Day 4 - Liverpool

Day 4 - Liverpool

Today we decided to go to Liverpool, Harry's hometown. Harry is a man who lives at Joan's and she takes care of him because he is diabetic and old.

So after we got our coffee and 'butty toast', we got to the car. Harry wanted me to show me his house, so we went there first. He showed me his house which was really nice. There was a market just around the corner, so we waggled through that as well, got some ingredients for tea that night, and had an other coffee.

We then went to Penny Lane, where The Beatles grew up. It looked that pretty much as any other street in that neighborhood, but it was cool to see things that The Beatles refer to in their song.

After that we went to the Liverpool Cathedral, which is said to be "one of the greatest buildings in the world". And so it is! It was amazing! Very impressive and big. Incredibly high ceilings, and very beautifully decorated chapels. I made a lot of photos and we had a coffee there as well.

Then we went on to Liverpool's Chinatown, but it was so busy we could only drive past it. So we went on to the Liverpool Docks. The weather at that point was really nice, so spending some time there at the docks was really good. The buildings were so pretty, and the Mersey looked so welcoming with the sun reflecting on it. I made a few photos and then we headed to Matthew Street, the birthplace of The Beatles.

Matthew Street was very nice, we went to The Cavern, which was exactly like the movies. It was very crowded inside so I left quickly because I was getting claustrophobic.
The bricks of the walls of the buildings at Matthew Street had all the names of all artists ever performing there, so that looked really cool.

We head of into town, and Joan treated me on an original English fish 'n chips which tasted surprisingly well. Down the road was a casino where Joan's son works as a manager, so we popped in to say hi. Right away they made me member and gave me some free credits to play the slots there. We stayed there for about 15 minutes and then headed home again.

Once home we spent some time playing World of Warcraft together, because after we visited the Liverpool Cathedral we both had this terrible urge to raid the Scarlet Monastery.

Day 3 - Ice Rink

Day 3 - Ice Rink

We actually spent the day nice and relaxed. We slept in and spent the rest of the afternoon just chatting and having a coffee, recuperating from the hangover after yesterday. In the evening Joan, Joan's granddaughter and grandson Becky and Elliot, and me went to Wales, Deeside, to go shopping and visit the ice rink.
I've been on the ice rink for a little while, but the ice skates were killing my feet. Becky and Elliot were really good on the ice though, so Joan and I sat down with hot chocolate milk watching them.

The Welsh language is really strange. For example, "pwdinau" means "desserts", and apparently "drwg" is a word as well. Devil's tongue that is.

About two hours later we went back home and spent the rest of the evening relaxing as well.

Day 2 - Chester

Day 2 - Chester

Yesterday morning after breakfast we went to Birkenhead market. Birkenhead is a lovely place, and the markets there are so unlike anything we have in Holland. I actually enjoyed spending time there. To me it looked more like an shopping mall than an actual market. We browsed trough the hundreds of stands while enjoying some Beatles songs a lad was playing on his guitar. Afterwards we went to visit one of Joan’s grandkids for a cuppa.

We continued the day by going to Chester. Now Chester is a beautiful place. It’s said to be the oldest village in the UK. And just the whole village looked to amazingly antique. Buildings from the 1700’s up to the 1850’s all beautifully restored. Even the town hall looked like a small castle. The original walls to protect the inner city were still intact as well. And an original pub from the 1600’s, still intact, never had to be rebuilt and somehow managed to survive all the wars and whatnot. There’s also a very big cathedral which was beautiful to see as well, unfortunately we did not have enough time to go inside.

On our way back we went to ASDA supermarket. Apparently, it was one of the smaller ones, but it was huge anyway. For comparison, it was about twice the size than an Albert Heijn XL. It felt like one of those American Megastores. We got what we needed and went homewards.

When we got home, we all had a drink or two and watched a movie and some more telly. At around 3:00 we all fell into a drunken slumber.

Day 1 - The Journey

Day 1 - The Journey

I Packed my bags and I was ready to go. Only to find out when I arrived at the train station that I forgot my coach tickets. So packed and all I ran back home. I grabbed my tickets and headed for the train station again.

At the end of the street I suddenly saw my kitten Blacky on a window sill washing her paws. Now I don’t know how she managed to get outside, but now I had to rush back home with a disobedient kitten on my shoulders and my suitcases under my arm.

Once I got Blacky home safe I headed for the train station once again. Almost there, I noticed my train already present and waiting. So I had to rush again in order not to miss my train. So far off to a good start.

The kind lady on the phone for Eurolines told me that I had to check in 30 minutes prior to departure. So once I arrived at Utrecht Central, I spent about 15 minutes trying to locate the Eurolines Office, only to find out that i was closed. So that led to me to finding the actual busstop. Ten minutes later and freaked out in scare to miss the bus, I found it. I saw other people waiting as well so I felt confident that I had not missed the bus. On a contrary it seemed, the coach was twenty minutes late.

At 23:30 the coach left. Once settled – I managed to get two seats for myself – I fel asleep almost instantly. I woke up when the coach stopped at the Belgium-French border. I managed to pump in 3 cigarettes before we had to leave again. The second time I woke up was when we arrived at the Eurotunnel. We spent about 40 minutes trying to get through the French Border Patrol. All suitcases had to be opened up, and all passports were checked thoroughly. Once we all passed that, we had to go through the UK Border Patrol. Luckily they did not find the need to search through all our luggage again, but a thorough passport check was once again needed.

The Eurotunnel itself was an unique experience though. Skilfully the coach driver manoeuvred the coach into the train through a door which was half the size than the coach itself. Parked there, I barely noticed the fact that we were indeed in a moving train. It feels like you are locked up in a container for 30 minutes, but it was hard to realize that we were actually in a kilometres long tunnel that claimed its place in the wild open sea.

The third time I woke up, we were already in London, only 30 minutes away from the Victoria Coach Station. The buildings and architecture in London is so beautiful, even the most poverish and common buildings are no match for Dutch architecture. We actually drove past the hotel me and my friends resided in when we went to London last Christmas. It felt nice to have an idea of where in London we actually were.

It was 07:45 when we arrived at the Coach Station. After I got my suitcase I began to scout for where I had to check in for my coach to Liverpool. It was not before 11:00 before the coach would leave, so obviously I could not check in yet. But satisfied with the thought that I knew where I had to check in when the time was there, I sat down in a small diner across the Coach Station. While I would wait for Nicola to finish work so we could have a coffee together, I got myself a nice English breakfast, got my laptop out, and began writing the first part of this blog.

At around 9:15 Nicola arrived. We had a laugh together, she is an awesome person. I had never met her in real life before, so it was really nice to finally do see each other in person.

When it was time to get on the coach, she waved me goodbye and off I went to Liverpool. It had been very good weather all along, around 23 degrees and no cloud at the sky. When I reached Liverpool at around 16:00 though, it started pouring down. Luckily at 16:15 when I reached the Coach Station, Joan was there waiting for me.

She brought me to her home in Bromborough, and I finally got to meet the first bit of her family. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and chatting.