Jet lag must have caught up with us as we were both amazed to sleep until 8 AM this morning.

As you could tell from yesterday’s post, the song I think of when I think of Liverpool is “Ferry ‘Cross the Mersey” by Gerry and the Pacemakers (The song is 50 years old this year!) But, of course, when you think of Liverpool, the Beatles automatically come to mind. Under beautiful sunny skies, we walked back down to Albert Dock to commence our Magical Mystery Tour of the Beatles Liverpool.

REMEMBER: Pictures can be enlarged in a new window by double clicking them.

The guide on the bus was a native Liverpudlian and remembers the Beatle era well. He was wonderfully entertaining, and I think it the best bus tour of a city that I have ever taken. Elaine concurs. We stopped at all the Beatle high points and learned little known facts about the band back to their days as the Quarrymen and when the drummer was Pete Best.

Pete Best missed the glory years and the money and then gave up his musical career. When the Beatles anthology album came out many years later, it included 11 songs with Pete Best. He got a windfall cash payout for that and proceeded to restart his musical career. He still tours with the Pete Best Band.

Stops on the tour included:

Penny Lane (in the neighborhood where they grew up)

Strawberry Fields (where the boys spent happy memories as children playing in the garden by that name at a Salvation Army children’s home

George’s birth home at 12 Arnold Grove. (He often went by the name of Arnold Grove when trying to travel inconspicuously.)

Paul McCartney’s childhood home (where he and John composed dozens of the group’s biggest hits).

The Cavern Club (It was non-alcoholic when the Beatles were performing there. So they used to frequent other pubs when the need arouse, as it often did.)

The tour ended at the Cavern Club. Having done some prior research, we quickly checked out the Cavern Club and then walked down Matthew Street to the Grapes Pub. This is where the Beatles escaped the Cavern Club for their frequent alcohol fixes. We had a couple of pints and engaged the bartender about the inscription above the bar (“I. W. T. Y. I. Y. B. M. A. P.” – know what it means? Answer below somewhere.)

Then we had an uninspiring but much needed pub lunch (with more pints) at the Liverpool Pub before wandering back down to Albert Dock for a ride on the Liverpool Eye and a stop in a Beatles’ Memorabilia Shop.

By now it was almost 3:15 PM and we headed back to the Nadler for a rest before dinner. Dinner tonight will be at Lunya Restaurant. A report will be included at the start of tomorrow’s blog entry.

Cheers for now!

Miscellaneous Liverpool Shots:

PS: I. W. T. Y. I. Y. B. M. A. P. means “I will tell you if you buy me a pint”. The barman told me, and I bought him a pint.

50th Anniversary of the Song

Life goes on day after day
Hearts torn in every way

So ferry ‘cross the Mersey
’cause this land’s the place I love
and here I’ll stay

People they rush everywhere
Each with their own secret care

So ferry ‘cross the Mersey
and always take me there
The place I love

People around every corner
They seem to smile and say
We don’t care what your name is boy
We’ll never turn you away

So I’ll continue to say
Here I always will stay

So ferry ‘cross the Mersey
’cause this land’s the place I love
and here I’ll stay
and here I’ll stay
Here I’ll stay

– Gerry and the Pacemakers (1964)

REMEMBER: Pictures can be enlarged in a new window by double clicking them.

Another delightful breakfast at 76 Duke Street, and we bid adieu to Julia as we began the 3.5 hour drive to Liverpool. The drive is mostly motorway and relatively uninteresting. I set the SatNav (GPS to you Americans) to take us directly to Crosby Beach in North Liverpool. It’s a fairly mundane beach made interesting by one Antony Gormley who sculpted 100 life size cast iron statues of men (in his own image, it is said), all of them staring out to see along a two mile stretch of the beach, some of them well below the high tide mark so they often stand in the water.

From Crosby Beach it’s a straight 20-minute shot down the coast through Liverpool to our hotel, the Nadler Liverpool. Mr. Nadler has developed a few hotels (originally called base2stay) in the UK using a concept that we like: top quality rooms in a no frills hotel – no gym, no pool, no room service, no restaurant, no breakfast, and no parking (but with a discount at a garage just down the street). The rooms are beautiful. And the location is perfect for exploring Liverpool on foot.

