We fInally got up at a reasonable time today. Thought about grabbing breakfast first, but we went ahead and hit the road. Had a longer drive today, so we wanted to get going. As expected, we had no problem getting out of Stratford. We got back on the main highway, which was rather busy. Luckily, it lightened up when we turned onto our next highway. Second day of driving on the left, and it feels just a little less weird.
About halfway there, we were starving. So we pulled off at a service area complete with BP gas, Burger King, and Krispy Kreme donuts. It was just like being in America!
And then, of course, there was this awesomeness.
We finally made it to Liverpool around 3:00. I was worried about navigating city traffic again, but knew it would still be easier than London. Shouldn't have worried. Liverpool is easy to drive into, and the waterfront area is much nicer than we expected.
After checking into our hotel, our first stop was The Beatles Story, of course, which presents the compleat history of the Beatles. It was just a short walk from the hotel along the river and historic docks. Perfect for Marsha.
The Beatles Story is a great little museum that tells the whole history of the Beatles through environments. Naturally, they had a lot of artifacts, such as George's first guitar, their clothing, and John's yellow glasses. But I loved how they re-created the environments, such as Hamberg club, inside the Cavern Club, the radio station that first played their music, Abbey Road Studios, and even inside the Yellow Submarine.
We spent a good three hours in there and could easily have stayed longer. They have an optional audio tour that doesn't cost extra, which was nice. It was all very impressive.
The final hallway covered their lives post break-up and each Beatle had his own separate, walled off area. You could sit and watch videos of their lives afterwards, which also contained clips of them talking about The Beatles. That was really well done.
The final display was John Lennon's Imagine piano. A perfect ending.
They also have a nice little cafe and a big gift shop with tons of stuff. We were tempted to buy a few things, but were worried about getting everything on the plane.
We started to hunt down the Cavern Club, but found a big, outdoor shopping mall on the way that has a huge movie theater complete with IMAX. We grabbed dinner at Nando's, a popular chicken chain in the UK (heard about it from my nieces because One Direction loves them). We saw several in London. The food was quite good, the decor was really good for a chain, but it was very noisy. There were lots of teenagers, probably more because it was right next to a movie theater, but also because the prices were great, too.
After the movie (Jurassic World, which we really enjoyed in all its escapist glory), we decided to hunt down the Cavern Club on our way back to the hotel. Luckily, it was close by.
The original was torn down in the 70s, but the current one was rebuilt using the original bricks. Matthews Street (which is actually more of an alley) is quite lively and filled with tourists.
There's no mistaking that Liverpool is the birthplace of The Beatles. They've done a fantastic job of honoring their favorite sons. Gary, Indiana (and even Memphis) could learn a thing or two.
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