CRUISING THE MERSEY WITH THE BEATLES!

Regal Princess/Liverpool, England
Sunday, September 29, 2024
Partly sunny, 58F, windy

Liverpool skyline this morning-on the Mersey

Liverpool is a port city and borough of Merseyside, England with a population of approximately 496,770 in 2022. The city is located on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, adjacent to the Irish Sea, and is approximately 178 miles from London. Liverpool is the fifth largest city in the United Kingdom.

I love Liverpool!  We walked off the ship onto the waterfront and the city was right there. 

Near the ship

Two of these distinct sculptures sit atop the building

Toy shop

TK takes a photo of Dunkin'

Actually our preferred coffee

The Cavern

The Beatles played at the Cavern Club--there are 

three similarly named spots nearby

After a coffee and a mug purchase at Starbucks, it was an easy walk to the Beatles Museum on Mathews Street where we spent about an hour and a half. TK is not as big a fan as I, but he knew more about them than I did. 

The Liverpool Beatles Museum

There were three floors of memorabilia—albums, written notes, Pete Best’s drum set, clothing.  Three floors covered the 3 eras of the Beatles, 1959-1962, 1963-1966, and the last era, 1967-1970.  My favorite albums, the ones I purchased years ago, were Help!, Rubber Soul, Meet the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, and Revolution. My favorite song was always “Yesterday,” but I love most of the early and middle era songs.  TK said he purchased several albums back in the day, including The White Album. His favorite songs were “Back in the USSR” and “It’s Your Birthday.”  Of course Beatles music was playing throughout the museum.

John, George, Paul, and Pete Best

Pictured for Friend M--she will know why

Brother Bill brought lederhosen exactly

like this back from Germany when he

was in the US Army for

Randy and Brian

John Lennon gave a pair to his son.

Liverpool is easy to walk, and a gigantic shopping area is so close. We spotted a shop called Hotel Chocolat and went inside this for another coffee. A sweet clerk gave us each a triple cherry chocolate to eat, almost heaven! If only we could safely bring chocolate home!!

Triple cherry chocolate

We really wanted a British lunch, so we stopped at The Old Bank, originally a beautiful, ornate bank. We enjoyed Sunday roast (TK) and Scouse (Janie). What is scouse? A sort of beef stew with potatoes, carrots, and small chunks of beef—just like my mother made—my roots!! Sunday roast was beef, with potato, stuffing, Yorkshire pudding. Why on earth they call Yorkshire pudding a pudding I have no idea—it is really a flaky kind of bread to me, made of eggs, flour, milk, and water.  TK also had sticky toffee for dessert (a kind of sponge cake drizzled in chocolate, with a bit of vanilla ice cream.) 

Inside The Old Bank

Sunday Roast

The Yorkshire pudding looks like a baseball glove

The ball on top is the stuffing

Cheesy cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, and beef

Scouse

It was time for us to walk back to the ship. We wanted to catch the famous Beatles statue—early this morning there was no crowd, but this afternoon the city was full of people.  Everything seems to be open on Sundays in England.

I loved this little street cleaner

Beatles statue on the Waterfront

Tonight for dinner TK had beef stroganoff to see how the current chef made it—I will try to find previous versions on other cruises which were quite humorous.  I had fish and chips, which were quite tasty.

TK’s Takes:  He thought Liverpool was a suburb of London.  He liked how clean and modern it was, mixed with older architecture.  

Note: Liverpool suffered the second highest number of civilian deaths in air raids in the country in World War II.  Nearly one third of the houses in Liverpool were damaged or destroyed.  Between 1940 and 1941 almost 2300 people were killed in Liverpool.

And another note: It’s going to be a boy!!  In January I am going to be a great aunt for the 3^rd time!!