It's Thursday morning, we're in Denmark, staying with my friend Jesper and I'll tell you all about that some other time. Right now I need to catch up. It seems that I am always needing to do that. Perhaps I should stop drawing attention to my constantly falling behind. Anyway, onward with the last bit of time in the UK, or at least, the Liverpool part of the last part of the UK.
We got into Liverpool the evening of the 15th, made our way to Hatter's Hostel, which was a short walk from the train station, and were warmly received by Natalie at the desk. Natalie was also super awesome as she hauled out a map and circled a number of key things and got us generally oriented, making some excellent recommendations on what was going in the various galleries the city has to offer, sites to check out, and generally got us closer to the state of not getting lost once we set foot outside again. Her counter mate was equally helpful as he set us up with the big thing that Noah was wanting to do, go to Anfield Stadium, home of Liverpool FC. Happily yes, we were in Liverpool for the opening game of the season, but sadly no, we were not able to get tickets. But a stadium tour was definitely in order.
Now, the guys aren't that big on getting up early. They do it well when the need arises, and I have no complaints on that end. They likely have more complaints about me being an early riser. And I can't say I blame them. I can be kinda obnoxious. Happy. Energetic. TALKING. Working on it though. Trying to stay clammed up more these days, and having some success I think, but you'd have to ask Noah and Jake if I'm right on that one or not. Alternately you could just believe me and think I am wonderful. Your choice.
The Anfield tour was at 9am. Yes, 9am, which meant being up to do all those normal morning things in time to leave at 8:30. And you know what, they had no problem with that. Apparently the right incentive is required. I will work on those. So, into a cab and off we went.
A cab you say? Isn't that a bit of a luxury oh he who is trying to manage a budget for the year? Well, amazingly enough, when it's three people travelling, sometimes a cab is cheaper than public transit. This was one of those times. The same math is true when being applied to apartment over hotel over hostel over other forms of accommodation. Of course that math gets more interesting when you then add in breakfasts included or not, location, cooking facilities, and whatnot. Figuring out what is actually the more economic choice can get kinda complex with all of it's factors. But I think I said all of this already. Crap, I'm repeating myself. Dad - this is your fault you know. And wasn't Marc going to get us a decent formula for calculating all of this?
You know, I would apologize for all the digression except that I like it too much. So though, if you're getting bored, just look for a picture and either start shortly above it or below it. Ignore large bodies of text, they can't possibly be saying anything of interest.
Oh, quick Oxford story as, though we're not there yet, this actually is a great place to mention it. So, to get into All Souls College, which incidently is one of the most elite colleges at Oxford, so how can they possibly be called All Souls. Maybe they should be called, A Very Small Percentage of Souls College. Doesn't have the same ring to it. Anyway, to get into this college you have to write four three hour exams on a variety of subjects. Well, you used to have to write five, and the fifth was called the one word essay. This is where you walked into the room, and on the desk in the room there sat an envelope. In this envelope was a piece of paper with only a single word on it; any word from the English language mind you. Then you sat down and spent three hours writing about that one word.
Doesn't that sound like fantastic fun!
Noah and Jake are not convinced, but I think it is marvelous. I may just do it for fun.
Seriously. I've got some time on my hands.
Or perhaps David you would like to give me some work to do. I'm sure Jesper and I could whip something up pretty quick while playing viking these next couple of weeks.
Where was I?
The cab pulled up to Anfield Stadium.
Those are its gates.
That is Noah sitting with the shirts of several of the players. This was actually in the visitor dressing room as the Liverpool room was being painted, or had been painted and was now drying. Both rooms look basically the same. The word would be austere. My high school change room had more features. This was a room with benches along the walls and hooks in the walls. That's it. Oh, and a couple of doors. Oh, and a massage table or two. And no, my high school change room didn't have those. Tables that is, it had doors, else it wouldn't be a room, or at least not a very useful one, unless of course you were featuring in a tale by Poe (the author, not the teletubby).
Apparently old school is the way to go on game day. The place where they practice, which Noah could tell you the name of if he weren't still asleep (see, what was I telling you), has all the bells and whistles. But not here. Not at Anfield.
There are some subtle differences as well between the two change rooms. Liverpool's - heat and a/c. Visitor's: nope. Liverpool's: fairly quiet. Visitor's: you can hear the crowd stomping on your heads as they enter the stadium. Literally, they walk right over the room.
