Liverpool

So this week which consisted of Natural Science (dinosaurs) Museum and HAIRSPRAY was by far overshadowed by Liverpool. At first I was sort of excited for this trip because I thought it was going to be Beatles overkill, but it did not even matter!! It was amazing. I will do a play-by-play recap of this trip.

Friday: left London at 9am for a 4 hour trip to Liverpool, England...home of The Beatles. Met our amazing guide, Jackie. She was lovely. We took a walk around Albert Dock which is where our hotel is located. I roomed with the one and only Jo Beth. First we went to the Beatles Story building one: The spirit of John Lennon. Basically you just learn everything you need to know/or ever could know about the man. But, we got it told from his first wife, Cynthia, and eldest son, Julian's perspective. [side note: Paul McCartney wrote "Hey Jude" about Julian when John and Cynthia were going through their divorce] This is where I learned to dislike John when he and Yoko got together. Basically he cheated on Cynthia with Yoko... not cool. Then we went on a walk to Mathew Street. This is where The Beatles hung out before they got big. The played 80+ times and The Cavern and that is where they were discovered. The Cavern has also seen Queen...and many more. After that we saw the Eleanor Rigby statue and were free for dinner. Now it was 5:30 and about a 30 minute walk to our hotel. So some of us decided it was a good idea to just eat at a pub on Mathew Street and stay there for the night and drink. I got a sausage and potatoes (delicious) and a cider. Since the drinks were so cheap and there was karaoke, we stayed for the night. We sang "Spice Girls" and "Journey." The crowd loved us and some of the other men (much older...maybe 60) dedicated a song to us.

Saturday: Woke up bright and early to the most amazing, delicious breakfast I have ever had. A traditional Liverpool English breakfast. I cannot even describe to you how good it was... it was that good. I miss it!! After that we had a coach tour of South Liverpool. This consisted of driving by John, Paul and George's houses, and going inside <3ringo's house, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields (which were really an orphanage), St. Peter's Church (where Paul met John for the 1st time and they joined the Quarry Men with George). Finally we ended the day with "The Beatles Story." It was an interactive museum that told us all about their story to Bealtemania and then their final break-up. I especially liked how they all idolized Elvis (John said he almost got kicked ot of school for having Elvis sideburns). Then we had a pub crawl with Jackie and out professor. It was a blast. Lots of tequila shots and dancing.

Sunday: Woke up early again to the wonderful breakfast... YUM! Had a coach tour of South London where we saw the Casbah Coffee Club. This was owned by Pete Best (oringial drummer)'s mom let The Beatles (Quarry Men at the time) play and really build their fan base. We got a tour from Pete's Best sister in law herself. Then we off to John and Paul's house. WE SAT ON THE BED WHERE THEY BOTH SLEPT WHILE THEY GREW UP. IT WAS AWESOME. Not many people get to do that. Finally we ended with going inside The Cavern and getting exclusive backstage tour of Me with Pete Best's kit
the dressing room (authentic), where The Beatles and many other bands got dressed and we got to go on stage like they did. Amazing!!