I went to Liverpool some ten days ago, and I completely forgot to put up the few pictures I took from that day. So here goes..
Liverpool is of course mostly famed for its harbour, where much of the trade and goods from the New World arrived, and which was also Manchester’s link to the world. I went to the excellent Liverpool Maritime Museum, which is located on the harbour in an old dock warehouse that has been converted into a culture centre (which also contains Liverpool Tate Gallery, the Beatles Story and lots of handicraft shops and restaurants).
They had two brilliant exhibitions – one on the transatlantic slavetrade, and one on European transatlantic migration of the 19th century. Most of the British ships dealing in both were based in Liverpool, and it was curious to note how many parallels there were between the two. Though, of course, there are slight differences in the quality of the middle voyage on Steerage and in some unventilated hull.
All that money made from that sort of transportation went to making Liverpool a rich city, yet big parts of it were blitzed and bombed during the second World War. Therefore they had to spend new money building their cathedrals all over again. This is the entrance to the Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool:
And this is the massive Anglican Cathedral, built on a hilltop with a view over the harbour:
Just across from the Anglican cathedral, there is this house, with the cat seemingly staring disapprovingly of the huge edifice in front of it:
Something was amiss that day in Liverpool. Everybody seemed so light-hearted and were drinking excessively. But the reason for that was pretty straight-forward. The day before, Liverpool Football Club had won the Champions League. Thousands of people dressed in red, waving flags and balloons the shape of the big eared trophy were milling about town, waiting for the triumphant parade of the returning footballing heroes:
Unfortunately, my camera ran out of battery juice by the time I took this picture, so I can only offer everybody else’s pictures of that happy occasion.
As it was, I spent the previous evening in my local pub, watching the game, listening to the emotional rollercoaster of an Everton fan who desperately hoped that Liverpool would lose. He was heartbroken. Such is football, and the rivalry in Liverpool in particular.
