January: Leaving Liverpool in a hurry

I decided that, if I was going to make an effort to have a trip once a month, I should start off strong and bugger off for a bit in the first week of the year. Let me preface this by saying that my job is very, very busy in December, so booking the first week of January off seemed like a sensible way to unwind after the madness! Liverpool seemed like a good option when looking for a place to do that in. It's a place with lots of history, especially around the dock area where I was staying. Of course, I was aware that The Beatles were very famously from Liverpool, and I wanted to be a Beatles tourist. Also, I knew that there were plenty of indoor places to explore if the weather was a little bit less than ideal. In the end, I couldn't have predicted that a weather warning would leave me having to grab my bags and scarper back to the correct side of the Pennines before I got myself trapped there! 

When I arrived in Liverpool, it was just past 1pm and my hotel check in wasn't supposed to be until 3. However, when I asked the lovely lady behind the desk at The Heeton Concept Hotel if I could leave my bag for a while, she very kindly let me check into a room that was already ready. Dropping the suitcase in the room, which overlooked The Albert Dock, I headed straight out to the nearest museum.

The Museum of Liverpool is an absolutely amazing museum. Not only was it directly across the road from my hotel, but it is free entry. It houses a real mix of objects from across Liverpool's history, right from when early man inhabited the area, up to modern day celebrity artefacts. Upstairs was a huge area about the celebrities, TV shows, and films that call Liverpool home. There were so many exhibits that I genuinely couldn't even begin to try to name all of the ones referenced. From Brookside, to Lily Savage, to Ken Dodd, to the Batman films that used the streets of Liverpool as a stand in for Gotham City, they were all there. And, of course, there was more than a passing reference to The Beatles, including their famous grey suits. Needless to say, if you've ever turned on the TV and heard a scouse accent, they've probably got a prop or a costume from the person or programme you've seen. 

It had a whole area dedicated to the industrial and port history where, strangely enough, I was reminded of Hull and the Old Town. In this area was the one item that made me the most star struck. You might be forgiven for thinking that clobber that has been on the back of The Fab Four would be the highlight, but no. As a huge fan of an Ealing Comedy, spotting Lion in the centre of the industrial history zone really made my jaw drop. Lion is an engine that used to be used on the docks. In its retirement, Lion was used as The Titfield Thunderbolt, a brilliant underdog tale that includes a real who's-who of 1950s British comedy. Incidentally, Lion was driven in the film by another Liverpool native, John Gregson. Who'd have thought I'd run into the star of one of my favourite films?!

After this, it was still quite early, so I went for a walk around Albert dock, and found myself at The Wheel of Liverpool by the arena. It seemed like a fun way to see the city and get my bearings. There were only 2 problems with this as a theory. The first was that it was getting dark and rainy. The second was that I'd forgotten how absolutely terrified of heights I am, especially when hanging suspended in a swinging pod, in a stiff breeze. The operator who stopped me at the top probably thought that they were doing me a favour and letting me check out the view. They were, but they also raised my blood pressure considerably.

The following day, was very much a Beatles themed day. There is a cafe on Albert Dock called The Fab Four cafe. If you can't work out what the theme of this place is, then maybe Liverpool isn't for you. Listening to an array of Beatles songs, at a table perched on a zebra crossing really did get me in the mood for The Magical Mystery Tour. A very jazzily decorated bus takes you from the Albert Dock round Liverpool, on a pilgrimage of the most important sites to Beatles fans. We stopped at Ringo Starr's childhood home, George Harrison's childhood home, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, Mendips (John Lennon's childhood home), Paul McCartney's childhood home (where they wrote a lot of their early songs in his bathroom), and finished up at The Cavern. The guide was great, and told us lots of stories about the early days of the band, as well as more modern anecdotes of Paul McCartney still playing gigs in the city. We even had a little sing song on the way between the sites we were visiting. As for The Cavern, it seemed the done thing to have a pint and listen to the artist playing in there that afternoon. I even got talking to a lovely old man who had been visiting once a week since The Quarrymen were playing lunchtime gigs. My mum really is right when she says that I seem to get the life stories of people wherever I go.

Then we hit my last day in Liverpool. By this time, we had a severe snow warning for the area across the Pennines. The very area that I needed to pass over via train in order to get home. My train booking had been cancelled due to the weather, with it being transferred to any other booking up to 3 hours either side of it. Now smart money was on the snow getting worse rather than better, so I decided that I needed to get out of there before I was stuck. That morning, over a Weatherspoon's breakfast (don't get the large full English. A bowl of porridge and a bacon and egg muffin is much more filling and lower calories!), I discovered that it was the opening day of the Titanic exhibit in the White Star Hotel next door to where I was staying. The White Star Hotel used to be the offices of The White Star Line, so they obviously have quite a lot of Titanic artifacts and information. It was small, but interesting. It amazes me that so much of the ship is disintegrating, but there was a whole deckchair that the passengers would have lounged on, just in the corner of a room in Liverpool. It was good, but there are other, more extensive Titanic exhibitions out there. 

Then, the bags were grabbed, and off I trotted to get the first train I was able to catch to make sure that I got home in one piece. But what did I think of Liverpool? Well I, for one, really loved it there. There is something about being from an area of an inland port, built by dock workers and all the social history that goes with that, that made me feel an affinity with Liverpool almost as soon as I set foot off the train. One thing that everyone comments on about Liverpool is that it's a place defined by its people, and I get what they mean. Everyone I spoke to on the tour, in shops, in museums etc. were really friendly. I know I've just compared it to Hull, but I will also say that Liverpool is somewhat like London. There's so much to see and do, and there's such a rich history. The main difference is that the whole place just feels calmer. It feels more welcoming and less of a rushed pace, which I actually prefer. 

I was off to a good start.

How long was I there?

I arrived on the Tuesday lunch time, and left early on Thursday afternoon. 

How much did I spend?

Train fare: £37.50

Hotel - Heeton Concept Hotel: £76 for 2 nights

Liverpool Wheel: £13

Magical Mystery Tour: £21.95

Titanic Exhibition: £11.99

Total spend: £160.44

Would I go back?

Absolutely! I would definitely love to go back at a warmer, sunnier time of the year as there are lots of other things there that I would love to do, but rainy January weather just isn't compatible!