After checking in we proceeded to do a little exploring. We walked through the pedestrian district and then down to Albert Dock on the waterfront. I’ll let pictures tell the story:

 

Dinner was at Alma de Cuba, just a stone’s throw from the hotel. It is situated in an old church and is a fantastic setting. Food and drinks were delightful as was Sophia, our server. Long day and quickly back to bed after dinner.

 

 

Saturday Night Dinner

We invited Julia, our delightful host at 76 Duke Street, to join us for dinner, and she accepted. Last year we were in Windsor and ate at Al Fassia, a Moroccan Restaurant that we very much enjoyed, so that’s where the three of us strolled to eat. The food was wonderful. The service, not so much. They has a big group in an upstairs room, and we waited too long for courses to be served. But, as stated, the food was delicious, and we had a good long chat with Julia who has a son in san Francisco and a married daughter in New Zealand. The daughter had her first grandson last year just after we left Windsor.

AS USUAL CLICK ON PICS FOR A LARGER IMAGE!

Sunday in London – Poppies and Tower Bridge

After a lovely Sunday morning breakfast at 76 Duke Street, we decided to take the train into London for the day. Windsor has two rail stations on different lines. From Windsor Central Station, the most convenient from the B&B, you take a shuttle train to Slough and then board the main line train to London Paddington Station. From Windsor Riverside, the train is direct to London Waterloo Station. Oddly, however, it’s almost 20 minutes faster to take the train from Windsor Central, even with the change of trains. And from Paddington, it’s a straight shot on the Underground Circle Line to the Tower of London.   So we left from Windsor Central at about 10:00.

The Tower is our main reason for making the foray to the big city. Not to see the Tower itself or the Crown Jewels within, both of which have already done, but rather to see the major artistic installation entitled ‘Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red’. The Tower of London’s famous dry moat is being filled with over 800,000 ceramic poppies to create a powerful visual commemoration for the First World War Centenary. Read all about it here. There were zillions of tourists about, but it was quite a fabulous display. Volunteers are “planting” more ceramic poppies every day with completion scheduled for Remembrance Day, November 11^th. We will be back in London on that day and may venture back to see the last poppy installed.

While we were in the area, we decided to visit Tower Bridge, London’s iconic landmark. There is an exhibition promenade across the top of the Bridge, and the views are spectacular. A short walk away is the Monument to the Great London Fire, so we gave that a view too.

Amidst all this sight-seeing we visited the fancifully named Hung Drawn and Quartered Pub. Always time for a pint and a bite to eat. We share a chicken and chorizo pie and some Engliah lager.

Finally we took the tube back to Paddington and hopped a train back to Windsor. There was time for another pint in a pub by the river before heading back to the B&B for a short nap and a freshen up. Indian food in England is usually a good choice, so we chose Dhinchak for dinner based on its Tripadvisor reviews.. It was extraordinarily good, service was wonderful. We enjoyed a prime table in the window.

Come back tomorrow as we head to Liverpool.

Flight Day

Friday dawned sunny, hot, and bright. Our flight isn’t until 4:40 PM so we like to turn the car in at around 2:00 to check in early. That means we have the morning and early afternoon to kill. We checked out of the Marriott at 9:00 AM and drove to our go-to off strip casino and race book – the South Point Hotel and Casino. There we spend a pleasant (?) few hours in the race book betting horse races from back east – mainly Saratoga and Monmouth.

Two years we did very well at the races. Last year not so well at all. I’ve been a real slump lately at the track, so I had low expectations and planned to at least minimize my losses. The slump continues. I hit the first at Monmouth – a favorite – and then NADA.

