Another Place

18 minutes north of Liverpool on the Mersey Rail train, takes us to another place -- Crosby Beach.Coming and going were easy, except for a 25 minute hiccup (needing to wait 25 minutes for the next train to come, when we should have hopped on a bus). Both options would have taken us to the exact same place, just a few blocks from our residence hall. Lesson: next time, read the train schedule!!

Here are a few pix from "Another Place", where we joined 100 cast-iron life-size figures of artist, Antony Gormley. Into the ocean and the horizon, each of them look out. Blue water fades into distant landscapes against the blue sky. When we arrived around 3:30 pm, only the tops of the heads could be seen. By the time we walked down the promenade, the tides rolled back and revealed the figures seen above. According to Gromely, the work is seen as a poetic response to the individual and universal sentiments associated with emigration - sadness at leaving, but the hope of a new future in another place.

Ferry Cross the Mersey

Liverpool Pierhead

Images of Liverpool's Waterfront

36 Hours in Liverpool ...

OK, so I am kinda cheating by looking up "36 hours in ... " Liverpool and this is what I find out. Liverpool is 800 years old and last year it was the 2008 European Capital of Culture! I can tell you that the redbrick city definitely is full of culture! A town with pubs on every corner and mid-block with really cute names such as the Pig and Whistle, Fly in the Bread, Head of Steam, The Farmers Arms says alot about a people. I highly recommend stepping into shops with names such as "Hairy Records" where one can find old vinyls and where top chefs offer amazingly tastey fare at "Everyman Bistro" (which is really really good, by the way).

Real Cost of Trendy

Today we visited an area that been experiencing gentrification for about 20 years. Along the majestic Princes Avenue of the Toxteth area of Liverpool, people whose beautifully built homes over 100 years ago that once created thriving neighborhoods and buildings of merchants catering to the Black and minority ethnic communities are encouraged to sell their aging infrastructure in order to create new and trendy areas that will bring in new money, new resources and ultimately new people. Those who choose not to sell have been systematically forced out by removing community development centers and other institutions that instill, encourage and nurture responsibility for the good of all.

We've been asked to think about the price of new and trendy. To do this, one must factor in social cost too.

The Ugly and the Beautiful

The Ugly: We learned that although Liverpool entered the slave trade last after Bristol, London, and others in England, it became the richest, premier, first city of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade industry. It still has the money and buildings to prove it. The addiction for sugar quickly turned into cotton, tobacco and other natural goods from the Americas. Back and forth: Humans shipped west, raw materials shipped east, and finished products shipped back west. Liverpoolian (Liverpudlians, Lerpoolians, Liverpolitans, or Scousers) merchants raked in millions of pounds per trip.

The Beautiful: One of the amazingly good things that resulted from the trade exchanges: The mix of people from all over the world, African, Chinese, Irish, Caribbean have created a beautiful city. Different histories, shared experiences emerged with a new energy, a new way of expressing themselves. From its music scene to its graffiti art, Liverpool holds more than I had imagined.

Penny Lane

After dinner this evening, I went for a walk in search of the Beatles' Penny Lane as our residence hall is only a few streets away. Three of us found it after about 20 minutes. Actually, it not really that long. Its narrow with row houses off of one side and a nice green space on the other. What makes Penny Lane special is that there is a pub at the very top of the road where the original blokes would meet at night and create some amazing music. As we walked down the street, three Irish grade school teachers, just coming back from a soccer (football) match offered to take our pix next to the Penny Lane sign. As two joined us, the third took our pic only to be stopped by a person driving by offering to get out of their car to take all of our pix; making the lyrics come right to life:
....In penny lane there is a barber showing photographs, Of every head he's had the pleasure to know, And all the people that come and go, Stop and say hello.