. By the time we reached the bottom, we were being pelted with hail! Due to the wind, the back side of our pants were drenched, while the front was still dry.
Jason said, “I don’t want to go to the Chalice Wells Gardens—I am soaked to the skin!” I was a little put off, but being soaked to the skin also, agreed that we should just go back to the guest house.. Just as we were rounding the corner to go back into town, we came to a small courtyard filled with plants and statues, where a stick of incense was burning; no one was around. A few more steps, and we discovered a gate that beckoned us to come through it. How could we not? The Chalice Gardens were as peaceful and quiet as the Tor was stormy and noisy. All throughout the garden were pools, one of
which is said to hold healing waters. We came upon another pool sheltered by huge trees; stone spirals and the chalice symbol were integrated throughout the garden. Raindrops made complementary circles in the pools and puddles. We left the garden a little bit drier, a little bit more relaxed, and carrying a bottle of Chalice Wells water.
Stonehenge and Avebury (January 2008) You can't see one with out the other, that's what we concluded after a trip to these two mystical sites. These two mystical sites are just a bus ride away from the city of Salisbury. After learning about the history of Stonehenge, it helped put Avebury into perspective, and was therefore, more impressive.
After a 12 minute bus ride from Salisbury, we arrived at Stonehenge. Britons began building Stonehenge around 3000 B.C. Originally, the Britons arranged wood posts in a circle surrounded by a ditch. Over the next thousand years, the Britons brought 25 ton stones to the circle from Wales (approximately 150 miles). The Britons propped up the the stones and laid 25 ton capstones on top. Stonehenge sits on top of a hill. An altar stone sat in the middle
of the Stonehenge. An avenue leads to Stonehenge from the Avon River. As a procession of Britons would walk up to Stonehenge, Stonehenge's position on top of the hill made it look larger than it actually was. Stonehenge's perceived size served as a warning to other people to leave the settlement alone.
There are several theories for why Britons built Stonehenge. The first theory states that the Britons who built Stonehenge did so to display their power. However, on the Solstices, the sun would shine directly on the altar stone. Smaller stones surround the Stonehenge. On the Equinoxes, the sun would shine across these stones and through Stonehenge. These facts suggest that Stonehenge may have been used as a calendar to determine the beginning and endings of the seasons, an important role for a newly agricultural society. Altenatively, these facts may suggest a religious purpose.
Today, the M25 runs within 10 meters of Stonehenge's outer circle. The road creates a complete circle around Stonehenge's circle, creating a very large roundabout! It can be a challenge imagining people dragging extremely large stones up the hill to Stonehenge while a lorrie drives by or a procession of Britons
I am a rock
See, these stones are just as big as the stones at Stonehenge, they are just farther apart. (Avebury)
leading to Stonehenge while a tourist parks their car nearby and takes a picture over the fence that separates Stonehenge from the motorway. Yet somehow, we find a way.
After a two hour bus ride from Salisbury, we arrived at the town of Avebury. Fittingly, in England, the bus dropped us off at Avebury's pub. The town of Avebury sits within three rings of large stones. From the main highway, a road follows the ancient avenue and arrives in the middle of Avebury. We walked through the mud, leaned against the stones, and viewed the massive stones from just inches away. Much of the stones are buried underneath the ground, so they are actually even larger than we could see.
Primrose Hill Walk (February 9) I started with the Beatles so I will end with the Beatles. The sun was out, my work colleague, Noshela, had nothing to do, so we grabbed our bags and headed to north London. The route took us past Camden Locks and Camden Market, past London Zoo, up Primrose Hill for some prize views of London, and over to Abbey Road studios and the famous walk on the front cover of
Fool on the Hill?
A Beatles reference, couldn't be helped as we were on our way to Abbey Road! the Beatles album "Abbey Road".
Immediately after getting off of the tube in Camden Town, we were faced with Camden Market and Camden Locks. It was hard to resist the lure of the funky shops and stalls; and our brief stop turned into two hours of browsing and shopping and just taking in the different sights and sounds. Food vendors selling Caribbean, Asian, and Mexican food competed for our attention with their delicious smells. Mexican food in London! I had to have some! I even used a few words of Spanish with the vendor. He spoke to me in nothing but Spanish--music to my ears! We walked around the market a bit more; Noshela bought a few things, and I found one of those cool bracelets made out of an antique fork; the loveliest Jamaican man crafted these bracelets--we had a good chat about how he creates his jewelry. For a London market, it was not as crowded as I expected. The sun was shining pleasantly, so we decided to move on to the next stop: Primrose Hill. Of course we had to take the long route up (translation: we were lost), but we eventually ended up on this
Beatles Crossing
The famous Abbey Road
green hill overlooking London. Many people were on top of this hill, chatting and enjoying the brief warmth of the day. We rested our feet a little bit before dashing down the hill as fast as we could.
As beautiful of a day as it was, I was excited to reach Abbey Road, and excitement caused us to take an even longer way there--through and around the beautiful gardens of Regent's Park.
And then!
Tthere were the zebra stripes that the Fab Four walked across on their 1969 album. Abbey Road studios is still there, surrounded by a black gate and not open to the public, as musicians still record there.
It was getting pretty late, and we were pretty hungry, so we decided to explore what is known as "Little Venice". We were hoping the food in Little Venice would be food as good as in Venice. We walked and walked, asking for directions occasionally. One particularly friendly Australian appointed himself as our unofficial tour guide of Little Venice. As we walked along the canal (hence the way it earned its name "Little Venice"), we came upon several police cars; they were dredging the canal
and would not disclose as to why. Our imagnations ran wild; we walked a bit further. The man asked us if we wanted to walk along the (dark, unlit) canal bank. We declined. On the way back to a tiny, out-of-the-way pizzeria, he had to show us one more thing--something I have not seen anything close to since I have been to London.
The Prince Alfred pub. The most outstanding feature about this pub is its tall thick etched windows. As we entered, we noticed that the bar was split into compartments. There was a little door that we had to bend down to get through to the bartender to order the pint. Each compartment has its own door, too! They partitioned the pub so that ladies drank in one compartment and so the upperclass could drink without the lower classes looking on. I sorely wanted to taste a pint there--but Noshela was hungry, and the fact was, the Australian was still a stranger. He finally took his leave of us, and we enjoyed a quiet Italian dinner at an out-of-the way spot near the tube station.
North London seemed so much quieter, mellower than the other bits
of London I had seen. The Australian said that not many tourists come to this area of town. Today I was glad!
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everett
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All I could think of when seeing the size of that huge stone was "She's so heavy."