Liverpool Tour

There was one of my high school classmates whom I’ve not seen for almost 6 years already. After O Levels, the class didn’t really know where he went too. As usual, with the wonders of FB, I managed to find him and discovered that he’s studying law in Liverpool too. I thought of paying him a visit over there before he goes off for holidays. I’ve intended to visit Liverpool at some point during summer, and it would be good to have someone familiar with the place to bring me around.

The journey from Leeds took around 2 hrs plus and I reached Liverpool station at around 8am+. We had breakfast at McD and catch up on some lost times. Apparently he was in the UK doing A Levels instead of JC, and that explains why none from the class was able to contact him. After breakfast, one of the first stops that we went to was Albert Dock. I’ve heard of Liverpool’s reputation of being filled with council houses. The city centre itself can be seen to be renovated although there are pockets of rusted gates and mossy statutes which still show that the process is not complete yet. Nevertheless, the city centre looks more interesting than the one in Leeds. Partially because in Liverpool, only two things stood out – Liverpool FC and the Beatles.

Anyways, Albert Dock was nice and it’s great to experience a UK city with a waterfront. The Beatles museum was located there, so I took the opportunity to explore it. There are lots of Beatles memorabilia there, and basically you can get to know alot about the band’s history over there. After that was done, we went to have a look at the University of Liverpool and it’s interesting that they actually have something like a mini science museum inside the main building. I guess this must have been a common feature of UK universities, since Uni of Leeds has a Marks and Spencer museum inside its main building. I had a look at the law school too and thought to myself that if the UCAS and scholarship matters had dictated otherwise, things would have been very different indeed. But overall and looking back, I’m still glad that I chose Leeds :)

At night time, I had dinner at one of the Italian restaurants followed by a casual walk to see some of the bars. I tasted one of the best ciders so far in Europe and it’s Rekorderlig Apple Cider from Sweden. On the next day, it was Anfield stadium exploration as I’m curious to see how our arch-enemy’s Kop looks like. We took a cab down since it’s located quite far off the city center. From the distance, the stadium looks intimidating, in the sense that it’s large structure overpowers all the smaller shops and cottages around it. But as one approach closer, Anfield is not exactly that big. There’s no hint of any grand compound at the front entrance. So, we bought the tour tickets at 8 with the student price. Not too expensive compared to United..haha! Anyways, the Liverpool museum is only one storey high. I tried to find the Premier League trophy but couldn’t find it anywhere. At the center was only the last old Division 1 trophy which the Kop had treasured for 20 over years.

We had a guided stadium tour and both of the tour guides have strong Scouser accents. At the entrance to the players section of the stadium, there was a giant gate with barbed wires. For a moment, I thought I was in a prison camp. We navigated through the players lounge, the dressing rooms and the press conference box. All of them are noticeably smaller than those at Old Trafford. I had the opportunity to walk down the very very narrow tunnel with the “This is Anfield” sign. I’m pretty sure many Liverpool fans in Southeast Asia would want to exchange places with me right now. The field and the seating area are much more impressive and I did go over to the Kop end. You can literally feel the aura over there even without the crowd being present. Like Old Trafford, the scoreboard is still traditional, unlike the megascreen one at the Emirates. After feeling satisfied from visiting the stadium and buying gifts for my friends who are Liverpool fans from the megastore, I went walked to the back of the stadium where the famous Paisley gate is located. It does seem a bit odd that the famous Paisley gate is not considered as the main entrance.

As were walking to exit to the main road, I suddenly realised that I’m in a council house area. It’s as though I am transported to another planet and I’m pretty sure that Liverpool fans from other parts of the world would get a culture shock looking at the surroundings of Anfield. Cracked roads, dodgy houses that are boarded and ill-maitained buildings were the characteristics of the street beside Anfield. Now I know why the Stretford End sings very often about the council houses..lol.

Since Goodison Park is just a 10-minute walk away, I decided to pay it a visit too. On the way there, I passed by Stanley Park, supposedly the area where the New Anfield stadium is supposed to be built. I’m of course amused at a park with my name on it. Anyways, Goodison Park is located in a much cleaner area but nobody seems to be interested to hang around the stadium unlike Anfield where at any point of time, you’ll find visitors lingering around. We took a cab back to the city centre afterthat where we had a tapas lunch at a Spanish restaurant.

I’m pretty pleased with this Liverpool trip – I got to meet and old friend and at the same time, explore one of the most well-known cities in the UK :)