trip log: Merseyside

We were quite tired from our last day in Paris because we carried all our luggage with us. We ended up sleeping in until almost 10 AM, then had breakfast and chatted with my aunt and uncle a bit. They drove us around the area and then took us to the Albert Docks. We all went on the “Ferry cross the Mersey” ride. I have to say one thing about the Mersey – that is one big river. It makes the St. Laurent (at least near Montreal) look puny, although in Gaspésie I think they are probably about the same. Anyway, this river separates Liverpool from Birkenhead. My Dad’s family lived in Liverpool but I think his oldest sister moved to Birkenhead and he told me about how he would take the ferry across the river to see her. One striking thing is that one sees no bridges across it, at least not by the docks. The reason is obvious – this was THE main port/dock for England on the west coast during the shipping era and the ships couldn’t be obstructed by bridges. So instead of building those bridges that lift up every time a ship comes in or leaves dock, they built tunnels under the river to get from one city to the other. There are ventilation towers built at each end of the two tunnels and these are quite visible in the photos we took. See the close-up (below) too. So, there we were on the Ferry. Unfortunately the ship has two sides and only one commentary, so we ended up on the wrong side of the ship. We were facing Birkenhead, but the commentary was for Liverpool! We still caught a bit of the history though and took plenty of photos.

After, Fred and Lynn left us to explore the Albert Docks. We visited the Museum of Liverpool Life first and got a taste of what this major port city was like. My grandfater used to work on the docks and I think he used to be one of the people who moved the incoming cargo around in the warehouses and docks, so I leared a bit about what that was like. Also there used to be dray horses pulling the carts of goods from the docks to the town. Fred told me about how the kids would nick the cane sugar off these carts. He had a different name for the carts too, but I have forgotten it. We saw a dry dock and then went to the Maritime Museum, which was focused on the ships themselves and the goods traded (including, unfortunately, slaves). There was a room dedicated to the Titanic and other large transatlantic passenger ships. There was also a very interesting display on insurance – the insurance industry was big business in the ‘Pool – imagine importing 1000 tonnes of cane sugar and losing it all in a fire! After this we walked around the docks and got a bit lost. We stopped in a small store and had a D&B and some crisps. We were supposed to meet Lynn and Fred at the “Beatles experience” but got quite lost trying to find it. We never did see any Beatles stuff, but that came later anyway.

We went for supper at “The Carverey” that specializes in roasts. Supper consisted of a choice of any (or all) of roast beef, ham and turkey, Yorkshire pudding, vegetables, and potatoes with lots of gravy. Given that we had been eating quite light in Paris and had not had lunch, we both tucked in with gusto. We both had a pint of a local Bitter and Fred was very surprised that I was able to finish a) all my food and b) an entire pint of bitter. We attempted dessert – a trifle which we both ate since it was too sweet and too much for one person.

We went for a walk in Sefton Park. One of the first things we saw was “Fairy Glen” where children used to claim to find faries. Fred joked that the faries were all downtown liverpool and not in the glen anymore. We saw the Palm house but unfortunately it was closed so we could not go in. We walked along the very large pond and saw some swans and their cygnets and some squeeky ducks things that were totally foreign to us. Then it was home and off to sleep.