Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to...

Liverpool...to someone of my age that word means the great years of the Mersey Beat, the British Invasion, and most importantly: BEATLEMANIA!

We got to this sprawling industrial town on the Irish Sea on the evening of Thursday the 16th. It was cool and overcast with occasional rain, but that did not dampen our enthusiasm. On Friday we went to the "Beatles Story" a really great Beatles museum at the Albert Docks, just a few blocks from our hotel. It was a great recounting of their history, starting with the Quarrymen days to the present. The museum has the cooperation of the Beatles themselves, and it makes for an outstanding presentation.

From there we went to Mathew Street, an old, narrow road that housed "The Cavern Club" where the Beatles performed their first gig ever, appearing at the Cavern a total of 292 times. The Club has been rebuilt and restored to its glory days, and is used as a performing venue. In fact, while we were there, a man with a guitar performed several Beatles (and other) songs. The room was originally a basement, and is hot and dark. But the miracles that happened there...wow! The picture to the right is Jake and I in front of the Cavern Club Stage.

The references to places around Liverpool are numerous in Beatles songs, but none are as famous as Penny Lane or Strawberry Field. Penny Lane is a residential neighborhood, not far from where the boys grew up. You can see the "shelter in the middle of the roundabout" where "the pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray". As we stood by the street sign, arranging our picture, a local came by, offered to take it for us. She was a native of Colorado, who moved to Liverpool with her husband. She said tourists come by all the time for photos. She invited us back to her place for tea, but we had another stop to make.

Strawberry Field is a large expanse of grass and trees belonging to a Salvation Army orphanage. The local kids loved to play in this field, and it was the good times they had there that are recalled in the song Strawberry Fields Forever. There is a wall around the facility, and we did not bother to sneak in, but we did what countless others before us have done: we took pictures at the gate, still painted red as it was back in the day.

That evening we found a really good Chinese restaurant--all told, we had a great time in Liverpool!