Lulu and I are sitting in our train on the way to Liverpool. It will be 3 hours on a very full train. We have reserved seats but there are plenty of people standing in the aisles. It is the only train today from London to Liverpool and it seems a lot of people want top spend a weekend in the 2008 Europian City of Culture.
It is raining very hard and the sky is completely obscured – I hope the weather is better when we get there. Lulu did a great job planning the trip. Our tickets were 100 pounds for 2 round trips. Some of the standing people are happy to be on the train and they paid 70 pounds one way. I will never understand the logic of plane and train ticket pricing.
We are staying at a 4 star Crowne Plaza Hotel right on the docks in Liverpool. Lulu got it on priceline.com. The hotel prices were very steep there – she got this one 80 pounds a night.
I have the GPS stuck to the train window – but have not gotten a lock yet. I am getting a 2 bar signal – you need 3 to navigate. Maybe if the sky clears a little – it will work.
While in Liverpool – we plan to take the Beatles tour. Supposedly you can go into some of their boyhood homes. During the 60s – Liverpool seemed to be the capital of the rock and roll music world. Tons of Beatle copy groups learned 3 chords and filled the void left by people wanting black American rhythm and blue sung in a British accent.
Lulu got the flu on Thursday. We spent the entire 4th of July in our flat hoping to get her strong enough for this weekend. We had paid for the train and hotel in advance and there were no refunds. We are lucky that our apartment is about ¼ mile from the Euston Station. We took a cab to the station – we didn’t walk ‘s again to save Lulu’s energy. She says she is fine and seems contented reading her Daily Mirror gossip tabloid.
The sky is clearing a bit and the GPS locked onto the satellites. We are halfway between London and Birmingham approaching Northampton.
Packing for this trip reminds me of George Carlin’s comedy routine – a place for my stuff. He talked about how when we travel we always like to carry a certain amount of stuff with us. We left Florida with 8 bags of stuff. When we got to the London flat we spent a day finding places for our stuff. Now that we are going to Liverpool for a weekend – we had to pack 2 bags to take the stuff we need for the 3 days. Once we got on the train – we opened our “train” bag for the computer – GPS – newspaper – and snacks.
TWO HOUR PAUSE
We arrived in Liverpool early. The sky is partly cloudy with a few sprinkles.
We walked to our hotel on the docks – it is very nice. We went to our room – and it has free internet. So I can send this.
We have 3 days to tour Liverpool.