This is the Liverpool FC crest, in case you couldn't guess what letters Noah was concealing and thought it might have been Uverpool Robotball Club, that famous Russian robotics team from Novogrod Oblast University. I think their griffin is actually black.
This is the Kop. The Kop is the hallowed ground at Anfield where people generally go insane. The Kop is also the area that used to be standing room only and would squeeze in around 36,000 people, as opposed to the 12,000 or so it does now. And a good thing too given what happened in Hillsborough in 1989, where 96 people were crushed to death. So now everyone gets their own seat. But they're still nuts, and it's still the best possible place to be on game day.
So we're on this tour of Anfield Stadium, hearing stories of this historic facility, the heroes that have been made on this turf, the greatness that is this team. Sport at it's finest. And what do I hear over the PA as we're walking along, but a recording of a crowd of people singing that Rogers and Hammerstein II classic tune from the 1945 musical Carousel, You'll Never Walk Alone.
I'm confused.
These don't go together.
The last time I sung this tune was at Humberside CI, under Miss Keele, in grade 12, as part of a great Oscar and Hammerstein medley. Musicals were a big thing for Miss Keele and Humberside, and likely the single biggest reason why I love them so much today. And it was a great medley, and the SATB arrangement, especially for You'll Never Walk Alone, which ended the medley (tell me if I'm wrong Miss) was gorgeous, and still brings a tear to my eye when I find myself singing along. Invariably I end up singing the tenor line as that is what I learned. I don't know if I actually know the melody end to end to be honest. Now, try singing it to a recording of 50,000 Liverpool fans while taking a tour of a football stadium.
See, confused.
Why the hell am I singing along to a tune from Carousel in the middle of a football stadium in Liverpooll England? I mean, if they're gonna sing a show tune shouldn't it at least be something from Phantom, or some other Webber monstrical? (I just made that word up and am quite proud of myself I must say.) Why not Past the Point of No Return, or Light at the End of the Tunnel, or What's the Buzz? Hell, gimme the Jellical Ball even.
Okay, I should pause now and mention that there are many other fine composers of musicals out of the the UK. Mike Batt comes to mind, whose Hunting of the Snark, is probably still my favourite show. I've never actually seen it, but I was, thankfully, introduced to it by a fellow named Daniel Chugg who was an exchange student over from the University of Glasgow (I think) when I was at Queen's Kingston.
Still confused. And prone to wandering. (Which is, funnily enough, a button my brother Ken had had pinned on his jacket for a few years back in high school. It's likely at my mom's somewhere now. Apparently he was actually talking to me. Huh.)
So it turns out that in 1963 Gerry and the Pacemakers did a cover of You'll Never Walk Alone at the suggestion of their producer George Martin. So the Beatles guy, not the Game of Throwns guy. That double R is rather important I suppose. I mean, J Tolkien? What kind of name for a fantasy fiction novelist is that? The double R makes it. Twice now apparently. Perhaps I should change my middle name from Henry to Rowan Rupert or perhaps Rob Roy and then put my hand to an epic tale of intrigue and violence, with some sort of key character who is short, and a great deal of travel, and self-loathing/discovery. I wonder which came first? Stay tuned!
Right, so Gerry and the Pacemakers covered it in 1963, it becomes a big hit across the UK, and for whatever reason became the anthem for Liverpool FC, sung at every game, and stitched on one side of Noah's scarf.
Richard and Oscar would be proud I am sure.
The rest of that day was a busy one as the three of us set off walking around Liverpool.
I like Liverpool. It's a good size, has stuff going on, great energy. Easy to walk around it's city centre. And that is what we did, right after we took a cab back to the hostel and put on some warmer clothes as it was kinda chilly.
Neil (you may recall Neil from our time in Glasgow) had made some recommendations of spots to see. So, with Natalie graffitied tourist map in hand, we set out for the rest of our day.
First stop was the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King Liverpool, which is, incidently, Roman Catholic. It's a modern building and went for a modern look, so quite different from the other cathedrals we had spent time in thus far. Neil had suggested it as the stained glass was pretty cool.
It's big, and it's round, and it immediately reminded me of a modernist version of the Pantheon in Rome, which we had visited last summer.
And yes, it does have some pretty interesting stained glass work. Which, I might add, the Pantheon doesn't. Of course it's a gazillion years old so you can't really blame it.
