Liverpool UK
We had a couple of days after our Berlin Sit so we decided to spend them in the Home of the Beatles, Liverpool. We stayed at the Hotel Ibis Style, close to the train station and the bar the Beatles played their first show.
We arrived late by cab getting dropped off directly in front of the hotel. The doors opened to a colorful lobby presented with colorful acoustical panels hanging straight down from the ceiling, there were white curvy framed chairs with brightly colored cushions to the left. On the wall behind the seats is a mural with iconic Beatles references on the wall, walrus, a strawberry, tea shades style glasses and others.
Our room was a narrow room with a white rounded door to the left. Just past that door was a queen size bed with two nightstands, one with a full sized sequined high heeled shoe on top. . The white door gave us access to our bathroom. The bathroom had white walls, white ceiling, white flooring and a white vanity. The only color was our reflection in the large square mirror. Without the shower it had slightly more room than a portable bathroom. From the shower I could reach my arm out straight and drop my shampoo bottle and it would land in the middle of the sink while continuing to rinse off. Except for barely adequate space for our toiletries it had everything. There was a plaque on the wall outside the bathroom, “Abbey Road NW8, City of Westminster”. Abbey Road Studio is where the Beatles recorded their last studio album. Their iconic album cover of the fab four crossing the street over the zebra cross walk is directly in front of that studio. The ceiling was painted white in the center with wide black undulating stripes on two sides ending at the wall. But the room had everything we needed and was comfortable the few nights we were there. That night we talked about going to the bar for a drink but we were both overtired and crashed for the night.
We did some research on the Beatles related sites in the city and we decided The Cavern Club was a must. The Cavern Club has been a popular venue for musicians for over 60 years opening in 1957 and the Beatles played lunchtime gigs there, met their manager, Brian Epstein, and it is where they were first filmed playing during one of those shows. The Beatles were loyal to The Cavern throughout their association with them returning many times. The Cavern now has a coffee shop, gift shop and restaurant above the original music venue.
The floors, walls, curved pillars and curved ceiling is all red brick. Almost every brick has been written on with the names of people, dates and sayings from the many people visiting the bar through the years.The Cavern Club is underground. Immediately after descending from the last step you see a full bar and just beyond the bar are display cases of Beatles memorabilia. The room is divided into three sections of arced brick ceiling and separated by brick pillars flaring out as they reach the ceiling. The center section has the stage in the back and the remaining space is dedicated to chairs around tables. The walls have display cases and photos of the many performers that have played and visited there.
Our favorite photo is beside the bar of the Fab Four, late in the band’s career, standing side by side in front of that very bar. The bar looks the same as today, with taps, similar bar top with the same sign, “The Cavern Liverpool”. At the bottom of the frame is a ribbon plague, “Local Group”.
The night we were there the performer played all Beatles tunes much to the delight of the full house of patrons. The crowd was decidedly older but there were many young people. Irrespective of the age it seems almost everyone knew the words to the songs. We stayed for all three sets and decided it was the best attraction we could have seen in Liverpool.
(Barb: With all the amazing museums, monuments, castles and attractions in Europe, I have to say that being in The Cavern Club was one of the highlights of our adventure!)
Woodlesford UK
After leaving Liverpool, we took a train to Woodlesford which is just outside of Leeds. We were met at the train station by Clivia, our host, and we took a short walk to her home where we met her husband Alan and their 3 kitties, Toni, Penny and Lewis.
Clivia and Alan had prepared a wonderful English meal of Bubble and Squeak. The beer and wine flowed throughout the night as did the conversation. We had a wonderful time!
The next morning Clivia and Alan departed for their holiday.
We spent a wonderful week with our 3 roommates. Clivia and Alan fenced in their patio for the kitties who loved being outside. They made no bones about when they wanted out and we got our exercise letting them in and out! We explored Woodlesford and spent a day in the city of Leeds. We could walk to pubs, grocery stores and restaurants in Woodlesford and the train station was a short walk from the house.
We were lucky to see Alan and Clivia before we left for our next sit in Wincanton. More new friends along this incredible journey!
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