I'm Tired, so here's more Liverpool pictures

Late night tonight, I'll post on Snowdonia tomorrow. In the meantime, here are some more pictures of Liverpool for you.

A bowl of Ma' Boyle's Scouse - the dish that Liverpuddlians get their nickname - Scousers. It tastes like stew. It is stew.

Interesting door handle

A remnant from 2008 when Liverpool was named the European Capital of Culture


The Ferris Wheel on Albert Dock at night


What I affectionately call the "Serve or Die" statue. The statue basically says that if you refuse to serve in the military, you will be locked up, or put to death. The statue came complete with what looked like prison cells (see the grates at the base of the statue).


A picture of a picture of the Fab 4


A tribute to John


Paul and Julian - The composer and the muse of "Hey Jude"


Speaking of "Hey Jude" how about a Gold Record?


Please yield to the Humped Zebras

Liverpool: Beatles, Soccer, Cathedral, and Nightlife

Wow, what a weekend! Once I got past the pain of Ryan Air's boarding policies, I settled in and started enjoying myself. I visited Beatles museums, a monstrous cathedral, the highest peak in Wales, a few football (soccer) stadiums, a castle or two, and a few bars along the way. In addition, I had another run-in with the evil volcano, Eyjafjallajökull. The story is long enough that I'm going to break it into two parts: Liverpool & Snowdonia.

Liverpool

After landing in Liverpool, my colleague took me to THE most important attraction in the city: Ansfield Stadium, the home of Liverpool FC. There is also a shrine to the Hillsborough 96, the unfortunate 96 people who died at Hillsborough stadium in a 1989 FA Cup semi-final match against Nottingham Forest FC. Often misunderstood as an event of hooliganism, the cause of this tragedy was in fact due to the police trying to control the crowd at the expense of their safety. The deaths all occurred prior to the match starting as the crush of fans tried to get into the stadium. All 96 people who died were Liverpool FC supporters. R.I.P - The Hillsborough 96


Now that we got that depressing bit out of the way. On to something a little more fun: Friday. I started Friday out with a trip to two Beatles museums. The Beatles Story and The Beatles Story - Pier Head. One admission gets you into both museums. I learned quite a bit about the Fab 4 that I didn't know, including that Stuart Sutcliffe was the fifth Beatle (who left the band early on to pursue his art career, but died shortly after. He was not alive to experience the regret of leaving the band. Additionally, I learned that Ringo Starr replaced Pete Best as the drummer. These may be known to your average Beatle-ologist, but it was unbeknown to me, your average Gen-Xer who barely remembers holding vigil for John Lennon in elementary school.

The Pier Head exhibition really hit me hard as it was sponsored by Cynthia Lennon (John Lennon's ex-wife) and Julian Lennon (John and Cynthia's son). In this exhibit were quite a few pieces of John Lennon memorabilia. What hit me hard were the correspondence displayed like love letters from John to Cynthia from the road and a postcard from Julian to his father which simply read: "Lover from Julian to Daddy." My eyes got a little wet as I thought dearly of my family at home. Here are a couple more pictures:



I then visited one of the largest cathedrals in the world: Liverpool Cathedral. This was an unexpected find for me. I had walked all around Liverpool taking pictures of the different buildings and enjoying the scenery. When my colleague met me, he didn't know what to show me because I'd walked all over town and seen it all. He finally walked me up to Liverpool Cathedral, which I passed on because it was a little of of the way (I also didn't know that it was one of the largest cathedrals in the world - I just thought it was closer than it looked). When we got there, I was in awe of the immensity of the building. The cafe and gift shop in the sanctuary is a nice touch.


Finally, I ended my first day with a night on the town, where I believe that a scouser (that is the nickname for people from Liverpool) was hitting on me. He kept coming over by me and putting his arm around me. I couldn't understand a freakin' thing he said over the music and through his scouser accent. I got out of there as quick as I could. I did see a good show at the Cavern Club, which is famous for being one of the Beatles favorite venues.


Next: On to Snowdonia!

Welcome to Liverpool

I made it to Liverpool last night, but my bag almost didn't make it. Let me rephrase, I almost had to pay for my carry-on bag. If you've never had the experience of flying Ryan Air, you may not understand. Let me explain.

Ryan Air has revolutionized air travel in Europe with low cost flights to most of Europe. There are a few ways that they have been able to accomplish this. First, they have 1 model of airplane. A few days after 9/11, the owner of Ryan Air made the single largest purchase of airplanes from Boeing . . . ever. Every model airplane he bought was the same. What does this mean? One set of maintenance parts, one set of training manuals for the crew, etc. He standardized his fleet.

Second, Ryan Air brokers deals with local municipalities/chambers of commerce to subsidize flights coming into their airports. For instance, Liverpool may pay Ryan Air 100,000 GBP annually to fly into Liverpool. I don't know offhand if Liverpool has a deal like this with Ryan Air, but it is how Ryan Air does business. Why would a city agree to do something like this? It brings in tourism dollars in excess of what they pay Ryan Air.

Finally, Ryan Air charges you a la carte for just about everything under the sun. Want to use a credit card to book? 5 Euro. Want to check a bag? 25 Euro. Forget to check-in online and bring your boarding pass? 25 Euro. Your carry-on bag is oversize? Check it for 25 Euro.

So back to my story . . . as I was boarding the airplane, one of the Ryan Air employees pulled me aside and asked me to check to see if my bag fit into their metal frame. On my first attempt, it didn't fit. I moved some things around. Still didn't fit. I sat there for about 5 minutes rearranging my bag stuffing, kicking, and pushing on my bag to get it into that damn metal frame. It was tight, but by God, I made it fit. Once I got it into the metal frame, it took me another minute or two to get it back out. Meanwhile, people with larger bags than mine walked right past because the frame was occupied by me and my bag.

So a lessons learned for me: 1) Pack light ; 2) Wear layers of clothing on Ryan Air flights so that your bag fits in the frame; 3) Make sure you don't have an odd-shaped bag.

A Magical Mystery Tour

I landed in Dublin yesterday and I am already packing to leave. About two months ago, I booked a Ryan Air flight to Liverpool for 26 Euros (about $30 US). It was such a good price that if I didn't use it, I wouldn't be too upset at losing $30.

As of yesterday morning, I was planning on not going to Liverpool. Being two days late into Dublin - I was a little self conscious about how much work I had to catch up on. However, after being back in town yesterday, getting caught up, and talking to my team members, I've decided to use the flight and have a weekend in Liverpool.

One of my main concerns was that I would not be able to get back to Dublin if the volcanic ash cloud shifted once again. My colleague from Liverpool has assured me if that happens, he'll pick me up from my hotel and we'll take the ferry back to Dublin.

So, with all of my concerns addressed, I'm flying out to Liverpool tonight - returning early Monday morning. Of the many things to do in Liverpool, I do plan on taking the Magical Mystery Tour, taking in some Beatles history.

I'll also likely visit Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. The rest of my agenda for the weekend in wide open. I've rented a car - let's see where it takes me.