England-Scotland Day 17 (Part 1) – Beatles Story Pier Head

19 April 2010 

We went to Beatles Museum at Pier Head to continue our Beatles tour with the Beatles Story's Fab4D experience. Our tickets for the Beatles Story Museum at Albert Dock included entry to this attraction.

Our morning started with shopping at Liverpool One, a large shopping complex located at the City Centre. There is a Liverpool FC store located at Liverpool One, so we bought more LFC T-shirts for ourselves and also as gifts for some friends who are fans too.

We have an appointment at the University of Liverpool at 2 PM. So, after dropping off our shopping at the apartment, we walked to the The Foundation Building, Brownlow Hill, where we met our host who had arranged a campus tour and also a meeting with a professor from the Engineering department who briefed us on admission requirements and was also kind enough to show us an engineering lab, including the aeronautical simulation machine.

After the University visit, we went to Beatles Museum at Pier Head. Before entering the museum, we took some time to enjoy the views of Liverpool city on the banks of the Mersey River.

Outside Pier Head by the Mersey River.

Royal Liver Building.

Statue of King Edward VII.

This are the photos inside the Beatles Museum at Pier Head.

Beatles' Guitars.

Compared the Beatles Story Museum, this was not too fancy.

Mosaic like reflection of an old building off glass panels of a new building.

From Pier Head, we decided to have dinner at Cafe Sports England (Carra’s Cafe) before heading to Anfield for the mid-week English Permier League (EPL) game against West Ham United scheduled for 8 PM kick-off.

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England-Scotland Day 17 (Part 2) – Matchday at Anfield

19 April 2010

This was the day we were looking forward to and one of the highlights of our England-Scotland vacation, i.e. watching a English Premier League (EPL) game at Anfield, home ground of Liverpool Football Club.

Decked in our red Liverpool home kit, we took our dinner at Cafe Sports England, a family restaurant owned by one of our favourite Liverpool player, No 23 Jamie Carragher. There were others there, some similarly dressed, so we knew they would be also heading to Anfield later.

There was a line of taxis waiting outside when we left the restaurant. These drivers were smart. They know where to source for business.

We alighted at the Kop end of the stadium, where we were 2 days ago to take the Anfield Stadium Tour. There was already a small crowd there at 6.30 PM. We bought an additional scarf from the Club Store.

Outside Anfield with our scarf from Athens (where Liverpool played in the Champions League Finals. We lost !)

Father and son with LFC scarf outside Anfield on match-day.

Stalls selling souvenirs across the stadium.

Inside Anfield stadium at Kop end, before heading into the stands. With our new LFC scarf bought at the Club Store.

At the Kop end of Anfiled before start of game.

Putting the binocular we bought at Lake District to good use.

 

One of the many flags. We heard that Fernando Torres would not be playing as he was still in Spain, recovering from injury and also all flights were cancelled because of Icelandic volcano eruption.

Banner of Bob Paisley.

Players warming up. Club emblem at the center circle. It will be removed before the start of the game.

All set for the start of game.

Start of game. Stadium filled.

Before the players come onto the pitch, the fans would sing You’ll Never Walk Alone, scarves held high and then the giant flag was moved across the Kop stand.



Watch the traditional passing of the giant flag before the game from where we stood.

Liverpool attacking the Kop end.

Fans at the Kop end stood for almost the entire match once the game started. We only sat during half time. Cheer leaders amongst the supporters ensured that singings were co-ordinated and the Kop sang for most parts of the game.

The game was a one-sided affair, as the home team took the lead and then add another. So there was not much tension in the crowd.

I managed to video the 3rd goal.



Liverpool 3 - 0 West Ham. Kyrgiakos scores the third goal for Liverpool from a Steven Gerald freekick.

As per tradition again, we sang the Liverpool anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” again, just before the final whistle.

Then the final whistle came and it was time to find our way out of the crowded stadium and try to catch a taxi back to our apartment. We followed the crowd out of the stadium and into the streets, like sheep, without knowing where we were heading. We managed to flag a taxi, a short while later, along a main road quite a distance away from the stadium. What a day!

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England-Scotland Day 18 – From Liverpool to London by train and guess who we met

20 April 2010

We would be travelling to London from Liverpool by train which I had pre-booked via Internet before our trip.

Our train from Liverpool Lime Street Station to London Euston station.

Boarding 15 minutes before scheduled departure time of 12.48 PM.

We managed to get 4 seats that faced each other and a table-top in between. The journey took 2.5 hours and was comfortable. Cost us 11 GBP each. This was better than driving which would take us at least 5 hours.  And we did not need a car in London.

2.5 hours of time to kill on the train. Watch a movie from the laptop or enjoy the views.

The journey was uneventful and we arrived in London as scheduled.

Guess who we saw coming off the train?

The Liverpool football team! They were on the same train as us!

If only we had knew earlier. We might have gotten some autographs. It seemed that the train had made a special stop at a small station just outside Liverpool for the team to board. The team was on their way to Europe for a match and all flights were cancelled due to the Icelandic volcano eruption. So they had to go by ground transportation.

Cameras clicked away as the team disembarked.

A smiling Pepe Reina disembarking from the train.

Daniel Agger.

 

Dirk Kuyt.

Captain Steven Gerald was last to disembark from the train. A small cheer went out but he quickly moved to join the team who had immediately boarded the team bus.

We bought 4 Oyster cards and took a taxi to our apartment in London where we would be staying for the next 4 nights. We had booked ourselves a two-bedroom, one-bathroom self-catering apartment at Crompton Court Apartments located in Wood Green, north London. Nicely furnished apartment, within walking distance to the Wood Green Underground station.

