Big weekend! Katy, Emily, Bess and I headed up to Liverpool and Manchester this weekend. We were so excited because, well, it's exciting to travel, but also because we planned it all by ourselves! And boy did we learn a few things...
We took a bus there through the National Express. It took 5 hours so we left at 8 AM on Friday morning (we woke up at 6 to shower and get there on time! Bleh). We stopped at Caribou for breakfast and hopped on the Tube. We found our way there easily enough, but of course it was raining. When we finally boarded the bus, we decided to sit near the back where there was plenty of room. Clearly, we weren't thinking and didn't think that the emptiness of the back of the bus might be a warning sign. One man used the bathroom right behind us at least 8 times (we counted but eventually lost track) and we smelled EVERYTHING. I never thought I'd be so happy to get off a bus (although, compared to the ride home, that ride was heavenly, but that'll come a bit later). Anyway, we ended up in Liverpool and took a taxi to the hostel. We were in a six-bed room with a bathroom. Our side of the room had two sets of bunk beds whereas the other room only had one set of bunks. We basically just sat our stuff down and headed right back outside to the taxi because we needed to get to Albert Dock, where our Magical Mystery Tour started! Yay Beatles! The tour was really great because not only did we learn about the Beatles and little tidbits of information about their history but we also got to see the city of Liverpool. Here are some highlights:
Ringo lived right down this alleyway.
George Harrison's house
John Lennon lived here with his aunt.
Me in front of Paul McCartney's house :)
Our bus
The bus dropped us off at the Cavern bar, which I can't quite remember its significance, but it was something like the Beatles' manager first saw them perform there or something. It had a display, which was cool. We didn't stay long, though. We ate at a restaurant around there and they had veggie burgers! I mean, I will eat real burgers, but I still prefer the taste of veggie burgers so that was exciting. We did a little shopping afterward and found our way back to the hostel--somehow we ended up right near there! Speaking of which, here are some pictures:
Our side of the room--we were pretty squished!
Gracie's side--she was a little, mid-aged Portuguese woman! So nice!
Anyway, we were in bed by 9 PM. It was pathetic. Gracie, our roommate, came back later than us! We did stay up talking for a while so I guess we didn't actually go to sleep just then, but it was still kind of funny. In our defense, we DID have to wake up at 6 again to catch a bus to Manchester.
That bus ride was much smoother (and shorter--only an hour) than was the first ride. We hopped off the bus in Manchester with no plan, no map, nothing. We asked the Information booth at the station but they had nothing to give us, so we headed out blindly. Apparently, the bus station is in Chinatown, Manchester--who knew that even existed?! Not me. We somehow wandered to the Manchester Art Museum, which opened at 10. Unfortunately for us, it was 8:45. There was a Cafe Nero (a coffee chain here) across the street so we set up camp there for about an hour until it opened. We killed about 2 hours there and found some really amusing pieces. I put some of those pictures up (with nice captions I might add) on Facebook so check them out!
After that, we asked someone to point us in the direction of the shopping district (as we still didn't have a map). We wandered around there for a while (if you haven't caught on, we did a lot of wandering!) and finally settled on the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. After a late lunch, we hopped on board the ferris wheel that was hanging out in the middle of the city. It was super high up and I tried not to look straight down, but it was really fun! Look:
Me in front of the ferris wheel... obviously
Bess and me about halfway up
View from the top
After that ride, we were all freezing and tired from walking all day with our backpacks so we decided to just find the coach station and wait. It ended up being five minutes away! No idea how we managed to do that! We waited there and looked at pictures from the trip, still freezing. Finally the bus showed up and it was a two-story bus! Naturally, we went up to the second level. We went to the back once again, only because the front was semi-full and there was no bathroom on the upper level! We settled in and were comfortably awaiting the ride home until a huge group of kids, probably about our age, galavanted back to the bus RIGHT behind us. Not too much of a problem until they started YELLING TO EACH OTHER even though they were sitting all together. I am not exaggerating at all. They were literally shouting. This went on for the entire ride. About 20 minutes into the ride, Katy got fed up and moved forward. Bess followed suit and headed downstairs, and I moved up next to Katy. Emily eventually came to sit by Katy and I, too. It was slightly better, though we could still hear their shouting--Bess said she could still hear them downstairs, too. At one point, the bus stopped, which was a bit scary considering it was dark out and no one knew where we were. The bus driver marched up the stairs and told the kids that there were cameras all over the bus so he could see everything they were doing and needed to stop. When I looked back at them, they had bottles everywhere, even the floor. THEY WERE DRINKING ON THE BUS. Alcoholic-drinking. I felt like I was breaking the rules when I smuggled my hot chocolate on the bus... apparently not. It was absolutely insane. FINALLY we got back to the station (during which they all screamed, "YEA! Wooooo hoooooo!!") and I have never been so happy to get off a bus. Oh my goodness. We made it back to the dorm just fine, unpacked quickly, and collapsed into bed. Thankfully no one was too loud that night because I think I would have snapped, which is saying something because if you know me, you know I'm extremely easy-going. On the upside, we have some great stories! Hopefully they'll keep on coming!
:)
Jackie
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