Our Grand Day Out took in the environs of Buckingham Palace and The Albert memorial where I admired the statures….
this one in front of Buckingham palace
and this one, a detail of one of the corners of the Albert Memorial.
A few days later we went on up to Liverpool, and visited the New Museum of Liverpool which is well worth a visit and where we saw a different style of statuary!
‘Wish You Were Here’ sculpture
The picture above shows the original statue which was on show at the Liverpool Garden Festival in 1984. I visited there in the first flush of romance with Cyclo, and somewhere there exists a photo of us next to this larger than life sized, parody of holiday makers. Originally they were on railings which served a purpose, but are now mounted in front of a huge window – so it is impossible to take another photo in the same pose!
The window gives a marvellous view of the Liverbuildings.
and the canal and the pier-head for the ferry across the Mersey.
Liverpool city centre has been rejuvenated – well let’s say is still being rejuvenated – a few years down the line from the Liverpool City of Culture deadline of 2008! If you like shopping this is a shoppers paradise. But there are plenty of other things to do – thank goodness.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Whoops. Just came back as I realised I hadn’t added a ‘more’ button. Thank you to someone who did it for me 🙂
Yes, L’pool is full of marvellous reminders of the days of Empire. The cathedral though is a scary hulk of a place.
Which cathedral?
http://www.liverpoolcathedral.org.uk/about/main.aspx
or
http://www.liverpoolmetrocathedral.org.uk/ ??!
We climbed up the former the last time we visited. IMpressive.
I mean the C of E one, huge interior, ceiling only visible on clear days! 🙂
It is massive. A climb to the top meant a section in a lift as well… well worth it for the view.
…And it’s six in a bed by the old pier head… Nice piece, Pseu and some cracking photos!
thanks Bravo.
So glad you are back and getting better after your op 🙂 How’s the quitting going?
😦 I need a backbone injection.
Nym, it was height-sickness that did it for me. Had the same trouble in Hong Kong hotel and Niagara Falls restaurant. 😦
I have never been to Liverpool, though I would like to visit there one day seeing as how some of my slave-trading ancestors hailed from that part of the world. They were not all completely bad. One of them founded Liverpool Blue Coat School*. But that is by the bye. I think the building in the foreground of the second last photo is actually the former offices of Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. That in the middle is the Cunard Building and at the far left in the background is the Royal Liver Building.
* Ok, if you are interested, Bryan Blundell, 1674 to 1756 was an orphan and master of vessels. He was said to be the greatest Shallope racer from the Mersey to the West Indies. In 1708 he founded the Blue Coat School for orphans, many of whom were apprenticed to shipmasters.
For a man who has never been to L’pool you know your buildings.
The Liver birds celebrate an their centenary this year
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/liver-building/liver-building-centenary-stories/2011/07/19/liver-building-centenary-david-charters-on-the-famous-liver-birds-100252-29076364/
Bravo, are you trying without support, so to speak? Nicotine patches? May be worth considering if you’re struggling.
You’ve probably heard all the advice before, but here goes.
Try to think of something that you DO instead of smoking as a lot of it is HABIT combined with addiction. So instead of a cigarette a walk around the block. Or instead of a cigarette a chewing gum etc. Try not to substitute with calories.
Also if you normally light up at the end of a meal with a cup of coffee, stop the coffee and have an alternative drink to break the link… that sort of thing. Mint tea? Rooibus tea?
Aversion therapy can help. Elastic band on wrist, twang it hard when you find yourself thinking of a smoke.
Distraction: a new hobby? One that requires both hands, such as stained glass window making or even simply jig-saws after meals.
Pseu: wonderful, wonderful pictures. Thank you for posting them. For some reason, even though I know that the UK has a lot of problems and a lot of things are going wrong, I love the country any way — even more than the land of my birth. These pictures remind me why.
Sipu, don’t be shy – we are all descended from slave-traders. 🙂
Thank you Christopher 🙂
Pseu, last time I gave up smoking – it lasted for a few years – I took up knitting 😀
Distraction and occupying both hands! Please can I put in an order for a long DR Who style scarf?
Christopher, the UK’s problems lie mainly with its meeja, now controlled by subversive elements from former colonies and sicko-liberals from the Bliar period. NB there is little media frenzy when yobboes burn cars in France, flags in Asia Minor or widows in India. As for financial problems, the Uk as so often is leading the way out of them, unlike the fated Eurozone, which is suffering from chronic Hamelinism. Rule Britannia! 🙂
Janus: the British have been muddling their way through since the days of the Celts, there is no reason why they would change now. Much of the time this muddle results in the nastiness of the worst extremes being avoided with none of the glory of the best. The UK will somehow survive, albeit with more pain than necessary and not quite as it was before.
MUDDLING THROUGH? John Cleese’s advice prevents me from mentioning armed conflicts! 🙂
Thanks for the photos, Pseu and for the memories of my home city they generated.
OZ
My pleasure, OZ
Super photographs Pseu. My husband came from Liverpool, we visited often. I have a photograph somewhere of me, he took in front of the Queen Victoria monument, someone had written ‘plums’ after the word Victoria, I thought it funny to have a photograph taken there. Did you go and have afternoon tea in the Adelphi Hotel? Always a treat, used to be anyway, palm trees, and a three piece orchestra playing.