I woke up Monday morning in an utter panic. Where could I print out my bus ticket? How would I get to Liverpool without it? Panic, panic, panic. I got ready in about ten minutes, crammed my increasingly dirty clothes back into my bag, and checked out of the hotel. On my way to the bus stop, I walked past an Internet cafe at was open. It took me all of ten minutes to print out my bus ticket and get a cup of tea.

Since I’d been in a tizzy, I now had over an hour to kill before I needed to be at the bus station. I ended up going to Buchanan Street and listening to some of the buskers. It was really nice to be able to enjoy my cup of tea and listen to some music before I got on the bus.

I haven’t traveled by bus in the states since the summer of 1996, so I don’t know what it’s like these days. I was surprised by how many people travel by bus in the UK. I suppose it makes sense here. Not as many people own cars, and it’s cheaper than flying. The buses here are very nice, as well.

I sat on the wrong side of the bus from Glasgow to Manchester. I’d forgotten that all the road signs and scenery would be out the left side windows. It was still a nice trip. We drove through southern Scotland and the Lake District. We also stopped for lunch at a wayside, where I had the best potpie of my entire life.

The trip from Manchester to Liverpool was much shorter than I expected. My sense of distances is all askew. We arrived in Liverpool just in time for rush hour. I was immediately struck by how similar Liverpool seemed to Belfast. The architecture and atmosphere were very similar. It makes sense, though. They’re both port cities, and they both used to house enormous shipyards.

The hostel in Liverpool was a renovated church. It had also served as a boys home at one point. There was weird ambient music piped into all of the common spaces, and the lighting in the dining room was odd. The bathroom was huge and clean, however, so I was more than content. I went down the street to the Tesco and got some dinner, then tried to find a laundromat. I had no luck. I stayed up quite late, talking with one of my roommates about the financial crisis in Ireland and the United States.

The next morning, I got an early start. I walked down to the docks, to see the Mersey River. Once again, I was surprised by the size of something. Though I knew Liverpool was a port and had shipyards, I hadn’t thought about how big the river would have to be. In Liverpool, the Mersey is about as wide as the Mississippi River is in New Orleans. There aren’t any bridges over it, though, so it seems a bit wider. I got to the river just as they were loading the ferry to Belfast. It’s a massive boat, nearly as big as the cruise ships that dock in New Orleans.

I went to the new Liverpool museum, which opened July 19. It’s a very interesting building right on the riverfront. Like all the museums in Liverpool, admission is free. I learned a lot while I was there. For example, I didn’t know that one of the oldest Chinatowns in Europe is in Liverpool. It’s all to do with the shipping. There were also riots in Liverpool in the 60s that I’d never heard about. I want to do some more reading about that.

Of course, there were lots of things about The Beatles. They had the suits they wore on the Ed Sullivan show. They also had John and Yoko’s bedspread from their honeymoon. The good thing was that they had lots of things from other Liverpool musicians like Cilla Black and Gerry and the Pacemakers.

From the museum, I walked past the three most famous buildings in Liverpool. They sit right next to one another along the waterfront. They are the Port of Liverpool building, the Cunard building, and the Royal Liver building. The Royal Liver was my favorite, not only because of the name, but because it has statues of birds on the top. Surprisingly, I didn’t see any live birds perched up there.

I walked up the hill, past City Hall to Matthew Street, which is where The Cavern Club was. It still is, I suppose. The original Cavern Club, where The Beatles played 222 shows closed in 1973. They were going to build an underground station in that location, which never happened. They destroyed the building, and when they wanted to rebuild it, they figured out that the site couldn’t support the building they wanted to put there. So now there’s s fancy apartment building on the site of the original Cavern Club, and the new one is two doors down. It was still interesting to see.

I sat and wrote some postcards in an area they call Liverpool 1. It’s sort of an outdoor shopping area combined with an entertainment complex and park. Scattered through it, they have a bunch of pianos that anyone is welcome to sit down and play. While I was sitting there, I heard “Heart and Soul” about fifteen times. I also heard “Fur Elise” and “The Entertainer.” It’s a pretty cool idea, when you think about it.

I was in a mood to keep walking, so I decided to head for Liverpool Cathedral. On my way there, I passed an old church called St. Luke’s. It was heavily damaged during the Blitz. Instead of tearing it down, they left the shell of the building and keep the gardens maintained. It’s actually quite beautiful. There are lilac bushes growing out the windows.

Liverpool Cathedral was started in 1904 and completed in 1978. It is the second largest Anglican cathedral in Europe. (I’m guessing the largest is St. Paul’s in London.) The cemetery around the back is called the St. James Garden. It is the coolest cemetery I’ve seen in the UK. I really hope my photos turned out.

After all that walking around, I had a decent curry and headed back to the hostel. I was leaving in the morning for Cardiff.