Liverpool - Part 2

 I’ll continue with our visit to Liverpool.

As we wandered back down towards the waterfront, we came upon St Lukes, usually known as the “Bombed out Church”.  It was hit by an incendiary bomb in 1941, with everything other than the masonry walls being destroyed. It was proposed to be demolished, but instead it was retained as a memorial.  In recent times it has been transformed into an arts and cultural centre, hosting many events.

The statue out the front “All Together Now” represents the Christmas Truce in WWI, when the Germans and English put down their arms and played a game of soccer.

As the weather was still wet, we visited the Maritime Museum, which was really interesting.

Firstly, we visited the International Museum of Slavery section.

Although merchants in Bristol and London took part, it was the ship owners and merchants of Liverpool who dominated the slave trade from the 1740s until its end. They profited greatly from the trade.  Between 1700 and 1807, Liverpool merchants organised more than 5,000 voyages.  Their ships carried nearly a million and a half Africans to slavery in the Americas.  They also profited greatly from the trade of cotton and other textiles as well as sugar, all products which used slave labour.

The wealth derived from the above is primarily the reason the city has so many opulent buildings and has been so successful.  This history is one that is acknowledged openly and which the city is definitely not proud of.

The museum focuses mainly on the historic slavery that Liverpool was involved in, but also acknowledges that human trafficking is still taking place.  There are three quilts on display, made in 2022 using Liberty fabrics, which have blocks completed by women who are survivors of human trafficking.

The next section of the museum is all about the Titanic.  Although it sailed from Southampton, many Liverpool people were involved, as officers, crew, passengers, White Star Line staff and suppliers.  Some decisions made at the head office in Liverpool had consequences towards what actually happened.

The next section was all about immigration and emigration.  There was an influx of Irish to Liverpool as a result of the potato famine and it was also the exit point for so many of them migrating to America.

There was a small mention of travelling to the Australian gold rush.  My grandparents emigrated from the Lakes District of England and set sail from Liverpool in 1913.

We finished off our day with dinner in an old bank building and I had to try “Scouse”.  This is a beef stew, which is a traditional Liverpool meal, being the source of the nick name for Liverpudlians as being “Scousers”.

That about completed our very full first day and the weather turned wild and woolly overnight, as predicted.

DAY 2

After the windy night, we were wondering if the ferry would be running to the Isle of Man.  We heard quite early on Thursday morning that our scheduled sailing in the late morning had been cancelled, as the weather was even wilder on the Isle of Man, causing quite a bit of damage.  After rescheduling for a later sailing in the evening, we had a bonus day in Liverpool.

Firstly, we enjoyed another delicious breakfast at “Moose Cafe”. When you are onto a good thing, stick to it.

Once again, it was a drizzly day, but not wet enough to stop us doing anything.  We walked and walked all over the place.

One place we were interested in visiting was the Library. 

The main entry is into  a stunning modern building.

Isn’t it beautiful, with its oval shape and staircases crossing the void.  This part of the building replaces the section that was destroyed by the bombing in WWII.

An original feature, which it is famous for, is a rather impressive Victorian round reading room.  There were lots of people using the facility.

There is another wing, which houses a copy of the most valuable book in the world, “Birds of America” by John James Audubon. It was printed on a subscription basis in the early 1800s and has life size illustrations of every bird in America.  There are only about 120 in existence and one recently sold for $8,800,000.  Fortunately, a proactive librarian removed the book prior to the bombing of the library.  You can read more about it and see some more of the illustrations here.

Next door is the World Museum.  We popped in, but didn’t spend a lot of time there.

We then had a wander around St George’s Hall, which is a huge concert hall and also houses the court house.  It seemed that Taylor Swift must be coming to Liverpool at some stage.  We couldn’t take a peek inside, as there appeared to be a red carpet function of some sort going on.

Following are just a random couple of buildings that caught our eye.

The Radio City Tower dominates the skyline.  You can travel to the top to see a view of Liverpool, but there wasn’t much point in such gloomy weather.

The centre of the city houses a large modern pedestrian mall with all the mainstream high street shops.  Not everything is historic.

Of course, no trip to Liverpool would be complete without a visit to Matthew Street, the home of the Cavern Club, where the Beatles performed.

We had a nice wander, but didn’t go into the Cavern Club, as we popped in last time we were there.

Cilla is also featured.

My green jacket got ever so much use while we were away.

We also came across a recent sculpture of Eleanor Rigby.

Wouldn’t it be fun to do a Beatles tour in this colourful Rolls Royce.

That pretty much filled in our day before we had to go to the ferry terminal, although we ended up leaving over two hours later than scheduled.  Here is our ferry.  It was good to finally be on our final leg of our journey.

More soon.