Below the Cathedral is the Cathedral crypt. We didn't go and visit it, however I've still got what I at least think is an interesting story. The Cathedral crypt is actually the only part of the uncompleted cathedral to be built that was designed by Edward Lutyens in 1930. This was to be the biggest Cathedral in the world. Seriously. It would have been the biggest. Bigger than St. Peter's. Big. But what with economic depressions and wars and the like it simply didn't happen. They got the crypt done though. The cathedral that was built on this site is the result of a design competition held in 1960, after a few other false starts on other designs. It was designed by Francis Gibberd and was completed in 1967.
This is a shot looking down Mount Pleasant towards the River Mersey. On the left part way down you can see a reddish brown building with a darkish tower/peak. That's our hostel. Well, not our hostel, but at least the one we stayed in. It's a former YMCA and is apparently cavernous with lots of its interior space still waiting to be developed by Hatter's, or so Natalie was so kind to tell me when I asked.
So ya, Liverpool was a place that we enjoyed walking around and I just felt like taking pictures of stuff on the street. I'll keep them to a minimum here though.
This place is the Philharmonic Dining Rooms, named for the Philharmonic near by.
It is another of the places that Neil suggested we check out and that we, rather conveniently if I do say, just happened to pass as we were working our way to the other cathedral we wanted to see. Neat how that works out.
It's an old gentleman's club, and as you can see from the below, has maintained it's interior, if not it's discriminations.
The grand room.
Below is proof that I take pictures of practically anything. This is the logo for the public transit system in Liverpool.
I believe their motto is: We scare because we care.
Likely another good reason for us to have taken cabs.
The following are a few aerial shots of Liverpool. Okay, no, they're not actually taken from an airplane, so I guess I'm using the word incorrectly, but I've already made up one new word today and I'm not sure that towerial has the same flare.
This one.
This rather imposing structure is the, you guessed it, Liverpool Cathedral. Church of England, or Anglican if you prefer. It is the largest cathedral in all of the UK, or at least England. That's right. Bigger than Canterbury. Larger than York Minster. Significantly vaster than Westminster, and able to hold more skittles than St. Paul's. Yep, that's because it is bigger by volume. Volume people.
Now imagine if Liverpool had been successful in the 1930's in it's original design for Metropolitan. It would have been home to two of the world's largest churches, right down the street from one another. Honestly, a surprise for me. I wonder what drives this sort of ambition? All of this architecture, these enormous structures, not what I was expecting from Liverpool. I don't know why I wasn't, but there you have it. A wonderful surprise for me.
It's interior is vast.
And stunning.
And includes a lego replica of it's self.
And it has a magnificent organ that we had the good fortune to hear as there was a 12:30 recital and we got there shortly before 12:30.
See, organist. And no, he is not actually performing during this shot, he was just setting up and I asked it he'd mind. I was sitting down properly behaving myself and listening by the time he actually got down to business.
And a brief word on that business. With the greatest respect to my father, Peter, Mark, (different Mark, note the "k" and not a "c") and all the other organists I know (which turns out to be a few it would appear), I don't think I ever want to listen to recorded organ music ever again. Unless you have a huge room with an amazing stereo system and the ability to not care that you are pissing your neighbours off, you simply can't get the right experience. Such a vast range. Subtle, quiet melodies played on a single flute. Gigantic, bombastic, overwhelmingly huge fanfares. You're either cranking the volume up to make out the sweet little song of what you think might be birds, or you're rushing to lower it so your ears don't start to bleed. It's impossible.
Gimme a cathedral.
Those earlier towerial shots (I guess it is two for the day then) were taken from the cathedral tower. And bless them, they had two lifts and only 100 stairs. The stairs though were rather fun as, opposed to the tight winding stairwells of other towers we have recently climbed, these were open to the interior of the bell tower, as can be witnessed from being able to look at the bells. Windy.
They all have names by the way, the bells, but I will save you from that list. Yes, my babbling away above about whatever random crap came to mind gets to stay, but the bell names gets cut. Well, that's because you can look up the bell's names for free, here, whereas this is the only place where I tend to babble in print. At least until I get back to work.
This is the archway into Chinatown. We're from Toronto. Toronto has two, rather large, Chinatowns. Liverpool does not. That said, it is home to the oldest chinese community in Europe and the arch is the largest of it's kind outside of China.
We then made it down to the docks, an area that defined Liverpool for much of it's history.
These are the docks that were the arrival point for much immigration to the UK, as well as the departing point for many a family emigrating during or post the wars. My father and his family sailed from these docks in, I believe, 1952, aboard the Empress of France. Correct me if I'm wrong Dad.
