Manchester and Liverpool

Having chosen a spot right in the middle between Manchester and Liverpool, and with two train stations 15min away to either side (one on foot, one by bike), we were well set up to explore those two cities without me having to move at all.

Strictly speaking, we are way off the route here, but as mentioned before, my human just had to take the opportunity to go there and see Liverpool play the Champions League Final.

But first, Manchester. Once the cotton trade center of the world, and one of the very first  industrial cities of our time, was dubbed Cottonopolis. It went from a small and dirty town to being a large and dirty, but very rich, city. As is still the case today, the people actually generating this wealth never saw much of it.

Mark Twain once said he liked to live in the city, because the transition between Manchester and death was hardly noticeable. Chipper guy, wasn't he?

Of course, the whole industry was built on the slave trade. Cotton products were of particular demand in West Africa, so they were shipped there from the UK. Once the ships were unloaded, they picked up slaves and took them to the Caribbean, where they were sold to cotton farmers. Raw product, sugar, spices and rum were bought and taken back to England. 

In 1862 the mill workers took a principled stand by refusing to touch raw cotton picked by salves, which resulted in great personal sacrifice and the decline of the industry.

At the same time Abraham Lincoln was campaigning to abolish the slave trade and he sent a letter to Manchester, thanking the workers for taking a stand. That's why there is a statue of him in the city center, with a plaque, citing the words of his letter. 

So, after about 200 years of industrious times, Manchester's star began sinking and reached rock bottom in 1996, when a IRA bomb destroyed large parts of the city center. Curiously enough, without loosing a single life.

Since then it has lived through a regeneration and is now the second most important city in the country after London. Although the people of Birmingham will dispute that fact vehemently.

Sorry for the history lesson, but I find it all quite fascinating.

My human and Carmelo took the (very delayed) train into the city and arrived with a 20 minute delay to their booked walking tour. Luckily enough, they hadn't left the starting point yet, so they could still tag along. 

Apparently Manchester has one of the leading universities in the world

A few hundred years of architecture

The guide in front of the cities only (known) atomic bunker, fit to house 44 people for three years

The Cotton Exchange. 80% of the world's cotton was bought and sold here 

Now it is a very unique theater

After the tour, and some lunch, they went around on their own and explored a few more sights of the city. First and foremost a couple of libraries. The John Rylands Library reminds one of Harry Potter and the Central Library, built to look like the Pantheon in Rome, is the largest public library in Great Britain. 

John Rylans Library

The Central Library

Unfortunately, by the time they got there, the National Football Museum was already closed. Oh well, next time.

The next morning, they went off again, this time in the other direction, to see Liverpool. Today the train was on time and they were very punctual for their walking tour. 

Everything in Liverpool seems a bit grander than in Manchester, a bit bigger and shinier. This is because the city came to fame a bit later and was richer still, than Manchester. But basically for the same reasons. 

The largest tower clock in England, 45cm in diameter larger than Big Ben

There is, for example, St. George's Hall, dating from 1854. Or the Cathedral, the largest church in Great Britain as well as the largest Anglican Cathedral in the world, with the highest and heaviest bells in the world. The organ with it's 9765 pipes is probably the largest playable organ in the world.

St. George's Hall

Then we have the Royal Albert Dock, the first of it's kind to be built without structural wood. And not to forget Lime Street Train Station, which was opened in August 1836 and is the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station in the world.  

You get the picture, right?

 

And what would Liverpool be without the still flourishing Beatles Mania?

My human had planned to visit the International Slavery Museum, the World Museum and the Maritime Museum, as well as the Central Library. The latter was the only one she managed to go to.

But hey, plans are made to later disregard them! Besides the fact that one day would not have been enough to see them all anyways, she hadn't set aside time for a visit to "The Cavern Club", simply because she wasn't aware one could just go down there. 

For those of you who have never heard of this institution, it's a legendary rock&roll club in the heart of the city. Not only The Beatles played here often in their early years, in fact had their first gig here, but also Queen, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Black Sabbath, Elton John and many more. 

Carmelo "meeting" more famous people after Robin Hood

There is live music every day from noon till close. You get in for 5 Pounds and you can stay for as long as you like, listening to a new act every hour. So much for the museums. They will still be there when we come back around, won't they?

By the time she climbed up the stairs again, half deaf and blinded by the sun in the street, it was time to get a quick bite (the first really terrible experience with British food, if food is what it was) and find a pub to watch the game.

The streets were filled all day with fans...

                                                                                          ... and fashion expert

The tour guide had recommended "The White Star", so that's where she went. As expected, the place was filled to the brink and loud as hell with crazy fans. Just what she came here for. 

We won't talk about the game itself, there is no need, really. 

Let's just say they all had a good time till the 59th minute. 

The way home then was a bit adventurous and she got to see why English tourist are not very well liked in other countries, at least the drunk type of English tourist. There were locked gates at the train stations with angry German shepherds on the other side, very loud and abusive "fans" on the train, hitting it up with armed officers, insults and other assorted niceties.

It was a very interesting weekend, but it will be nice to get out into nature again now.