Day 6 - Liverpool
This morning Le Soléal is docked in Liverpool, England. The city of Liverpool stretches along the east bank of the River Mersey. While most North Americans think of Liverpool as the birthplace of the Beatles, this is also an historic shipping and trading port. Liverpool has the reputation of being "England's finest Victorian city."
Le Soléal docked in Liverpool (on the River Mersey)
There were five different excursions offered in Liverpool today. However, with only a few hours to explore the city, guests will only get a small taste of what the city has to offer. I opted for the "A Walk Through Liverpool", which was only an hour and a half. Honestly, if I had it to do over, I think I would have chosen "A Taste of Chester" tour. I would have had more walking exercise and some other guests I spoke with seemed to really enjoy that tour.
Our walking tour started at 8:30am just outside the cruise terminal building. We met Paul, our local guide for the day.
Paul was not as grumpy as he may look in the photo, that is just the best picture I could get. Sorry, Paul. We walked a couple of hundred yards to a memorial to the engine room workers on the Titanic, all of whom remained at their post as the ship was sinking.
Marine Engine Room Memorial
As we continue our walk into town, we stop from time-to-time to learn more about the history of Liverpool. We end up across the street from the Town Hall building. The building was featured in the Beatle's movie "A Hard Day's Night".
Liverpool Town Hall
Just a few blocks from Town Hall, we arrive at Mathew Street. Situated in the Cavern Quarter at the heart of the city, Liverpool's most famous street not only houses the Cavern Club but numerous references and connections to the "four lads who shook the world" and Liverpool's long musical heritage. There's shopping, bars and pubs, and on summer weekends the street is packed with partying locals and tourists.
The Cavern Club is located on Mathew Street. The Beatles made their first appearance at the club on February 9, 1961, after returning to Liverpool from Hamburg, Germany. They made 292 appearances at the club.
Of course, no visit to Mathew Street would be complete without taking a selfie with a life-size bronze statue of John Lennon. The statue leans against the Wall of Fame. Each brick in the wall is inscribed with the name of a group that played at the original Cavern Club.
After our visit to Mathew Street, the tour was to continue to the Liverpool Museum. I decided to peel off from the group and do some souvenir shopping and exploring on my own. Liverpool is an easy city to navigate on foot and there is a large shopping district just 15 minutes walking from the cruise terminal.
Our ship sailed from Liverpool at 12 noon as we were enjoying lunch. I captured a quick photo of a Dazzle Ship as we sailed down (or up) the Mersey.
Dazzle Ship
This afternoon, there was a movie showing in the theater and most of the guests attended. The movie was "Out of Ireland" and it was a documentary on the mass emigration of Irish to the USA and Canada.
Tomorrow, we will be in Cork, Ireland.