Liverpool was home to the White Star Line, who brought us some noteable ships like the Olympic, the Britannic, and of course, the Titanic. White Star had many other vessels, and not all of them "ics" sailing from Liverpool. The city was considered the second capital of the UK and the docks were at the heart of that.
It's commonly referred to these days as Albert Dock, but is actually a collection of many interconnected docks, Albert being one of them.
I can proudly say that there is also a Canada Basin and Canada Dock. Canada dock even has a lock. I will however skip further rhyming, and no, the below is not a picture of them. It's a picture of what I believe is the bridge masters office, as to the right of this shot is a swinging bridge that allows access into the dock.
The area has been redeveloped, and Albert Dock is now home to the Tate Gallery, lots of restaurants and shops and the Merseyside Maritime Museum, a free museum that we spent a bit of time wandering around in learning the history of Liverpool.
The museum is also home to the archives, and the guys and I got the clever notion in our heads to pop in and see if we could find any records related to my father's voyage to Canada. Unfortunately the archives are only open to the public Tuesday-Thursday, and is this was a Saturday so no such research for us unless we broke in, which I'm sure you'll be happy to hear, we did not do.
Now, think how far one would have had to travel after getting off the boat in Canada to get to those waving fields of wheat.
These little fellows are Superlambananas, and were cropping up all over the city, similar to the moose we have in Toronto and other animal totems adopted by cities around the world.
For those of you who do not know, the Superlambanana is a prehistoric mammal whose remains were found during the construction of the Leeds and Liverpool canal which opened in 1774. Considered an oddity at the time it was put on display but went missing some point after 1836. Rediscovered in a warehouse along George's Dock some 60 years later it was brought to the attention of Herbert Spencer, who though getting on in years, was still one of the preeminent biologists and anthropologists of his time. He was the first to actually give it the name Superlambanana, having identified its relationship to the modern day Hampshire Down sheep, and the highland banana of east africa. How did Spencer account for this bizarre combination of sheep and banana? Spencer hypothesised that the prehistoric relations of Jethro Tull, who hailed from Berkshire, had gone on a seriously extended bender of epic proportions that lead to the kinds of experimentation that eventually saw their ancestor create that abomination we know today as the rutabaga.
This is the stairwell within the Liverpool museum that will not take you to an exhibit explaining all of that, no matter how badly I may want it to.
These are the three graces.
Grace Kelly.
Grace Coolidge.
And Grace Jones.
Actually they are named after the three greek goddesses Charm, Beauty, and Creativity, and were only named so around 2000. Why? Don't have a clue. But they are, and the name stuck. They make up what is part of Pier Head, which in turn is part of the Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage site. Check that one off our list.
Why is it that every city seems to have one of these obtuse buildings jutting out into the street like a giant piece of Happy Cow cheese?
This is a park. This is St. John's Gardens and it is about a 10 minute walk from Hatter's, and is also near the library and World Museum (yes another museum). It is excellent for reading in and strolling around and is nicely peppered within monuments to many people I have never heard of.
This is the Grand Central. It is an 'alternative" shopping centre. We were not shopping so we didn't bother to find out what types of shops it had to then be able to determine what it was an alternative to.
It does though remind me of illustrations of Babylon, or maybe Naboo.
Perhaps it is an alternative to Star Wars Episodes I-III.
I've been going by the pictures so there are a few things that I missed.
The first day was the busy one, walking about and seeing most of the above. The second day was much more relaxed, with a lazy morning at Hatter's followed by a trip to the pub to watch the Liverpool match, which they won (YAY Liverpool!), and then a bit more of a walk and wander into the Liverpool World Museum to see all that the world had to offer. I think we spent the most time looking at bugs. Bugs are cool.
I think we all enjoyed the city. I can't actually speak for the boys, unless of course we are at customs and then I try to make sure I do all the talking so that they don't try to convince the passport checking people that I am not actually their father, but yes, I think we all enjoyed Liverpool very much. I know I did.
It's a rougher city than London, that is for sure. And it certainly did not have the genteel qualities of York or Oxford, which was our next destination. And it wasn't as relaxed as I found Glasgow to be. Maybe it's me. I don't know. And please my friends and family who we've stayed with along the way, do not take this the wrong way, as you are all most wonderful and kind and I so much enjoyed our time together, but I do know that Liverpool is the place I found most comfortable, and where I felt most at home so far. And it's good to feel at home, especially when you're not.
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