Liverpool's Library

In our last post, we showed outside photos of the Liverpool Library. In this post, we'll show you the inside of the library. Excited yet? 

The main library had been recently gutted & remodeled. It is very open, white, and modern. What impressed us the most were the floating staircases. Although they're sleek and modern, they evoked Hogwart's moving staircases in some way. Either that or the classic Escher staircase drawing that was tacked up on many a dorm room wall. 

Liverpool's Library's floating staircases

Liverpool Library's floating staircases

I couldn't seem to get more than two staircases in any shot, but there were five floors, so when you looked up from the bottom or down from the top, it was an array of criss-crossing floating staircases. We thought it was super cool!

Staircases as seen from below

After spending a half an hour or so cruising the main library, we walked through a doorway into the reading room. We were instantly transported back to Victorian England! Three floors of bookcases in a large round room, studded with desks and a few standing bookcases on the ground floor. 

Liverpool Library's historic reading room

Bill was in heaven in this room filled with old, mostly scientific books. He spent at least 15 minutes reading a 400-page book on Roman sun dials and how Romans used their sun dials to tabulate earth's movement within the universe and rotation around the sun. 

Bill in the reading room

Bill perusing book after book after book!

Pictures don't do this reading room justice. It was quite impressive. We tried to be quiet as we walked around and took pictures as there were people studying and working at most of the tables. But I know I was ooh-ing and aah-ing during our visit - sorry, Liverpool Library users!!

The beautiful reading room

The roof of the reading room was a great dome with a skylight to let some natural light shine down. As we were in the reading room close to it's closing time, you can see the reading room's center lamp reflected in the skylight above. 

Liverpool library's reading room ceiling

There were a few rooms off of the reading room that housed rare and special books. My favorite was one of the original Birds of America books, drawn by John James Audubon. You can't tell in the photo, but the book's pages were about three feet long by two feet wide! Audubon wanted to make sure most birds were drawn life sized, therefore, the large format book.

One of the rare, original copies of
John James Audubon's Birds of America

I found a photo on the internet that showcases the size of this book. Pretty big, yes?

Not my photo - Audubon's Birds of America

Around Liverpool

Tall ship on Liverpool dock

Liverpool has a greater history than just Beatles history. It was once a great and prosperous sea port. Sadly, it was basically destroyed by bombing during World War II. Liverpool and its citizens have been struggling to regain their prosperity ever since. There is a major new shopping complex called Liverpool One, and the waterfront docks have been undergoing a grand facelift with museums and shops to attract visitors from near and far.

Old timey ice cream truck

Liverpool tug boat at work

One of the museums we quickly ducked into had several floors' worth of UK history. The main floor was devoted to Liverpool during the industrial revolution. We learned a lot about the city's port, dock workers, and train station. Yeah, we're nerdy like that :-)

Old timey steam train engine

There was a governmental section of the city that had some beautiful architecture. Albert's Hall was gigantic and used to be the criminal court and holding cells. Now it hosts wedding parties and conferences.

Wedding party outside St. Albert's Hall

Close to Albert's Hall was the Liverpool Library. The library was simply amazing! I have enough photos of the inside of the library for its own blog post, so stay tuned!

Liverpool library's reading room

In the middle of the city stands the remains of an Anglican Church. This church wasn't torn down by Henry VIII, but bombed out during WWII. While the rest of Liverpool has been rebuilt, this church has been left as a reminder of what happened during the war.

Bombed out (WWII) Anglican church 

Bombed out (WWII) Anglican church

Liverpool is a big, bustling city full of Beatles tourists still trying to regain its former glory 70-odd years after being mostly destroyed. 

Liverpool skyline at dusk

Liverpool skyline at dusk

Liverpool: The Magical Mystery Tour

As of March 1st, we've lived in England one whole year. Seriously! A year has never been filled with so many things, yet gone by so fast. When we were deciding how to celebrate our England-aversary, I suggested we get our Beatle-mania on and head to Liverpool, and that's just what we did.

