We loved Liverpool – what a great city! There is such a divide between North and South England and it is really hard to see why. The people were friendly, it was so much cheaper than London and the city is quite picturesque!
After being picked up from work on Friday evening by Brad, James and Emily, we set off for Liverpool, where Emily had books us into a cosy little hotel called ‘Roscoe House.’ The drive wasn’t too bad (says the girl stuffing her face with chocolates in the back seat) and we seemed to get there at no time at all, pulling up to Roscoe House at around 10pm.
Our room was huge and more like a giant studio apartment and it overlooked a few pubs and clubs that the boys made good use of that night, while Emily and I slept soundly. That is we did sleep soundly until the boys got home at around 4am, full of stories that had gone on over the night. It seems their accents went down a right treat and although they couldn’t understand a word the Liverpudlians were saying, they made a ton of friends!
The next morning we were up and about by 10am, much to the boys distress. The car was parked on a local street and we needed to move it to the Liverpool Cathedral where we could get parking for just £6 a day – bargain price when compared with the hefty charges London parking wardens throw at you!
Seeing as we were already there, we checked out the Liverpool Cathedral which was lovely of course, although considerably more modern than what we have grown accustomed to – 100 years seems like nothing after the ancient sights we’ve been seeing as of late! By this stage we were ravenous so we headed to a local cafe for breakfast. From here our intended destination was the Albert Docks where we thought we would walk around and catch take a harbour cruise on the famous river Mersey. Although we did end up here, we got a little side-tracked on the way and stopped off at 101 shops on the way, buying all sorts of goodies for people’s Christmas presents!
We then stumbled across a Christmas fair where Brad and I went on this huge swinging ride, which gave great views of Liverpool, but left Brad shivering like anything as he hadn’t worn a jacket! Not a good idea in these temperatures!
Our next stop, at long last, was the Royal Albert Docks where we waltzed around, checking out the exterior of the Beatles museum (we weren’t to be fooled by a tourist trap like that!), before heading to the ferry station where we picked up tickets for an hour long harbour sight-seeing cruise. Again, the temperature was freezing and my fun was somewhat dwindled due to worrying about poor frozen cold Brad, but regardless it was incredibly pretty and we learnt a lot about the history of Liverpool along the way – particularly during war time.
The tour concluded at 4pm and of course, it was already dark, so while the boys hot-footed it to the nearest pub to watch the rugby (not an easy task when nearly all of the pubs are playing the football), Em and I strolled through the streets of Liverpool, desperate to take up the chance of shopping when there were no crowds. Alas, we weren’t in luck and the only thing I managed to pick up was a jersey for Brad! While the people are lovely and the shops are far less-crowded than in London, sadly the fashion in Liverpool is nothing to aspire to. Everywhere you look you could see girls painted to the nines with make-up, covered in diamantes and bows... I tried to keep an open mind but when Em and I found ourselves in a packed shop selling fluffy bags covered in diamantes and putrid patterns, we decided to call it a day and off we went to join the boys. We eventually found their pub of choice and nearly immediately we were forced to turn around and find a bar of our own on account of the place reeking of vomit, so while the boys watched the ABs we gorged ourselves on £5 pizza and £1.50 desserts – rhubarb crumble anyone?
Bit of a cringe-worthy yet funny story, over the past week the Brits have been donning their poppies in memory of their soldiers lost at war. While Remembrance Day was officially last Thursday, the country has been having moments of silence all week in honour of fallen soldiers. The bar Brad and James were in was split-level and the All Blacks happened to coincide one of their countless tries with a moment of silence. Oblivious to the national holiday, the boys started whopping and cheering to their hearts content only to be met with dead silence. They looked down over the mezzanine to see a hundred Brits standing in silence with their heads bowed! Poor wee beggars were mortified!
The boys joined Em and I after the game and us girls soon got carried away with the cider and cocktails. It didn’t end up being too late on account of the boys having had a big one the night before and us girls being feather weights, and after deciding that we wanted to head home to get a bit more made up (the Liverpool girls were really putting our natural, ‘just been shopping all day and have frozen my arse off’ look to shame!), we crashed and burned the moment we set foot inside the door. Instead of heading back out, we caught up on what had been happening on our beloved X Factor programme that night as we had missed the episode. For those that don’t know, X Factor is a 10x better version of Idol. The country is hooked and the elimination news often makes it to the front page of the newspapers!
We had an early start Sunday and couldn’t stay to explore a second day as Em and Shady had a flight to Morocco to catch. You could spend a good week in Liverpool, more if you factor in the surrounding area, and we will definitely be back sometime soon. I’m keen to check out the night life a bit more than what I did this weekend.
So off we set for home, via a little town out of Preston called Banbury Bridge where we met some of James’ extended family. His father had left Banbury Bridge when he was just eight years old and set off for Otorohanga, New Zealand, falling out of touch with his cousins back in England. Through technology, they all managed to make contact just five years ago and are now as close as anything. This was the first time James has met his Dad’s cousin and she was just wonderful. Her and her husband were so welcoming, even asking us back to stay when we are there next. She called Brad ‘love’ and took us on a tour of the town in which Mr Bailey grew up in. It was awesome – we really got to see a glimpse into what it would be like to live in a small village in England. We would have loved to have stayed longer, but Morocco was calling and we made it back into London at around 5pm just in the nick of time! It was perfect really as it meant Brad and I started the week with a clean bedroom and clean washing – most unusual given our weekends as of late!
This weekend we are off to Stratford-Upon-Avon, with Cardiff calling the week after for the mighty ABs game!
Watch this space!
xx
No comments:
Post a Comment