We started by heading off to wander through part of Liverpool One a massive complex of shops, flats and hotels. There were some really interesting plantings alongside the Hilton hotel but I must have deleted the photo - it's been block planted, using tough grasses and paving with fountains and water features.
We climbed a beautiful sweeping stone staircase up to a new level with great views. I liked the curved shapes of the buildings and the use of the ubiquitous Betula utilis jacquemontii with its ghostly white bark.
There was this quirky statue, a tribute to John Lennon.
What a legacy those four young men left their city of birth. The tourism side alone must be worth a fortune to Liverpool.
We decided to take a walk up to the Walker Art Gallery and the Library via a different route to soak up some more atmosphere.Liverpool has some amazing architecture and you really do need to look upwards to catch some of the wonderful details.
The gargoyles, the ornamentation, the stonework and brickwork all make it too good to miss.
It's always good to view things as a tourist as you catch the little details that draw you in to the history of this wonderful city (can you tell I have a great affection for Liverpool?).
Sadly the library was closed for renovations. Mike was disappointed as he used to spend hours in there as a teenager looking through musical scores, studying and learning from the great composers. We did however manage a quick look around the art gallery.
Time was marching on and so we had a stroll through the little garden behind St. George's Hall where I spotted this very sad little memorial promoting 'Road Peace'.The inscription reads "Injured or killed lives unfulfilled........the reality of road crashes" and is covered in everyday items from those who lost their lives such as a teddy bear, a handbag, mobile phone, set of keys.
Then it was time to head back to the hotel to collect our things before heading home.I could not leave this account of our visit without showing the monstrosity that is Mann Island.
My photos will give you a feel of how dreadful this development is and why I'm beginning to sound like Prince Charles
I found a like-minded individual's comments here and his photos show just how beautiful the view was before!
He's also printed a quote from the developer and this one made me snort in disbelief:
Developers Neptune say: “The development proposes a subtle but striking architectural response to this extremely important connecting site. The development respects the scale height and setting of the neighbouring buildings and proposes simple elegant forms.”
Are you sure? Do you really think that hideous black glass carbunkle of a building juxtaposed starkly with the magnificence of the Three graces shows any respect for its neighbours?
This final photo shows the view from Canning Dock now. What a travesty of the planning rules in a World Heritage Site!
I must add that I am not against modernist architecture at all and I really loved the modern design of the new museum and the Echo Arena. But I believe that the old and new should sit happily together and I do not think that they do in this instance.
After that little rant there's not much more to say except we collected our things and caught the train to Euston from Lime Street Station where we found sculptures of the wonderful Ken Dodd and Bessie Braddock (scroll down the link to see them). Mike worked as a backing act for Ken Dodd in the days when he was a starving musician and played the keyboard to supplement his income!
It was a fast train with only a couple of stops en-route, one of which was at Stafford where Mike spotted this lovely car with it's eyelashes. How wonderfully girlie!
My head was still too swimmy to concentrate on my knitting so I just messed around with a few puzzles and looked out of the window.
The journey home was a long one as once we reached Euston, after 2 hours 15 minutes, we then had another 2 hours 45 minutes of travelling to go before we finally reached our little bit of paradise.
We reacquainted ourselves with the animals and I noticed that Esther was getting far too fat so would need her grazing restricted even further!The sky welcomed us home with a melange of purple, grey, pink and peach.
Perfect.
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