Woke up this morning at 7.20am, as Trevor had put Radio Newcastle on BBC Sounds so we could listen to Matt Bailey at Breakfast. I couldn’t send in the answer to the crytic clue this morning as I couldn’t solve it.
Going out onto the balcony, I saw that the sky was dull and grey with heavy clouds; rain was obviously on the way. We had been lucky with the British weather on this cruise so far, so we couldn’t really complain. In any case, after the events of yesterday evening, rain was probably the most appropriate weather, matching the mood of the people of Liverpool and beyond.
We had heard on the news that over 50 people had been injured and 27 hospitalised. We can only thank God that there were no fatalities.
We had our breakfast in the self-service restaurant with Billy and Carole and we asked them what their plans were for the day. They just wanted to go into the town and do their own thing, maybe with a bit of shopping, so we said we’d see them later. As I’ve already mentioned, Trevor and I have been to Liverpool several times (and are booked the sail from there on Bolette next year), so we already know the town pretty well. We therefore decided a ride around the town on the “hop-on-hop-off” bus sounded like a plan, and we could see the bus stop from our balcony.
We wanted to be back on board before 11 o’clock, as we had a special visitor boarding Queen Anne today, on Cunard’s 185th Anniversary. The Princess Royal, Princess Anne was due to board around 11.15am and the captain had announced that it would be good if we could all line the decks to greet her.
We disembarked Queen Anne and walked to the bus stop. The street cleaners had done a reasonable jobn in the short time that they had last night, but we could still see plenty of evidence of the massive street party that had taken place yesterday.
We purchased our bus tickets and joined the short queue; we had about 20 minutes to wait. Then the bus pulled up and we climbed to the open-topped deck. It was still cloudy, and I hoped the rain would stay off for a while; riding in an open-topped bus isn’t ideal if it is chucking it down! 🙂
The bus route took us all around the usual sights; the water front and the Three Graces, that is, the Royal Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool building. The Liver building is the landmark that defines Liverpool, with its famous Liver Bird sculptures at the top of each clock tower.
The Liver Bird is a mythical creature, a symbol of Liverpool that has been used by the city since the 13th century. As well as a distinctive symbol it is a guardian, with legends stating that one bird watches over the city and the other looks out to sea at the sailors coming in to port.
As the bus continued, past the famous statue of all four members of the Beatles, and on through the streets, the rain inevitably started, and I zipped up my cagoule and pulled the hood firmly over my head.
Despite the drizzle, we remained on the upper deck as you had better views, and didn’t have to look through a rain-spotted window. Soon we came to another well-known historic landmark, the “bombed out” church.
Built in 1811, the “Bombed Out Church,” officially named St Luke’s Church, is a Grade II listed building on Berry Street that was severely damaged by fire during the Liverpool Blitz in 1941, and acts as a memorial to the city’s civilian casualties. The church now stands as a roofless shell, a visible reminder of the war, and is used as a community arts venue.
It was about 11.00am when the bus dropped us off back at the cruise terminal, and we hurried into the interior, showing our boarding cards on the way. There were no queues when we made our way up the gangplank, and we returned to 4066 and dumped our bags and divested ourselves of our damp cagoules, which we hung on the provided hooks on the wall. Then we set about trying to find a vantage point from the port side of the Queen Anne, so we could hopefully watch the arrival of her namesake, Princess Anne.
We walked around the decks but all of the railings and places with any sort of view were already occupied. We decided to go all the way up to Deck 12 and into the Artisans’ Foodhall, which had floor to ceiling glass windows along each side. In there, I did manage to get a place at the window, where I could look straight down upon the British Army Band from Catterick, as they stood there in uniform in their serried rows. I could also see the gangplank with the red carpet in place. The rain had increased, and we could see the raindrops plinking and plonking into puddles on the dock side.
Eventually we saw the motorcycle escort which preceded the arrival of the car carrying the Princess Royal. The car pulled up and I got my phone camera ready as the princess alighted from the vehicle.
What did I see… what did my camera capture? A sea of umbrellas! Yes – the tops of umbrellas. Typical British weather !!! So all I could see of Princess Anne was the top of her brolly, and part of her red coat and her legs. What a let-down.
As it was getting on for lunchtime now, Trevor and I just decided to stay in the Artisans’ Foodhall and enjoy a light lunch. We then returned to 4066 and pottered around a bit, reading, relaxing and watching the news on TV to see if there were any updates on yesterday’s atrocity in Liverpool (a 53-year old man had been arrested).
We didn’t really do much for the rest of the afternoon. The rain and damp weather continued outside, so we didn’t fancy going ashore again before dinner. We were in port tonight until 11.45pm, so we would probably go ashore again around 9.00pm, if the weather had improved.
Soon it was dinner time once again, and we got washed and changed and made our way to table #393 in the Britannia Restaurant. Quite a few people were missing again, so maybe they were making the most of their visit to Liverpool ashore. We were out of the restaurant around 7.30pm, and Trevor and I made our way to the Royal Court Theatre to bagsy a seat for tonight’s show. As it was a comedian, there were a number of front-row seats available. 🙂
We had seen Scouse comedian John Evans on the Queen Anne last year; like a lot of Liverpudlians he has a wonderful sense of humour and comic timing, and we looked forward to his show tonight. He didn’t disappoint, but I wondered what the international audience thought of him? Even without the thick Scouse accent, much of his comedy was based around places in Liverpool or British politicians or TV programmes, which wouldn’t have meant anything to overseas visitors. We have had a similar experience on a Holland America ship; the US passengers were rolling in the aisles at one of their comedians, while Trevor and I sat there wondering what it was all about. 🙂
After the show we returned to 4066 and I got changed into jeans, trainers and a hoody before checking to see whether I’d need my cagoule. The rain had stopped by now, and the air was fresh and cool. We decided to walk back along to the Captain Alexander pub once again, as we had enjoyed it in there last night. It would certainly be much quieter! 🙂
We disemarked Queen Anne and set off towards James Street. On the way, we could see that Water Street was still cordoned off and still hadn’t been cleaned, as there were bottles and cans strewn everywhere. A long police lorry was parked across the street and there were still one of two journalists hovering at the street corner.
We entered the pub and found a table for two near the back. Then we each ordered a drink and enjoyed the ambience in the pub. Normally on a Tuesday night we would have our ballroom dance class, then call in at our local pub for a couple of drinks afterwards, but here we were in Liverpool instead. 🙂
After another couple of drinks we decided to return to the Queen Anne, we had to be back by 11.45pm and it was far too easy to let time run away from us. As we walked back through the darkened streets, we saw that the cordon had been removed from Water Street and the street cleaning vehicles and bin wagons were doing their job.
We arrived back on board around 11.00 o’clock, and went to the Golden Lion for a nightcap, and to listen to Aileen and Sticks, the resident Irish duo, play their catchy songs. By the time we returned to 4066, Queen Anne was getting ready to be underway once more; they were raising the gangplanks and untying the ropes. Then it was “Ta-ra Liverpool, we’ll see you next year” as we settled down in our bed and read for a while.
We had a pleasant relaxing sea day to look forward to tomorrow and, as ever, we slept well.