At 12:30 we left the casino and drove to the McCarron Airport’s offsite car rental return facility. After the bus to the terminal, we checked in without incident and settled in for some reading and relaxing prior to boarding and take off. We also had a light lunch. Virgin Atlantic boards premium economy passengers first and then serves (cheap) champagne. A nice touch. We left about 30 minutes late. Dinner was pretty good for airline food – it usually is on Virgin Atlantic. Then we settled in for the long (9+ hour) overnight flight. (I slept a bit, unusual for me. Elaine watched some TV series on the entertainment system.) We arrived at Gatwick Airport right on time..

Our purchased Renault automobile unfortunately has to be picked up at Heathrow Terminal 1. Last year we took the National Express bus from Gatwick to Heathrow. While it’s only a 50 minute ride, the bus stops at Terminal 5, then Terminal 4, then Terminal 3 before arriving at Terminal 1&2. That adds another 25 minutes since Heathrow is so huge.

So this year we reserved a car and driver to take us from Gatwick to Heathrow, using Heathrow Gatwick Transfers. The cost is £55 (roughly $90). That sounds expensive, but the National Express fare is £25 per person, so it really isn’t and you eliminate waiting for the bus and touring all the terminals at Heathrow. The driver was waiting for us and the transfer was uneventful.

At Heathrow Terminal One I picked up our TEP wireless device that we hopefully will use for wireless connections wherever we are in the UK and Ireland. Then we got our car, adjusted the navigation system on the French car to speak English, and set the home position so we can easily find the drop off spot a month ahead. And then we were off on the short drive to Windsor, stopping to fill it up with diesel fuel.

In Windsor we are staying at 76 Duke Street where we stayed for one night last year. This year we are staying for two nights. Julia, the owner, met us and got us settled. She only takes one guest per night. There are two rooms (if you need both), and the marvelously modern bathroom is not en-suite. Basically you have the whole second floor to yourself. More tomorrow with hopefully some pictures.

We’re off to Las Vegas. As mentioned numerous times, we drive to Las Vegas so we can fly non-stop on Virgin Atlantic to London. Renting a car to drop off in another city can be expensive (because of drop off charges), so it is important to shop around. The rule is to looking for a reservation early and keep checking back for cheaper alternatives. If the rental firms have excess cars on site because of other drop offs, then you can realize a significant savings. So it is very important to keep checking back as the date approaches. I have never had much luck with travel sites like Priceline, Expedia, or Kayak, so I prefer to either deal directly with car rental firms or book through AAA or Costco. Prices vary significantly. Very significantly

For the drive to Vegas, we pick up the car on day one (late afternoon), drive to Vegas on day two, and drop the car off on day three (late afternoon) at McCarron Airport in Vegas. That means it is a two day rental (two 24 hour periods) from the rental company’s perspective. The usual cost for a two-day rental from Scottsdale to Las Vegas is around $175. Shopping around early, the cheapest rate I found was through Costco for a Budget Car Rental car from Northsight Blvd in Scottsdale — $113 all inclusive including a navigation system. Good deal. I booked it, and I have found nothing cheaper since then. The next best rate was $269 from Hertz. No brainer.

In booking the return trip from Las Vegas to Scottsdale, the experience was quite different. For this trip we pick up the car mid afternoon, stay overnight in Henderson, and return the car the next day mid afternoon. So it’s a one day rental. The best rate I found early on was $149 all inclusive without navigation system from Hertz through AAA. I booked that. The rates are more since I am picking the car up at an airport which adds all sorts of fees and taxes. Going off airport would save money but is a hassle when you have all your luggage. To show how continual checking helps, a couple of weeks ago I found an SUV with a navigation system from Avis through Costco Travel for $53 all inclusive with the drop off again on Northsight Blvd in Scottsdale. I immediately booked that and cancelled the AAA Hertz reservation. All is good.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but we don’t stay in Vegas. The strip is a traffic nightmare, and we have no desire to be in a big resort with a casino close to all the fabulous Las Vegas dining options. Plenty of fine dining to come across the pond.  So we stay in Henderson at a Marriott Springhill Suites for free (using Marriott points). We have dinner at my favorite Italian chain – Carrabba’s, a short drive from the hotel.

We fly out tomorrow afternoon.  Next post will be from Windsor, UK, probably on Saturday night (GMT)