Destination: Liverpool

If you have a couple days to spare, maybe a weekend on your tour of England I do recommend a stop in Liverpool. Luckily I had fairly nice weather which included a fair bit of sunshine. This allowed me to enjoy the outdoor aspects of this city.

The city itself is mostly walkable, that is if you want to see non-Beatles tourist attractions. The Albert Dock area is a particularly nice part of the city to take a stroll with a coffee in hand. There's a fairly new shopping area called Liverpool ONE. It has all the main shops from the high street. If you plan on checking this out I would recommend going in the evening as it is open later than other shops. This frees up your days to do other tourist attractions.

Liverpool Cathedral vs Metropolitan Cathedral

The better of the two is clearly Liverpool Cathedral. It's huge inside. HUGE. It's not one of my favourites from the outside but still worth a go. The Metropolitan on the other hand is one of the ugliest buildings ever. Seriously. UGLY. Go to check it out if you have time. My take on it is that it's supposed to be a modern church incorporating technology in service. It'd pass on the service though.

See:

• Tate Liverpool
• St. George's Hall
• World Museum Liverpool
• Maritime Museum
• International Museum of Slavery (inside the Maritime Museum)
  
• The Beatles Story

Beatles part of the city. Some people head to Liverpool for the sole purpose of exploring Beatles history. There's quite of few spots to check out most of which aren't in the main area of the city. The bus tours will take you there but you can also grab a map and take a public bus there yourself. There's childhood homes to see, the church where two of the band members met, strawberry fields, and of course Penny Lane! If you choose to do it on your own, it isn't hard or expensive as the public bus is cheap. If you can't find your way simply ask a local. They know you're a tourist and most a happy to help. When I was in front of Paul McCartney's childhood home a local offered to take a picture of me with the house.

I didn't go to the Beatles story myself as I found it rather expensive and I'm not a hardcore fan. I did go into the shop though which was fun so I assume the actual museum is great. Most of the items in the shop seemed overpriced but there's a lot of options for yourself or gifts. Enjoy!