Tracy-Shane-Trips

Liverpool gets its name from Old English words lifer, meaning “thick or muddy water,” and pōl, meaning “a pool or creek”. First recorded as Liuerpul around 1190, the name originally referred to a muddy tidal pool or creek off the River Mersey that has since been filled in.

We started the day early. I woke Shane at 730 am but he wasn’t feeling good today, complaining of a slight headache and a sore throat. I went to breakfast and brought him down a plate, and after moving around a bit and eating some yogurt and a muffin, he was basically ready to go.

Our excursion was officially called The Beatles Experience, and our guide, Gary Friday (“on a Tuesday” was his joke), was fantastic, local to the area, and knew everything. The tour visited key Beatles-related sites including Ringo Starr’s childhood home, Penny Lane, and Strawberry Fields.

John Lennon got a lot of his song ideas from Ringo. John would say, “Ringo, we’ve got a busy week next week”. Ringo would say, “Yeah, John, 8 days a week”. Or John would say, “We’ve got some busy nights in the studio.” Ringo would say, “Yeah, John, Hard Days Night”. So John would write all these things down and make songs from them.

• Penny Lane:
  • Paul McCartney wrote the song while waiting at a bus stop, inspired by everyday scenes: the barbershop (Tony Slavin), the bank, and the church where he was a choir boy (St. Barnabas).
  • The bus route 86, driven by George Harrison’s father, Harry Harrison, was where Paul first met George.
  • The guide references the 2018 “Carpool Karaoke” episode with Paul McCartney, noting the tour follows a similar route.
  • “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” were released together as a double A-side in 1967 but only reached #2 in the charts, beaten by Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Please Release Me.”
• Strawberry Fields:
  • Now an exhibition and visitor center run by the Salvation Army, featuring gardens and the original iconic gates.
  • The exhibition includes John Lennon’s “Imagine” piano, purchased by George Michael for £1.4 million and returned to Liverpool after his death.
  • Strawberry Fields inspired Lennon’s song “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and the Dakota Building in New York, where Lennon later lived, reminded him of this Liverpool landmark.

Let me share a few tidbits with the history buffs. People from Liverpool are formally known as Liverpudlians, but they are more commonly and widely called Scousers. This nickname comes from “scouse,” a local meat stew that was historically a staple for sailors in the area, which is also the name of the distinctive local accent.

There is quite a lot of country diversity in Liverpool, with 1 in 4 people being from Ireland and 1 in 5 being from Scotland and Wales. There’s a saying about Liverpool: they are in England, but they are not of it. Scousers are fierce fighters against social injustice; if something’s not right, they are the champions of the underdog. And that was the Beatles, too.

This is the Royal Liver Building. Atop each end of the building are Bertie and Bella. They are Liver birds, mythical creatures that are usually represented as somewhere between an eagle and a cormorant. They were designed to embody the strength and maritime history of the city. According to local folklore, if the chained birds were to fly away, the River Mersey would burst its banks and flood the city.

After Ringo’s house, we stopped at John Lennon’s place. It was the nicest of all the lads. John was raised by his Aunt Mimi, and she would only let him play his music on the front porch. John was so embarrassed, he wouldn’t take people back to his house. He wanted to be seen as a street kid. He didn’t want everyone to know he was quite wealthy.

And then Paul. A simple row with a front garden. Our guide said that George lived in a really bad neighborhood and he didn’t plan to take us there.

Here are some shots from the Beatles Story museum at The Royal Albert Dock. They had a beautiful memory garden. The book with the writing is the draft lyrics for Strawberry Fields in Lennon’s own handwriting.

This one is for Yassara… I haven’t seen any Leprechauns yet, but I did see this. We are going to Belfast tomorrow, so I have one more chance. We also saw these amazing longboats. I’ve read about them but never seen one in person until now.

So after the tour, Shane and I walked around Liverpool and looked once more for flip-flops, but no luck. We stopped for lunch at a sushi place called Yo! Sushi, where the meals came around on a conveyor belt, and you picked what you wanted. Shane had Hoisin Duck Roll and a Korean Chicken Bao, and I had Spicy Tuna Dynamite and the same Bao. It was very good and about £20 per person,

Back to the ship where Shane got onto his computer, of course, and I went down to the pool deck. One of the stewards came around with a tasty adult beverage. Piña Colada on the house (ship). I thought about asking for a second one to bring to Shane… maybe tomorrow we’ll both go down around 3pm and see if they offer them again.

After that it was dinner. Shane still wasn’t feeling 100%, so I brought him down some ramen with broth and noodles and lots of delicious bread. I headed down for a real meal. Here are some of the lovely offerings from “Taste of Britain” night. All the cheeses you could possibly imagine, and delicious salads of all kinds. There were also some tasty beef and red wine pies; I think they are called Cornish Pastries.

At 730 pm tonight I went to a bourbon tasting. The host/bartender was fantastic and so funny, and she took this photo of us. You can see me in the back row on the left raising my glass in the toast. That’s Russ and Karen from Delaware next to me on the left. Russ was tasting, and Karen was drinking wine and hanging out. Here’s the one I like the most, Bulleit. It’s made in… Kentucky, of course, and is about $16/pour.

Here’s a map of where we will be tomorrow as compared to where we were today. The blue dot is us, and Belfast is where we are going.

One last thing: in Belfast tomorrow, and all week, it’s Pride. The Belfast Pride Festival 2026 takes place from Friday, July 17 to Sunday, July 26, 2026, celebrating its 35th anniversary. The parade is on Saturday, so we’ll miss that, but there should be some cool events and lots of interesting people. Here’s their web page: https://belfastpride.com/ and Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/belfastpride/. Happy Pride everyone!

It’s almost 10pm here and still light out. Here’s the ocean and the moon from my balcony. The further north we get, the more daylight we have. The sun rises around 5am and doesn’t set until 10pm. When we get to Bergen, it will rise at 4:53am and set at 10:35pm.

Have a great day, and I’ll see you tomorrow. Tracy