Sem Trip #2

Sam & I in the Cavern Club

Our second Sem Trip was to Liverpool! The Ivys provided a full list of things we could do during our free hours, but in all honesty I couldn't wait to get to all the Beatles related places I could manage! Being raised in a household that instilled the importance of Paul, John, George, and Ringo, this opportunity was a dream come true.

Before we reached Liverpool, we stopped at Blisthill, town that's preserved its Victorian heritage the same way that Jamestown preserved its colonial roots. The whole town is authentically Victorian, and it had a full staff dressed to impress in Victorian garb, along with many shoppes and activites to explore. We saw a candel maker, a carpentor, a dress maker, a banker, a pharmacist, and many more; we were even treated to a performance of Romeo and Juliette in the streets. The best experience by far, though, was the vintage photo shoppe. I would tell you why, but I think I'll let this picture speak for itself.

After Blisthill, we made a short detour to Iron Bridge, home of the first iron bridge in the world, and of course therefore the oldest. It was actually a very pretty bridge, and we totally licked it. It was legendary.

The first day in Liverpool was spent at Liverpool Cathedral: the largest in England and I believe the 4th or 5th largest in the world! Needless to say, it was pretty huge. You could also climb to the top of the tower and get a full view of Liverpool. We did this, and it was terrifying. I think I was most worried about dropping my camera during the climb up through the too-open-for-comfort bell tower.

After that we moved into our hostel, which was decorated with Beatles decorations. All the floors were named after Beatles songs, and I stayed on the "Strawberry Fields" floor. Yep, it was pretty exciting. We started the day out by going to the Art Gallery in Liverpool, by I and the group I was hanging out with didn't quite feel like doing the whole art gallery scene, so we went to the history museum instead. The museum was actually pretty good, and we found things that Sam and I as Classists and archaeologists found to be pretty amusing. After the museum and a sack lunch, we drove to the Albert docks to have a walking tour with the Ivys which was followed by anything we wanted to spend the afternoon doing. Of course, I took this opportunity to rush off with Sam and start checking things off my "Beatles things to see" list, starting with the Beatles Story exhibit.


It was pretty awesome, and including such awesome things as a mini indoor replication of the Cavern Club--the location of discovery for the Beatles--and an indoor Yellow Submarine.

Yep, the exhibit was pretty much awesome, and all of Liverpool seemed to cash in on the Beatles heritage; they had a Yellow Duckmarine (a car that could drive into the port) and a Magical Mystery Tour Bus. It would've been cheesy if I wasn't so excited about it all.

That evening we also had off to do what we pleased and I was feeling down because of a cold, but luckily I made my friends promise to force me to go out and experience the Liverpool night life that I needed to complete my Beatles saga: the Cavern Club. We ate at a small pub and battled the hurricane-like winds along the shore as we made our journey into downtown Liverpool for our night out. We finally arrived at the club, paid our £1 to get in, and descended the cascade of stairs into the bowls of the dungeon-like room to hear the ending chorus of Hey Jude, and I was home. We were only going to stay for a few minutes, maybe half an hour, but the DJs and the music that night were SO GOOD that we literally danced the night away, staying despite feeling over heated (none of us were dressed for clubbing) and knowing that we had to be up early the next day to leave. I have videos of the night that accompany this tale; don't miss them.

The Cavern's stage. Can you find the Beatles's mark?

The next morning we were up bright and early to go somewhere that I've honestly forgotten the name of. It was something like Sunshine Hill... I don't know. Basically, they made soap. That was the village's whole purpose. It was an entire village where all the members were employees. It was very feudal and pretty interesting, but I honestly would've rather stayed in Liverpool an extra day. Still, it was a chill end to the weekend made of awesome.