johnsunter.com - The adventures of an ordinary person...

Its calculated that less than 1% of people living in Tokyo have ever climbed mnt Fuji and a similar number of the residents of Fort William have ever climbed Ben Nevis.

I have only been to Liverpool briefly 3 times in my life, even though its only 40 minutes by train from where I live.

I decided to spend the day there and explore the sight's

This is a picture of my standing outside "The most famous club in the world".

My companions on the journey were the lovely Sarah and dependable Steve.

As we left the car park, I mistook this shot, which made the whole picture darker, however the flash brought out the sign, so I have put it up for artistic achievement.

Liverpool has been selected as European city of culture, for 2008, so a lot of development is going on there, and the sky if full of Cranes.

In this picture is the famous Liverpool radio tower.

The first place we visited was the beautiful Albert Dock.

We wandered around, and I was impressed with the number of superb restaurants and bars there.

There were also several museums.

This one, was dedicated to immigrants, (Liverpool has a long history as a port, and for example, the oldest Chinese community in the UK).

The style of the Museum, was that you walked through the "streets" in the museum, and got a feel of what it would have been like to arrive in the City back then.

There was a reconstruction of a harbor, and this ship, where people would spend weeks or months, without seeing daylight.

When I was 19, I went on the Hambros Cruise run by Fairbridge Drake. It was an experience that would change my life.

We set of from the Albert Dock, nearly 20 years ago, and I was amazed to see a similar ship to the spirit of Merseyside, docked in the same place I sailed from, all those years earlier.

After this, we visited the slavery museum.

Although Britain isn't normally associated with having many slaves in its country, it actually helped to transport millions of slaves from their homes.

There was a reconstruction of the lower decks of a slaving ship.

It really did look quite awful, and its hard to imagine spending months in a hole like that.

One of the exhibits was a poem. It went:

With 20 hours of unremitting toil,
12 in the field and 8 indoors to boil,
Or grind the Cane - Believe me few grow old,
But life is cheap, and sugar sir, is gold.

After leaving the museum, we popped into one of the local eateries. It really was awful. If you see a shop selling fish and chips for a fiver in the Albert Dock and it seems to good to be true, that's because it is.

One thing I was really looking forward too, was the duck marine. Its a former military amphibious vehicle, that gives a tour of Liverpool and the docks.

After a trip around the streets of liverpool, and a guided tour, we are given a quick safety brief, and then drive down the ramp, into the water bellow.

I have always been fascinated by amphibious vehicles, ever since I saw the James Bond film, the spy who loved me (okay, I know that's a submarine, but its the same idea).

This is a shot I took later, but it shows what our "Duck" would have looked like from outside, as we drove/sailed around the dock.

I had expected it to be mostly children, but there were loads of other people on the tour, and they were clearly enjoying themselves.

The view of the dock, taken from the cabin of the Duck.

The tour guide and the driver, were really friendly and extremely professional.

At £12, it seems expensive for an hour, but how many people can say they have driven in an amphibious vehicle, and how long does £12 actually last in the pub !.

The Police station, sits on the site of the original "pool" from where Liverpool takes its name.

The pool was originally a sheltered inlet, which was later converted to the worlds first enclosed dock.

Next to the Dock, was the Beatles museum. I that it was a bit expensive at £10, but it had loads of interesting things in there, and several authentic reconstructions

There is a recorded guide, you are supposed to listen too, throughout, but I didn't bother, I was trying to "soak up" the atmosphere, not find out the date the beatles signed their first recording contract.

Wax replicas of the fab four, performing in their re-created recording studio.

The thing I really came to the museum to see.

An exact replica of the original Cavern Club (the actual club was demolished and filled in).

They had beetles music playing in the background as I expected, and it felt like being in the real club (although I can never know that for sure, as I wasn't born then).

I was surprised at how small it actually was.

A reconstruction of the Piano room from the video of Imagine.

John Lennon's original spectacles.

There was an exhibit there, with 2 large holes in the wales, with 2 monitors behind it, entitled through the eyes of John Lennon

The screens behind the holes showed scenes from the vietnam war, and various other news events from that era, to authentic Lennon music of the time.

A day in Liverpool (1/2).