Trip to Liverpool

My first official trip to other parts of England after arrviving in Manchester for 2 weeks. Liverpool a city of arts and culture. This was selected because it is one of the nearest city from Manchester and not much planning is required. And since the place is not really huge, a day trip is sufficient.



The cheapest way around is by coach which cost me about 5 pounds for a return ticket from national express. The trip to liverpool is about about 55 minutes. When I reach there, the weather is actually quite cooling i suspect about 12-13 degrees cause I have to put on my jacket. I first arrive at a place that may look like a town hall but is actually a city museum known as THE Walker. Never have the chance to enter as it was not open when I arrived at Liverpool. Check my photos at yahoo. I try to arrange it in chnological order. It has a fountain and a very tall statue in front of it. After that I made my way to albert dock by pass the city centre and their shopping arcade again like those in Manchester. However there is a good feeling when i arrive at liverpool. It looks quite different from Manchester. I even thought that their shopping arcade looks better but may have less variety compare to Manchester.

Instead of going to Albert Dock directly, I went to the Mersey Ferry Terminal to buy a ticket to get a tour of the channel and also to get to the otherside of the river known as Wirral. When waiting for the ferry, My friends and got to know a german student, Victor, who is in london for some sort of sort term studies at chester. Anway he is a nice guy and he actually came to Liverpool because his grandma migrate to this city before later moving to America. Over at Wirral i only visit the Seacombe Aquarium which is an awfully small one that contain say 15 fish tanks and about 3 open pool that show some fish swiming around. What is sad is that the display fish are Sea bass and grey mullet which i think anyone in Singapore can find them at a market. There is also ONE small octopus. The main attraction they claim is a gaint conger eel. Well before I come to UK, I watch a few episodes of Japan hour which seems to be constantly introducing this micirale fish that is espcially popular amoung the Japs as a summer food. It is said to help delay ageing but i am not sure if it is ture or not. Well this gaint eel is at most about 1 meter long but this is my first time seeing it so at least i see something new. As for the open pool, it consist of some small size sting ray( can't recall what is the actual name) and 3 other varieties of other fish that i cannot recall their name as well. But there is any fish i also saw for the first time that swim side ways. Think there is a picture of it so look it up yourself. And that is the end. Well i think i cannot expect a lot from a 1.50 pound ticket huh.

After the "interesting" trip to liverpool, we went on to the marinetime museum that show case a great deal of boats and the history of the habour of liverpool. Apparently Liverpool is a major habour and was a critical location during the world war 2. The Atlantic battle which lasted 6 long years killing thousands of seaman from both the allied forces and the germans. This is also where the famous german U-boats where use extensively during the war. For those who dun know what is U-boats they are actually submarines. In all wars there are always heros and in this battle, there is this ship commander,Walker something. Those interested can go yahoo search for him cause i cannot recall everthing. Anyway he is a commander of about 7 fleets of excort vessals (small boats). What make him a hero well, he is said have destroy the most number of U-boats than any other commanders. It was said that he alone on a one of the days manage to sink up to 6 U-boats. How he do it is by using some sort for frequency devices. (I suspect it is later develop into sonars) This technique was later adopted by the others and thus turn the battle around during the later years. Well it is a great history lesson and the best part is all this are free. YES the museum in UK is free i heard and at least it is true in liverpool.

The next stop is to TATE Liverpool. This is by far worst visit I have made and i dun think i like to visit another ar gallary. This is because i cannot really comprehend what is it all about. There are really different type of art on display such as some oil base paints, pottery works and i think the others are just mordern art that i just find them disgusting. From simple figurines that show people getting chop-up to a picture of a jackel in a suit in arousing position with a girl to a scupture of a preg. woman with a see through womb thus showing the fetus. Yikes i just cannot go on anymore. Oh one think though i notice at the lobby has this love sculpture design which is actually similar to the one used in 2005 NDP lantern for those who can still recall. I wonder if the design got the idea from here hmm.


The last visit is to the Beatles Story. As the name suggest it is sort of a tribute to the biggest band in history Beatles. This is not free but for beatles fans this is really a good place to be. It shows the history of legends and their road map to star dorm. Frankly speaking i do not know much about the beatles except that they are really good that all. But after the tour, I think i can get a feel why they are so good. And even today their songs are being sang by other artiste. I was told by by the staff that there today there are more than 2000 version of "YESTERDAY" which was orignially sang by them. That is impressive.

Of course to complete the tour, we make our way to Mathew Street where "The Carven" was. This is where the beatles begin. Of course the orignal build was torn down and what is standing there is just a tourist attraction bar name "The Carven" but at least they have John Lennon statue displayed there.



In all it was a good trip with visit to different attractions and I have gain quite a lot of information on the history of Liverpool. And I also finally come to realise that liverpool seems to be more organise and the streets are wider than manchester. And when i came back to manchester at about 1030, the pubs and bars on the streets are filled with people like those in Moharmand Sultan on sat. except than there are just so many of them that i have not come across a street without them. Well this is a happening city after all.