Our feet haven’t touched the ground since we got back from Switzerland.  We’ve enjoyed a houseful of friends who have come and gone and had a number of fun and thoughtful conversations around tables at home and elsewhere.  We’ve welcomed more friends and put on our party clothes, staying out till the wee small hours celebrating our friend’s birthday and then piling into the car the following morning to make our way up the M5 and M6 to Liverpool.

Now we are home. Just the two of us. It seems awfully quiet.

 

 

We must learn to consult the tide tables before we go to Crosby next time, however.  Once again, the tide was right up when we arrived and all we could see of the figures was a head and shoulders in most cases.

 

 

Never mind, we walked further up the beach and saw what we needed to see before returning to the car without a cobweb left in our heads!  A good remedy for a late night previously, that’s for sure.

 

 

It was on the way back that we spotted this chap wearing a dress of some kind.  Hmm.

 

 

First stop in Liverpool was the Library.  Well, we did have our Los Angeles Public Library Docent with us and of course, it’s always interesting to get a professional view of these things.

 

 

The vast new atrium is spectacularly light and airy and was well populated even late on a Sunday afternoon.  Lucky Liverpudlians having such a resource available to them.

 

 

Good to see the old hasn’t been completely overlooked though.  The traditional, round library building remains and offers a rather more elegant and peaceful place to read or study.

 

 

We enjoyed a small exhibition of wartime ephemera including this ticket.  I am sure we’d have been there, given the chance!

 

 

Outside, on the street, we enjoyed a shortish walk around the city centre, appreciating the grand buildings, a quick look inside the Walker Art Gallery before it closed for the day and of course, did our best to explain to Mary and Diana just what we think makes Liverpool such a unique city.

 

 

The following morning, we were up with the larks and made our way to The Moose Cafe for breakfast.  Well, though the French Toast wasn’t quite up to our favourite Red Flame Diner standards, the artwork and friendly service made up for all of that and we were well set up for the day!

 

 

On such a beautiful morning, the city was looking at its best.  We tried to explain about the Liver Birds but didn’t know until later that those clock faces are the largest in Europe.

 

 

We watched the Mersey Ferry arrive and wandered around the Pierhead, discovering a wealth of interesting things to see – memorials to a variety of people, a huge urban landscape both new and old and of course, the inevitable people watching.  In our case, listening as well, because the authentic Liverpudlian accent just had to be heard!

 

 

As the ferry came in, of course, we sang.

 

 

We sang again in the little Karaoke booth in the Museum of Liverpool, this time at the tops of our voices, with full accompaniment and to the great amusement of other visitors peering through the windows.  The thought passed through my mind that the joke would have been on us had the booth had a secret camera with the footage being shown live in the museum entrance but hey, we were having FUN!

 

 

Needless to say, for every small corner or media clip that made us smile, there was another one which made us cry.   As an introduction to the city we couldn’t really have done any better than come here and the various displays and themed exhibitions left us all on an absolute high for the rest of the day.

 

 

We stepped briefly inside the Maritime Museum to take a peek at the International Slavery exhibit – look who we found here!  You might recall that we came across Frederick Douglass on several occasions during our road trip earlier this year and here he was yet again, remembered for the part he played in the Underground Railroad.

 

 

By now it was mid afternoon and a little footsore, the bright lights of Liverpool One beckoned.  Who could resist the attractions of a large John Lewis and a huge Waterstones bookshop nearby?  Not one of us.

It was weary footsteps then, that took us back to the hotel and which later influenced our choice of restaurant for dinner.  That we could see ASK from the window was all that was needed to convince us that eating Italian was an excellent idea!

And now we are home.  We took Diana to Manchester airport so she could catch her flight to Chicago and on to LA and then waved to her later as her plane took off over Knutsford services where we stopped for a late breakfast.  Mary collected a hire car from John Lennon Airport and is continuing her adventure (without us!) She’ll drive eastwards towards some of our favourite Yorkshire haunts before returning south later in the week.

Me?  I have a new earworm.  Well, of course, there was no question about what to watch on TV last night, was there?