Smultron mellan blåbär: May 2024

I had a fab time in Liverpool over the weekend. If there's a place to geek out about the Beatles, this is it! With a little help from Google Maps, it was pretty easy to find my way around—but Liverpool is so big! Kind of spread out, I guess, like London is. Although this time I did not ride the Magical Mystery Tour bus or any of the Liverpool tour buses (I should have known better), I did tour the childhood homes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney and had my own walking tour of a few spots like St Peter's church in Woolton, Strawberry Fields, and Penny Lane. I saw the outside of George and Ringo's houses as well. I definitely recommend taking the National Trust tour to be allowed inside John and Paul's houses. It was so surreal to be actually standing in those locations! Several people recreated the photo that's on the cover of Chaos and Creation in the Backyard at Forthlin Road. Paul McCartney has said it's his favourite one of all the photos his brother Mike took of him from that time. Some of the original fixtures are still in place at both houses (though some have changed/ some forever not for better?). The garden at Mendips is laid out as Mimi, George, and John planned it. The Goon Show was playing in John's bedroom as if he had just left the room. Paul and Mike's own record player is set up in their closet. And the original sink that was discovered in the back garden with a tree growing out of it has been put back in the kitchen. Paul McCartney still visits his old house occasionally and was last there in 2018. Our tour guides were both from Liverpool—really funny, full of Liverpudlian humour that made me laugh—but one of them talked so fast, I felt bad for the foreigners in the group. I was on the tour with a whole bunch of Swedes, a couple from Hungary, and someone from Japan. Of course I visited the Beatles Story Museum as well as The Liverpool Beatles Museum on Mathew Street. I enjoyed the Liverpool Beatles Museum more I think because the artefacts on display tell a really personal story.

On Sunday morning I went to a service at Gustaf Adolfs Kyrka in the Baltic Triangle area. Who knew there was a Nordic cultural centre with an active Lutheran church in Liverpool? The service was in Swedish and English and we used Swedish hymnals. It really reminded me of being in Sweden! I did also get to walk through Liverpool Cathedral (the largest cathedral in Britain).

Oh yeah! On Monday I went to a Jethro Tull concert at the Philharmonic. So cool listening to classic Tull now and realising I have seen Ian Anderson in concert! I hope to spend more time at the Central Library next time I visit. Since it was closed over the bank holiday Monday, I was only able to stop in for about twenty minutes before catching my train on Tuesday (I'd hate to miss the train). Good thing it's so near to Lime Street station!