28^th April

Decided to visit some sights of Liverpool the first was the China City Gate, a very impressive structure surrounded by Chinese Restaurants.

* Chinese gate

A little further up

Duke St.

we went into the very dark and  dower looking Anglican Cathedral. We saw the stone where the ashes of the cricketer and Arch Bishop David Shepherd are intered and then went up the 101m high Tower to get another view of Liverpool. On the way up using 2 lifts and 108 steps we passed the highest (67m) and heaviest (31 tons) peel of bells (14 bells). On the way down we called in the Embroidery Gallery and June was dumb struck by the quality of the work. By now it was lunch time so we decided to use the excellent cathedral café which is sited within the cathedral. I chose to try the local Scouse dish which is like a lamb stew. Very good. Who would have thought that we could have kept Graham in a cathedral for 2hrs!!

* Anglican Cathedral

* Inside cathedral

* The Bells

Our next visit was to the Catholic Cathedral at the opposite end of

Hope Street

. Passing on the walk the suitcases of famous Liverpool people including Paul McCartney.

* Luggage of the Famous

On entering Paddys Wigwam, as it is affectionately known, we were stunned by the complete contrast from the Anglican cathedral. The coloured glass in the windows gave a stunning light effect and its circular design gave the feeling of openness and simplicity. After a false start with a very expensive and grand design by Luytens, Archbishop Heenan decided that he wanted a design which would cost no more than £1m and take no more than 5yrs to complete. Gibberd’s design was chosen and work started in 1962 being completed in 1967 the money being raised by the locals.

Unfortunately the roof materials used were of poor quality, the roof leaked together with the spires had to be renewed at a cost of £8m.

* Catholic Cathedral

* Inside

* The Roof

In the evening we went for a drink with Steen and Jenny off Nb Freya Louisa and Cath and Dale off Shanty Bay to one of the Albert Dock bars. What a shock we had with hen and stag parties galore. The mens’ eyes were nearly popping out and the girls were wishing they were 18 again.

Later when it was dark we took a trip on the Echo Wheel to see the lights of Liverpool.

* Graham and Carolann on the Wheel

* Aerial View of Liverpool at Night

29^th April

Awoke to a wet and very windy morning and it stayed like that all day so we used the time to recharge our batteries ready for our journey out of Liverpool on Monday.