The only "must do" item on my list was the Magical Mystery Tour. We arrived in Liverpool by train on Friday and first thing Saturday morning we headed off to the oceanfront and got on the Magical Mystery Bus. The tour was sold out (we pre-paid 6-weeks in advance) and it was obvious to everyone the bus passed on the street that the bus was filled with nerdy, Beatles-loving tourists :-)

Magical Mystery Bus

One of the first stops on the tour was to see both of Richard Starkey's (AKA Ringo Starr's) childhood homes. They were only a block away from each other - one was amongst a group of boarded up council houses (houses for the poor) and the other was down the road, behind the pub in the picture below. People still live in his second home (behind the pub), so we could only do a quick drive-by. The current owner of Ringo's old house came out and waved hello at our gaudy bus! Sadly, it all happened so fast, I only got a picture of the pub.

Ringo Starr's neighborhood

The bus drove on and rounded a bend where we got have our first off-the-bus moment. Penny Lane is a rather long street filled with shops. This intersection (below) seems to be the place all tourists are able to take a quick selfie before heading back to the bus (or car, etc). If I look a bit wane in the photos below, that's because I was suffering from quite a nasty bug I caught flying home from LA. I was hopped up on LemSip (UK's answer to TheraFlu) and cough syrup and soldiered through the weekend. 

Penny Lane

Then we stopped off at George Harrison's house. Someone still lives here, but the tour company had received the okay for tourists to get off and photograph the house, so long as we don't pester the occupants. George, like Ringo, lived in a small, 2-up, 2-down house. Which meant there were only two rooms upstairs and two downstairs, with the toilet outside! In the Harrison household, one of the downstairs rooms was only used for formal occasions, so six people (two parents and four kids) basically lived in the kitchen and two bedrooms. Those are some cramped quarters!!!

George Harrison's Home

Off to Strawberry Field, where John used to spend his days playing and daydreaming.

Strawberry Field

Strawberry Field take two

John Lennon's childhood home was purchased by an anonymous American woman (rumored to be Oko Ono) years ago and is now managed by the National Trust. If you look closely, you can see a blue circle plaque that adorns historic homes. Blue plaques can only be placed on a home if the honored deceased has been gone for at least 20 years. John lived with his aunt and her family in this home after his parents split. Years later (as a teenager) John re-connected with his mom who was also a fan of music. Sadly, she was run over and died very near this house one night after a visiting her teenage son. 

John Lennon's home as viewed through bus tourists

Paul McCartney's childhood home is now owned and run by the National Trust. Like John, Paul's mother died (from breast cancer) when he was a teenager. This was one of the things the two young men bonded over while they formed their band and began writing music. One song that was written in this house, by a 14-year old Paul was "When I'm 64." It's hard to believe such an iconic song was written by a 14-year old!!

Paul McCartney's home and our tour guide

The tour guides threw so much Beatles trivia at us over the course of our two hour tour, I'm surprised I remembered any of it at all! Once the tour was over, we were given free passes to the Cavern Club, the pub/venue where the Beatles played over 250 times prior to becoming the biggest band on the planet. 

Bill and I made a bee-line for the club, as it was early Saturday afternoon and knew it would only get busier as the day wore on. Sadly, the club was ready packed with pushy tourists. The live band was okay, but there was barely any standing room and the bar was four people deep waiting to be served. After being plowed into by a camcorder-toting tourist with his teenage son in tow, I took a photo and we left in search of lunch somewhere a bit more sane.

The (in)famous Cavern Club

Visiting Southern California

Disneyland wasn't the only highlight of my trip back home. I also ate a copious amount of Mexican food -YUM!!! England has some great food, but they just don't know how to make good Mexican food, if you can even find it!

One of many Mexican feasts!

I had Toni fancy up my hair for a gal's shopping trip.

Selfie

And last, but most importantly, I was able to spend some quality time with my awesome and amazing Mom, wonderful Dad (sadly, not pictured), and beautiful, whip-smart sister. I love you guys!!!!

Mom & me selfie

Girlie selfie

Sisterly Disneyland Adventuretime

I visited my family last February in Southern California! It was really great to go home, bask in the sunshine, and visit with Mom, Dad, and my sister, Toni.

