A Welcome in Liverpool

The iconic Liver Building viewed from the River Mersey Ferry on Saturday 6 march 2010

I've arrived at the end of the weekend tired but elated after a great two days in Liverpool. We took the opportunity to visit my son who is at Liverpool University and we stayed at a hotel on the Albert Dock in Liverpool, close to the city centre and overlooking the mighty River Mersey. Although Saturday was overcast, Sunday was glorious, cold and wall to wall sunshine - a real feel of spring.

We only saw a little of Liverpool of course, it's a huge city but what I can say is if you've never been - go and visit, it's worth every second of the stay. Talk about progressive, clean and looking after visitors; it makes my close to hand city of Hull look like a third world backwater.

The 'Wheel' outside the Echo Exhibition building, opposite Albert Dock, Liverpool

We were met on Friday night by a big wheel, lit against the city sky just opposite our hotel. It was very late and more or less went straight to bed in the magnificent Albert Dock buildings, converted dockside warehouses of extraordinary quality. Saturday, after meeting 'our kid,' we visited the dock area because there was so much to see.

First was the Beatles Story Museum which was next door to our hotel. This is a great experience, particularly if you're a Beatles fan like my family. It is a top quality museum, fully interactive and takes you through the Beatles story from humble beginnings to the end of the group as the Fab Four, and a little beyond. There are hundreds if not thousands of artifacts and exhibitions, posters video and mock ups of the famous Cavern.

We then toddled along to the Maritime Museum and you can imagine with the great history of the city, there was plenty to see. The Titanic exhibition, Customs and Excise exhibition, the Thompson photography exhibition, and the Slavery exhibition. If anyone needs to see how to run a modern museum, then this must be the benchmark.

A short pointless and boring video of one of the world's most famous ferries

The next adventure was the Ferry across the Mersey from the Pier Head, in the shadow of the famous Liver Building across the river to Woodside on the Royal Iris Ferry. At Woodside there is the 'U-Boat Story' which tells the life of U-534, a submarine of the German Navy in WW2 that refused to surrender and was sunk by the allies. The boat was recovered in 1993 and now rests at Woodside for all to see and explore. There was so much more to see and do but the weekend ran out of time and we will certainly go back and continue the tour and see the attractions we missed.

The conning tower of the U-534 at Woodside Ferry Terminal, Liverpool

Liverpool is a clean, busy city with a lovely atmosphere, very welcoming indeed. There is a mixture of the old buildings and infrastructure , beautifully preserved and the startlingly new living side by side quite comfortably. The people are friendly and their accent most endearing and attractive. The weekend finished with a trip to the 'local' Makro store, a 30 minute drive away for 'bits and pieces' for a poor student through good quality open straight roads which get you from A to B quickly and without fuss which is refreshing.

Could do with a weekend to get over it! Good to be back.

Hope you have a great week.

Chat soon

Ta-ra.