We explored the vicinity of our apartment after check-in and took a walk to the nearby Alexandra Palace and Park.

Nice facade of Alexandra Palace, near Wood Green where we stayed.

Details on facade of Alexandra Palace.

Alexandra Park was nice and well planted. We saw some more cherry trees in bloom.

Rows of cherry trees in Alexandra Park in full bloom.

Close-up views of the  cherry blossoms.

The park was on high ground and provided a good view of the neighbourhood.

We just sat on a park bench and watch people and families having fun or simply relaxing on the field. 

We took a bus from the park to the town, alighting near the Wood Green Underground station.  We had our dinner at a Nandos restaurant, followed by shopping for groceries for breakfast. Then a walk in the cold night back to the apartment. The apartment seemed a long way from the station when we were walking in the cold!

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Evening in Liverpool – Beatles Museum and dinner at Albert Dock

23 December 2012

We drove into Liverpool early after noon from Stratford Upon Avon. We have been to Liverpool in 2010 where we visited Albert Dock, Beatles Museum and the Cavern. Since this was the first visit to Liverpool for Samuel, we went to the Beatles museum for the second time. Just for Sam. We got to see some of the same things again but overall, it was not a bad second visit.

Beatles Museum at Albert Dock. Recreation of the stage at the Cavern where they started.

Brothers learning about the Beatles history through the audio guide.

By the time we completed the Beatles Museum, the sky had turned dark.  Albert Dock is a good place to have dinner in Liverpool.

Ferries Wheel at Albert Dock Liverpool.

Night lights and calm waters at Albert Dock makes a nice picture.

After dinner at the Gusto restaurant, it was off to the real Cavern Club at Mathew Street for some drinks. The main area near the stage at the Cavern was full, but we managed to find a table at the side and had some beer while watching videos clips of the the Beatles on the big screen.

With the Fab 4 inside the Cavern.

At the original entrance to the Cavern, where the Beatles played in the early days.

From the Cavern, it was a short walk back to our apartment at Liverpool ONE. There was still time to grab some drinks and pizzas from a food stand just outside the entrance to the apartment.

Once back at the apartment, we took turns to enjoy the hot water shower. Due to some quirks with the boiler system, we need to follow some procedures to reheat the water after some usage.

Where we stayed in Liverpool:

Our accommodation at Liverpool is a 2-bedroom Bridgestreet Serviced Apartment located at Liverpool ONE. The entrance to the underground garage is via an obscured small side street called Old Manesty’s Lane that is off Hanover Street. I managed to find it, thanks to some pre-trip research using Google map and Streetview. However, I did missed a turn or two earlier before getting to the Hanover Street, which resulted in an unplanned drive through the tolled Mersey tunnel to Birkenhead and a U-turned back. After losing some time and money for the toll, we finally got it right.

View from Bridgestreet Apartment at Liverpool One. Shoppers doing their last minute Christmas shopping at Liverpool ONE.

Location, location, location.

Being in the city centre and on top of Liverpool ONE, we don’t need our car for the rest of the day. All the places we wanted to see were within a short walk within the city centre. The apartment itself was spacious, clean and comfortable. Good value for the money spent although we had an issue with the hot water system.

Instructions given during check in to operate the hot water system.

The  water tank soon ran out of hot water after some time and we could not get the boiler system to work again despite the instructions given to us during check-in. The boost light came on as per instructions but the water just takes too long to heat. Poor Daniel ended up taking a freezing cold shower that night. Otherwise, our stay at this apartment would have been excellent.

 

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Revisit to Anfield stadium

24 December 2012

Back in 2010, I visited Anfield stadium but missed out on seeing the Shankly Gates and the Hillsborough Memorial. I said that I will return. So I did.

This time, we drove to Anfield Stadium instead of taking a taxi.  The ushers on the ground let us park within the stadium itself, being not a match-day. I parked at lot number 23, wondering if this was Jamie Carragher’s personal lot. LOL.

We went to check out the new Bootroom Sports Cafe that was recently opened at Anfield Stadium but we did not eat there. The LFC museum is just next to it but we had all been in it, except Samuel. But Samuel is not a Liverpool fan, so there was no need for a second visit to the LFC museum. Instead we spent some time viewing the many historical photographs of Liverpool FC on the walls outside the museum.

Photos below:

Photo of Bill Shankly with his famous pose.

Bob Paisley's photo with the many trophies.

The standing Kop.

Quote from the great Dutch soccer star Johan Cruff.

Quote from Keegan, one of the Liverpool legend.

Photos of the fans over the years.

After some shopping at the LFC store, we went to do what we came for i.e. to visit the Hillsborough Memorial and see the Shankly Gates.

 A photo with Bill, after a shopping spree at the club store.

The gates and memorial are located on the opposite side of the Kop end so we had to walk round the stadium along Lothair Rd. Most of the houses along this street were vacant and boarded up, waiting for the day to be torn down for the Anfield Stadium redevelopment. Which meant only one thing…I will be back again to watch a match at the new Anfield Stadium.

Shankly Gate.

You’ll Never Walk Alone at the top of Shankly Gates.

Hillsborough Memorial for the 96 Liverpool fans, on the left of Shankly Gate.

Paying our respect to the 96.

Names of the 96 victims and an eternal flame to remember them.

The Hillsborough Memorial is to remember the 96 Liverpool supporters who lost their lives tragically at Hillsborough during a FA Cup semi-final match. I remember watching the tragic events on that day on live TV from Singapore.

While we were there, a car drove up and the occupants came out to leave some flowers at the memorial. It drizzled a little while we are there. 

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