Toni has been doing a lot around the house and helping Mom and Dad, and I thought that deserved a little treat. So, in one of my highlights of the trip, we went to Disneyland! I hadn't been in almost ten years and Toni hadn't been in at least twenty - and we learned (again) that Disneyland is indeed the happiest place on earth!

DISNEYLAND!!!!

We visited on a day where the park was only open from 9am to 8pm, which definitely kept the park's visitor numbers on the low side. We arrived shortly after opening on a beautiful sunny day. As per our family's tradition, we made a bee-line for Pirates of the Caribbean and were on the ride in less than 10 minutes. We knew this would be a great day, and it was! 

I forced Toni to visit the Tiki Room (everybody now: in the.... Tiki tiki tiki tiki room!) and we even waited 20 whole minutes to go on the jungle cruise. 

Jungle Cruise line selfie

Jungle Cruise crocodile

Jungle Cruise

We went on every ride we wanted to without too long of a wait. I think the longest wait, and the only disappointing ride was the Matterhorn Bobsleds. In the years since we rode the Matterhorn, they've changed the cars and the ride seemed much slower and jerker than either of us remembered. Thankfully, this was the only ride that left us wishing it had lived up to our memories. 

Matterhorn - before the disappointing ride

As day turned to night, we kept having a blast. We were able to ride several of our favorite rides a second time. We even rode most of what Toni called the "snickle" rides - I have no idea where she came up with that term, but it refers to the slow-moving storybook rides like Peter Pan, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, etc. 

Cinderella's Castle

Castle selfie

I loved some of the redecorating that has taken place around Disneyland. We especially liked the decorations around New Orleans Square and Tomorrowland.

New Orleans Square

Adventureland by lamplight

Tomorrowland

And last but not least, two photos that neither of us are proud of... The action shots from Space Mountain - LOL!!! It looks like I am a maniac and Toni is bored out of her mind, but in reality, we were both having a fantastic time. 

Toni is not impressed (but she really was)

Terrified or bored? Answer: Neither. We were thrilled!

Disneyland. The happiest place on earth!!

The Year of the Horse

January 31st - Happy New Year; welcome the Year of the Horse!

To celebrate the Chinese New Year, some friends of ours organizes a big table at the fancy Chinese Restaurant located in the old royal bath building just down the street from our house. It was a 10-course meal, complete with an exuberant lion dance after dessert. 

First Course - Crispy Duck

The first course was a tasty crispy duck that you tucked inside a bun and drizzled with one of several sauces. It was delicious! 

Bill's Happy - No Corn or Corn Derivatives!

Our friend who organized the dinner made sure that the meal was free from corn, corn starch, etc. Bill was so happy, as he hasn't had Chinese food ever since a bad experience several years ago. The restauranteur assured us that these were traditional recipes and didn't include any of that stuff - Bill didn't have an allergic reaction - huzzah!!!

Royal Baths Chinese Restaurant

The food just kept coming and coming, and it was all delicious. The atmosphere was a neat mix of Victorian and Chinese; odd, but it worked!

Yummy Grub

We were stuffed by the time the desserts arrived, but they were so cute we couldn't resist. Little egg custards, sweet sticky rice balls, and a candied strawberry? Yes, please!!

Dessert

And then it came time for the lion dance. And dance they did! 

Lion Dance!

The tradition is to put some money in the red envelopes left on the table. When the lion comes close, you give the red envelope offering to the lion and you'll have good luck in the new year. 

Lions in Action

Of course I gave the lion money - who would pass up a year's worth of good luck?!?

Lions in More Action 

I have posted two short clips; first, in a jumpy, bad quality file with no sound that should play on mobile devices (phones and tablets). The same clips are posted again in a much higher quality, but can only be seen on laptop and desktop computers. Tell me which one you prefer (low or high quality) for future posts.

Low quality:

Moving Lions

Don't Eat my Arm!

Same videos, high quality with sound (view on laptop or desktop):