Ships and the Beatles
We took a weekend trip by train over the Columbus Day long weekend. We went from London's Euston Station (about 10 blocks from our flat) to Liverpool on Saturday morning; did some sightseeing there that day and stayed overnight. On Sunday morning we continued exploring Liverpool, then in mid afternoon, took the short train ride to Chester. We did some sightseeing there that evening, stayed overnight, did some more exploring on Monday and left late Monday afternoon to return by train to London. It was both fun and interesting.
Liverpool, of course, is well-known as the hometown of the Beatles. But, before that, it was, for a long time, the second city and the second seaport of the British Empire. The vast majority of Irish immigrants on their way to the US made their way from Ireland to Liverpool to catch their ships. And Liverpool was a major port for trading throughout all the British Empire and, especially, the Far East, with regular cargo and passenger service to India and China. Many large shipping companies had their headquarters in Liverpool. And it seems natural that this bustling port city would also be the site of a tremendous shipbuilding industry. In addition, during World War II, Liverpool was a major base for the Royal Navy's operations in the Battle of the Atlantic -- the fight against German submarines.
Today this enormous sea-related history is honored by preservation of many of the warehouses and other facilities on Liverpool's River Mersey. Some of the buildings are now shops, restaurants and even apartments; but there is also a major maritime museum and, naturally, that was high on Chuck's list of things to see.
On the way to the maritime museum, though, we visited the waterfront "Beatles Story" museum. This, too, is very interesting and well-done -- and even Chuck found himself enjoying much of it. It probably goes without saying that the Beatles are BIG, BIG, BIG in Liverpool, with, seemingly, every place they ever walked past being memorialized in some way. This is easy to understand when one remembers that for most of the latter part of the 20th century the city was watching its maritime empire crumble to changing trade patterns and experiencing high unemployment and growing poverty. The Beatles put the city on the map for something positive when most of its recent experience had been negative.
(In his wonderful book about the UK ("Notes from a Small Island"), Bill Bryson opens his chapter on Liverpool by saying "on the day I arrived in Liverpool the locals were having a litter festival".)
Well, it's not like that any longer and the city is definitely on the way up. It was recently designated a major cultural city by the European Union (we don't know to what degree the culture referred to is that of the Beatles). There are a number of fine theatres and museums, including the Walker Art Museum, which we also visited. All-in-all we both concluded that we found much more to like in Liverpool than we had expected to.
There are a few Liverpool pictures at: http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/876272
Liverpool, of course, is well-known as the hometown of the Beatles. But, before that, it was, for a long time, the second city and the second seaport of the British Empire. The vast majority of Irish immigrants on their way to the US made their way from Ireland to Liverpool to catch their ships. And Liverpool was a major port for trading throughout all the British Empire and, especially, the Far East, with regular cargo and passenger service to India and China. Many large shipping companies had their headquarters in Liverpool. And it seems natural that this bustling port city would also be the site of a tremendous shipbuilding industry. In addition, during World War II, Liverpool was a major base for the Royal Navy's operations in the Battle of the Atlantic -- the fight against German submarines.
Today this enormous sea-related history is honored by preservation of many of the warehouses and other facilities on Liverpool's River Mersey. Some of the buildings are now shops, restaurants and even apartments; but there is also a major maritime museum and, naturally, that was high on Chuck's list of things to see.
On the way to the maritime museum, though, we visited the waterfront "Beatles Story" museum. This, too, is very interesting and well-done -- and even Chuck found himself enjoying much of it. It probably goes without saying that the Beatles are BIG, BIG, BIG in Liverpool, with, seemingly, every place they ever walked past being memorialized in some way. This is easy to understand when one remembers that for most of the latter part of the 20th century the city was watching its maritime empire crumble to changing trade patterns and experiencing high unemployment and growing poverty. The Beatles put the city on the map for something positive when most of its recent experience had been negative.
(In his wonderful book about the UK ("Notes from a Small Island"), Bill Bryson opens his chapter on Liverpool by saying "on the day I arrived in Liverpool the locals were having a litter festival".)
Well, it's not like that any longer and the city is definitely on the way up. It was recently designated a major cultural city by the European Union (we don't know to what degree the culture referred to is that of the Beatles). There are a number of fine theatres and museums, including the Walker Art Museum, which we also visited. All-in-all we both concluded that we found much more to like in Liverpool than we had expected to.
There are a few Liverpool pictures at: http://chuck.smugmug.com/gallery/876272
posted by Chuck and Kathi Calvano @ 8:53 PM
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