Liverpool, Lancashire, England

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Liverpool, Lancashire, England

I grew up in Liverpool, and although I don’t have any family still living there, I still go every year to visit friends. Over the years, I have been blessed that when I go to conferences in Scotland or London, I always manage to take a few extra days and go to Liverpool. This visit was to cheer up a friend who was down in the dumps after a health issue and the weather had given her the willies.

Liverpool was founded as a borough in 1207, and being on the River Mersey, the area is known as
Merseyside. It was a major port and in the l8th century it had close links with the Slave Trade. By the early l9th century, 40% of the world’s trade passed through the Liverpool’s docks. It controlled over 41% of Europe’s and 80% of Britain’s slave commerce. It is the 6^th most visited city in Great Britain. Close to 500,000 people live there.

Inhabitants of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians and are also called “Scousers”in reference to a local dish known as “scouse” a form of potato stew. People have a very distinct accent, or dialect, and even today, after living in California for over 40 years, I still have people say to me “Oh, you are a Scouser,” because of certain slang words I use.

Since it is the closest port to Ireland, in l840 thousands of Irish moved to the city because of the Great Famine. By l851, approximately 25% of the city was Irish, and since we are so close to Wales, we have Gaelic speakers to add to the melting pot. The city is also home to the oldest Black African community in the country, and the oldest Chinese community in Europe. 91% of the town is British white.

We have two football teams, Everton and Liverpool, but I think Liverpool became known because of the Beatles and other popular rock groups in the 1960’s. The city celebrated its
800^th birthday in 2007 and was named the European Cultural Capital,and held the title together with Stavanger, Norway in 2008.

Liverpool University is one of the most respected in the land, and its School of Tropical Medicine is said to be the best in the world.

During the Second World War, Liverpool suffered heavy bombing because of the docks, and the economy went into sharp decline with the advent of containerization. There has been a massive rebuilding in recent years, and I was very impressed with the pier head, and the area along the river front. A wonderful museum has been built, and of course, the Titanic exhibit is a worth visiting. All the crew came from Liverpool, and its memorial is of great interest to family members. The Maritime Museum at Albert Docks is also worth a visit. Take a ferry ride which is interesting. You see the magnificent old buildings and then very modern architecture of the new offices and flats.

The weather is unpredictable. It has a maritime climate being on a large
river and close to the Irish sea. It is always windy, and the winter can be
bleak. We don’t get a lot of snow, but
ice and frost can be dreadful. When
the television weather announcer tells you to take your hot water bottle to bed
tonight, you know its going to be jolly cold.

We only get a few hours of daylight in the winter, but it is light for 24 hours in the summer and I found it difficult to sleep since my friend does not have black out curtains on the bedrooms.

British Rail was broken up and sold to 25 different companies and Virgin Rail has the London to Liverpool route. Manchester Airport is approximately an hour away.

There is now a tour taking you to all the Beatle’s locations. Liverpool Cathedral is the 5^th largest in the world, There are several good museums, art galleries, and excellent shopping. It’s a good place to start an itinerary including Chester, York, and North Wales which are all close by. Since petrol is now $10.00 a gallon, I recommend you go by train.

Maureen Jones

All Horizons
Travel/Frosch

825 Santa Cruz Avenue

Menlo Park, CA 94025

650-961-2340 direct

www.AHTinfo@Frosch.com or www.froschvacations.com