Thursday,
August 11, 2016
We've had a fair number of “organized tours”, so today we decided to venture off on our own. How hard can it be?
One of the most recognized buildings is the Liver Building which opened in 1911. It was one of the first buildings in the world to be built using reinforced concrete. The building is topped by 2 Liver Birds which look like cormorants holding a branch of seaweed. Legend says that if the 2 birds were to fly away, then the city would cease to exist.
We've had a fair number of “organized tours”, so today we decided to venture off on our own. How hard can it be?
One of the most recognized buildings is the Liver Building which opened in 1911. It was one of the first buildings in the world to be built using reinforced concrete. The building is topped by 2 Liver Birds which look like cormorants holding a branch of seaweed. Legend says that if the 2 birds were to fly away, then the city would cease to exist.
We spent the entire morning in the
Merseyside Maritime Museum (FREE!). The top floor dealt with the slave trade which was a bit depressing, but apparently Liverpool was the leading European port for slavery in the 1740s. We had never seen an actual Ku Klux Klan outfit before:
The next floor was all about the Titanic: Liverpool was where the Cunard offices were and a great number of the crew came from Liverpool, so they were hit hard when she sank. Interestingly, in an uncanny coincidence, the lights went out in the entire city the morning of the sinking (from an overload of the system). This is the actual model that the designer used:
The next floor was about the Lusitania and other wartime sinkings, Anton enjoyed seeing actual torpedos and other weapons.
It was VERY cool to see Einstein's actual entry ticket into the UK from when he fled Nazi Germany.
The floor that Frankie enjoyed was Seized! which showed actual contents that have been confiscated at customs. Did that guy REALLY swallow 100 bags of drugs?! The x-ray was on display.
We went to a sniffer dog demonstration. Tess's whole body wagged when she went through the luggage, until she came to the offending one, and then she just froze.
The next floor was all about the Titanic: Liverpool was where the Cunard offices were and a great number of the crew came from Liverpool, so they were hit hard when she sank. Interestingly, in an uncanny coincidence, the lights went out in the entire city the morning of the sinking (from an overload of the system). This is the actual model that the designer used:
The next floor was about the Lusitania and other wartime sinkings, Anton enjoyed seeing actual torpedos and other weapons.
It was VERY cool to see Einstein's actual entry ticket into the UK from when he fled Nazi Germany.
The floor that Frankie enjoyed was Seized! which showed actual contents that have been confiscated at customs. Did that guy REALLY swallow 100 bags of drugs?! The x-ray was on display.
We went to a sniffer dog demonstration. Tess's whole body wagged when she went through the luggage, until she came to the offending one, and then she just froze.
We hopped back onto the ship for lunch which was nice. Then for the afternoon we hung out on Albert Dock for a good while. The waterside dock is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Spot. Prince Albert opened it more than 150 years ago. It is 2.75 hectares of water ringed by 5-story warehouses and cast-iron columns. There are lots of museums in this area.
Tate
Liverpool is an extension of the famous Tate Museum in London. We're not huge modern art fans, and to be honest we spend all our time laughing at the pieces or shaking our heads in bewilderment. But it was FREE! Here is Frankie's "favourite" piece:
We waited in line for half an hour at The
Beatles Story Exhibition but finally decided the $50 was not worth it.
We settled for this Beatles experience instead:
So instead we spontaneously jumped on a hop-on, hop-off bus, but just stayed on as it drove through the city. This way we saw more than just the dock. However, the driver kept playing the same recording he had already played, which made things a bit confusing, oh well.
We settled for this Beatles experience instead:
So instead we spontaneously jumped on a hop-on, hop-off bus, but just stayed on as it drove through the city. This way we saw more than just the dock. However, the driver kept playing the same recording he had already played, which made things a bit confusing, oh well.
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