Heart attack

Monday, November 05, 2012

A Few Days Away- Part 2


 One of the Anthony Gormley sculptures on Crosby beach, Lancs

We managed to walk out to some of the statues on the Crosby beach, but it was getting colder and colder. We took a couple of photographs of them, but, looking inland, there was a very dark cloud looming over everything. The wind was extremely cold and then the rain started. We walked back towards the leisure centre. We saw that there was a cafe inside and then discovered that it wouldn't be open until 10.30. We waited until it opened and ordered hot chocolate and bacon rolls. So we sat and ate in the public viewing area overlooking the swimming pool, where some of the children who had come in the coaches we'd seen arriving as we'd arrived having swimming lessons. The rain began in earnest. We decided that we'd seen all we had wanted so aimed to drive to Liverpool. I asked at the reception desk if there was a park and drive carpark near Liverpool, to discover that none of the staff knew what 'park-and-ride' was. It would appear that this is a concept almost exclusive to the south of the country, whereby you drive to a town or city and park your car in a carpark near the outskirts and then take a bus into the city or town centre, thereby cutting out having to find car parking in the centre. It's generally cheaper and a good deal easier and cuts out the stress of having to look for a parking space. We were told, though, that it would be easier to use the underground train system, the Metro, and to park the car nearby a station and go into the centre of Liverpool that way. So we drove towards the motorway towards Liverpool. We managed to find a Metro station at Waterloo, and parked the car in a carpark conveniently close to the station. Compared to around here, the cost of the carpark was comparatively cheap, £3 for all day and the Metro ticket for the two of us, a return fare, was a little over £6. It was a pleasant journey into the centre of Liverpool, and we chatted to a couple of other passengers. As we've discovered with our holidays in Yorkshire, people in the Liverpool area are very friendly and always go out of their way to help you if you are in need of help, such  as the direction to a particular place. We got into the centre of Liverpool and walked down one of the shopping streets. As I mentioned earlier we hadn't bought coats with us, so we went into a branch of Primark and bought ourselves a coat each. We're due to have a branch of Primark open in Milton Keynes near the football stadium before the end of 2012, along with a large Marks and Spencer, and with our visit during our Liverpool excursion, no doubt we'll be visiting the local branch.

I worked in Liverpool in the early 1970's, when I was an A.S.M. at the Playhouse. I haven't visited since, but from what I saw it has changed out of all recognition. There are a lot more shops and modern, bright and clean shopping centres.

We were going to a couple of the art galleries or museums whilst we were in Liverpool. It was a long walk to the Walker Art Gallery, which I think I may have visited before, but we found we were closer to Liverpool Tate and the Slavery Museum, which are on the Victoria Docks site, so we began to walk there.

On the way we found the Cavern Club, which is where the Beatles made their first appearance, so we stopped and took photographs. As 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the release of their first single, this seemed quite appropriate. It was raining quite heavily, so we kept walking. We arrived at the Victoria Docks. I recognized this as they were used by I.T.V. as the location for the studio used for their "Good Morning" television show for many years. We went into the Maritime Museum, which had an exhibition in connection with the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic. We spent quite a while wandering around a really interesting exhibition and then left, before we went into the Slavery Museum. I have to say it was very moving and well presented. We then visited Tate Liverpool. We have visited Tate Modern in London, so we had an idea it was going to be modern art on display. We stopped to have a snack and a cup of tea in the cafe before heading back to the Metro station and the car parked at Waterloo.

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