Liverpool, England

            Sunday, 16 Aug 2015 – By 10:30 A.M. we were on our Princess excursion bus, which was scheduled mainly to see places associated with the Beatles.  At first, however, we drove past Pier Head, Town Hall, and Chinatown.  Our tour guide told us that the early wealthy people in Liverpool had profited from the slave trade – and would be far from admirable people in our modern day!


With One of the Beatles

At Penny Lane

Our guide (Sandy) is extremely fond of the Beatles; she was part of their adoring crowd very early on, is a member of a Beatles club, and attends their conventions.  Much of her running commentary was about their lives, given in great detail.  We walked down Matthew Street to the site of the Cavern Club, where the Beatles performed over 300 times from February 1961 to August 1963.  The original club was demolished in 1973, but a re-creation was built using bricks recycled from the original.  On our stroll, we passed several statues commemorating Paul McCartney and John Lennon.  Our bus stopped at Strawberry Field and Penny Lane, immortalized by Beatles’ songs.  In that neighborhood, we passed an Anglican cathedral, where John had tried out for their choir when he was a young teenager.  However, they didn’t accept him!  Later, apparently someone from that church reminded him that they had rejected him; he retorted, “But now you play my music, so I’m having my revenge!”   

            We continued to Albert Dock and visited the Beatles Story, a multimedia exhibit that chronicles the Beatles from their days in Hamburg to their final break-up.  As we emerged from the exhibit, we couldn’t see any other people wearing #5 bus stickers, and neither could we see our bus.  Sandy had not given directions very well.  As we were wandering around, one couple told us that the other busses had gone back to the ship, except for one that was still standing a short distance away.  (The couple planned to walk around before returning to the ship.)  Not wanting to walk the half mile to the ship ourselves, we ran to that one remaining bus, and asked the driver if he was going to our ship.  He was and invited us to board.  It was not a Princess excursion bus; the few passengers on board were speaking a foreign language.  But we took up his offer.

Later, someone who had been on bus #5 told us that our bus was parked on a side street where we hadn’t seen it, though it had arrived a little late.  They had waited for 15 extra minutes for us!  Oh, well!

Before dinner, we danced for 45 minutes in the Piazza.  At dinner, we sat with Jim & Sheila (from Riverside, CA), Linda & Curt (from Kansas City, KS), & Joe & Evelyn (From Mytle Beach, NC, but originally from New York).  Mostly, we discussed cruising.  Linda said they have been on mostly river cruises.  I asked where these have been; Curt said on most of the rivers in Europe!