We ventured to Liverpool for very obvious reasons, but still without the promise of tickets to see the boys in red at Anfield. Luckily the tickets worked out, but I’ll let the footy fan tell his tale.
If you’re not a football (soccer) fan, chances are you’ve heard of Liverpool thanks to the Fab Four. Beatlemania has definitely drawn more than a few tourists to Liverpool. You can participate in any number of tours. We skipped the Beatles Story, among others, and instead took a stroll down Matthew St to see the sight of the Cavern Club. The original club closed with the construction of the underground rail in the 70s, but a new Cavern is alive and thumpin' across the street.
And believe it or not, there is more to the pool of life than LFC and Beatlemania. As we strolled around town on our first day – trying to walk off the groggies after a sleepless flight from South Africa – we stumbled on to Late at Tate. The Tate ıs one of the well known Tate museums and wanderıng into it on our first night in town was a pleasant surprise. We took in the Centre of the Creative Universe Liverpool' and the Avant Garde exhibit. True, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but as the exhibit revealed, Liverpool has an interesting history of experimental and conceptual art as well as some great music. Our night at Late at Tate was topped off with a free local brew and tunes spun by Will Sergeant of Echo and the Bunnymen.
Liverpool is also full of interesting neo classical architecture and home to the the UK’s largest Anglican Cathedral which boasts the world’s highest and heaviest peal of bells in addition to the the world’s highest and widest Gothic arches. Appropriately enough, just down Hope St is it’s Catholic brother, the Metropolitan Cathedral Christ the King. This building I would not count among the architectural wonders of Liverpool. It is fondly referred to as “Paddy’s Wigwam” due to its “interesting” style and the fact that many Irish once worshipped there. I have to say that it looks like an architectural mistake of the 80s, but in reality it was built in the 60s and surprisingly, had no predecessor.
Good old Liverpool proved to be well worth the visit!