Tuesday's busyness around Liverpool

We started Tuesday with a full agenda. We'd bought a set of tickets for a ferry trip on the Mersey, a visit to a WW2 German submarine, access to the tower of the Liverpool Cathedral, and hop-on/hop-off bus transport for the whole day. It was an "Experience" package which saved us £17 on the cost of the tickets separately.

At 9:50, we were hurrying off to Pier Head, to board the ferry. I stopped to photograph this...

It's just across Salthouse from us, and I'll take some close-ups tomorrow. It's a diminutive mock-up of RMS Titanic. Its purpose is that it's a to-rent holiday apartment! There are two others hiding behind it. More tomorrow.

The "Ferry 'cross the Mersey" (strains of which song I heard several times in the next couple of hours) was great fun, giving us misty views of Liverpool on the one side and Birkenhead and Wallasey on the other. There was a spoken commentary, which was interesting and informative.

This huge art-deco building looks across the river at its twin.

Both of them are simply air vents for the Mersey Tunnel. They have no other function

Landing in Birkenhead, we stopped off for an hour to look at the U-Boat Story exhibition. Intriguing, and not a little macabre.

Back then to Liverpool,

where we had a quick lunch in the Tate Café before getting the City Explorer bus to Liverpool Cathedral.

"Awesome" is a word which is used far too much, and I expect I'm guilty of its misuse at times, as many are. But it's the right word to use for this cathedral.

The outside of the building is dreadful. It competes with Guildford in its external ugliness. I can't remember what Guildford's excuse is, but Liverpool's is that there was an earlier design that's far more beautiful that the one which got built, but it would have been too costly.

But inside it is awesome. The sheer size of it is magnificent. And it's space that isn't cluttered with rich ornamentation, as can be found in other cathedrals. It's space in its own right.

I'm only sorry my camera wasn't really up to the job.

Of course, size isn't everything, but they do have a number of claims to fame in that respect.

The tallest tower was unmissable, and we already had the tickets for that.

The bells

 

The Metropolitan Catholic Cathedral of Christ the King smiling across

at the Anglican Cathedral.

Radio City

After which, a rather weary Grace and Roger got the Hop On bus back to the docks. But not without seeing the cathedral's beautiful Lady Chapel first!

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Salthouse Dock has a huge population of jellyfish. There aren't many narrowboats that have had these creatures milling around them!