England Trip: Liverpool & Oxford

Philip had a work trip to England come up very last minute a few weeks ago. He found out about the trip, got it booked and we were on our way all with in 2 weeks! What a fun surprise! I really believe that God timed this trip for us. Sam was to be due on February 8th, and I knew that I would be a little extra emotional the first week of February. So, when I found out that I would be able to tag along with Philip to England February 3rd-10th I just felt overwhelmingly blessed and loved by God. What a perfect, happy distraction!

We arrived in England on Tuesday morning and started the trip in Liverpool, which is a port city in the North West part of the country. Philip had to work long days on Wednesday and Thursday while we were there, so I had some time to sleep-in, relax, read and do some sight seeing on my own. Heavenly. One of Philip's coworkers Kerry and his wife, Theresa, were also on the trip, so I spent some time with her while the guys were at work as well. Since all 4 Beatles were born in Liverpool, and it is the city where they got their start, there is a Beatles museum there. My parents are Beatles fans, and I grew up listening to and loving their music. So, one afternoon I went all by myself to the museum and enjoyed learning more about the band and seeing lost of memorabilia. Having that much alone time with no responsibility but my own was weird and fun! Liverpool is a very interesting and beautiful coastal city and we really enjoyed our time there. The weather is certainly less than ideal, almost always cloudy, drizzling and in the 40s, but I was surprisingly able to ignore that fairly easily. Here is a review of the sight seeing in pictures :)

The first thing we did was walk through their small China town

The Liverpool Cathedral is the largest Anglican church in England and very beautiful!

it was filled with beautiful archways and stained glass

There was a small Children's Chapel there, and I had a special moment while in there.

I filled out a heart ornament for  Sam to hang on their Child and Pregnancy loss remembrance tree

These beautiful buildings are known as The Three Graces, the Liver bird is on top of the 1st (the Liver Building) and is considered the guardian of the city.

The Kings Docks were lined with interesting old boats along the walk ways that were filled with fun shops

The building with the tall smoke stack was called the Pump House Brewery

We tried some traditional British pub fare there, yummy...not healthy :)

Kerry and Theresa were great company

Since it is a port city, there were ferrys and ships along the coast along with many modern and historic buildings.

monument to the US and UK working together during WWII, one of many nice works of art in the city

we noticed many locks on the chains along the coast line

they were all unique and personalized

we hoped to return with a lock for Philip's Mom because we knew she would think it was so cool...but ran out of time.

Lamb-bananas were installed around Liverpool when it was awarded "European Culture and Art City 2008"

Near the Beatles museum is Liverpool's version of the London Eye (we rode neither)

 

Wednesday evening Simon, the contact person for the supplier that Philip was working with, took all of us Americans out to dinner. He started off by taking us to the top of the tallest building in Liverpool. It had a great view, and he kindly pointed out all the buildings and structures of interest. After the observation room we headed to a nice Thai dinner and enjoyed a delicious meal. We finished off the night in an "authentic, earthy pub" that has been in Liverpool for 150 years. It just so happened to be pirate night at the Baltic Fleet, so that provided us with plenty of entertainment. All the British people we interacted with through out England we so kind and friendly; somewhat unusual for a big city and as tourists.

Philip picked up a rental car on Thursday night because he couldn't resist driving on the "wrong" side of the road. On Friday morning we headed out for a drive to some of the Beatles sights in Liverpool; Penny Lane and Strawberry fields. After taking lots of pictures and feeling like real tourists, we took a short drive up the coast to a neat art instillation called "Another Place" by Antony Gormley, a Spanish artist. There are 100 iron casts of the artist at varying distances from shore for about 1 mile along Crosby Beach. They are all facing out to sea, and it was really beautiful.

We left the beach and headed South towards Oxford. What we hoped would be a 2.5-3 hour drive ended up taking 4.5 hours due to lots of traffic "queues". At one point we decided to try some back roads, and drove through a few beautiful tiny towns filled with narrow turning roads, pretty little winding bridges and bright green fields. The highway was so backed up, we ended up saving time as well as enjoying some stunning views, so it was a good choice. Way behind schedule, we pulled into Oxford and had a late lunch with Madison, the boys favorite babysitter who is there studying abroad for college. She took us to a neat old pub where C.S Lewis and R.L. Tolkien used to frequently meet, The Eagle and Child. It was a beautiful town, and I wish we could have spent a little more time there...but we had to head off pretty quick to turn in the rental car on time.

 

We love and miss Miss Madison!

It was a long day of driving, but we finally arrived in London on Friday night! Philip really enjoyed some time behind the wheel, and learning to drive stick shift with his left hand. Although it was a bit stressful at times, it is a day we will never forget. Coming up next...London with Amy and Jimmy!