Liverpool, England

Liverpool

A simple(r) breakfast!

This morning we headed up the Mersey River, and landed in Liverpool, the home of the Beetles… and also the 4^th largest metropolitan area in England.  LOTS of people had Beetles themed tours, but we did not.  We had an afternoon tour, but being docked right near the city, we walked in and found a bank.  They let us exchange our paper Pounds for the current “plastic” notes.  We also bought a flag, since that’s what we’re collecting now.

The old building in the middle has a sign that says:
"From here all the world's futures".  It's surrounded by new buildings!

Just a random street with Beetles stuff.

More Beetles stuff.

A monument to the "Engine workers".
When the Titanic sunk, the engine workers stayed
at it to literally keep the lights on as long as possible, 
forgoing their own chances to escape.  So, this is for them.

The gangplank from the land to the floating jetty.

Ahhh...beautiful FUEL!!!  (I wanted to go validate the quality!)

The Lyceum.  Lady Lever used to give each child a classic
book for one of their birthdays.  They kept a list so they knew
what the family had, so they would have a fair collection.

In the afternoon, we boarded a bus to Port Sunlight, a “company town” built by the soap company that eventually became Unilever.  The owner of the company, William Leverhulme, believed strongly in taking good care of his employees, so he built a town exclusively for his workers and their families.  All of the homes were 3 or 4 bedrooms, and had some of the nicest amenities of the day.  And for a 130+ year old community, it really looked good. 

Several pictures of the community follow:

People playing "Bowls" (lawn bowling?)

A memorial Lord Lever erected for those from Port Sunlight
who died in WWI.  He paid for it on his own.

One of the housing units.

More homes.

Another home.

More of the town ambiance.

Not a bad looking place for 19th century "laborers".

It was important that each family had their own "toilet" and that
it be only a few feet from their back door.  How delightful!!

The museum.

We then went to the museum he left in honor of his wife.  He was a great collector of art, but wanted it to be available to others, so built the museum.  Our guide took us quickly through it and highlighted some key artifacts.  Then we had some time to run around on our own.  It was gorgeous, but like a lot of very fine art…much of it wasn’t suitable for all (those “classics” and their nudes!).

Inside the museum.  It was beautiful.

A globe with a very small United States (sans Florida!).

Scones are awful.  Jam isn't.

We then headed to a former church where they served us tea and scones.  Theresa was very happy!

The gangway dropped a LOT when the tide went out (30+ Feet)

The Liver building was used as "Gotham City Hall" and they 
had some shots with "Batman" just below the clock.

Some Royal Navy ships.

Back on the ship we prepared for dinner, and ate with our “local” friends on our trivia team.  It was very nice!  Then Theresa went to the show and Bill got started on the story of the day!

PS -- The show Theresa went to was a Beatles Tribute band called "Just John and Paul". It was great fun!