Liverpool and Futbol ~Day 10

Sunday September 24th was day ten of our travels in Ireland and the United Kingdom. We enjoyed a well appointed breakfast buffet in the Delta Hotel dining room before we arranged for an Uber ride to see the waterfront statue of The Beatles.

Proudly perched on the peaks of the historic Royal Liver Building, the Liver birds are the mythical symbols of Liverpool, overlooking the city for well over a century.

The story of the Liver bird is said to date back to 1207, when King John decided to award Liverpool a Royal Charter, making it an official town. The document was sealed with the image of a bird – and so, the Liver bird was born.

Standing an impressive 18ft tall, the Liver Birds are made of copper and hold a wingspan of 24ft! The two birds are a prominent display within the city and previously rekindled the idea that the Liver Bird was a mythical bird that once haunted the local shoreline.

History suggests that the Liver Birds are a female and male pair that go by the names of Bella and Bertie. The female, Bella, looks to the sea, watching for the seamen to return safely home. While the male, Bertie, looks into the city, watching over the seamen’s families (or old wives’ tales – making sure the pubs are open!)

An urban legend also has it that the LIver Birds face away from each other as if they were to mate and fly away, the city would cease to exist. Another local tale also tells of the Birds being chained down, as if they were to fly away, the River Mersey would burst its banks and flood the city of Liverpool.

After a brief time at the waterfront we decided to Uber back to the hotel and to check out and get our luggage stored while we got on with the rest of our day. We got another Uber to take us to the Liverpool Cathedral which we were hoping to be able to explore. Our timing was off and they turned away visitors because it was time for a Sunday Service. We walked around the ‘longest Cathedral in Europe’ through St. James Gardens before we dialed up another Uber to take us to the Liverpool v. West Ham futbol match.

Our Uber driver took us right up to Anfield Stadium. Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has a seating capacity of 54,074, and is currently under expansion to seat 61,276, which will make it the fifth largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool since their formation in 1892.

When you are talking football in the United Kingdom you are actually talking about Soccer. Wanted to clarify for those of you who have no interest in this sport. This day, September 24th, 2023, will become our historical moment at Anfield Stadium.

We arrived early enough to get our shopping done before the game. As you can see the store was filled to the gills with fans doing the same thing we were.

It took a while to find just the right hat.

With our shopping behind us it was time to find the Beat Lounge. Josh was able to get our seats with special access to the Beat Lounge where we could hang out before the game, enjoy refreshments and other perks, a free drink at half time, access to our seats right off the lounge and easy access to restrooms. ‘Beat’ for the Beatles. There were musicians in the lounge playing some Beatles tunes, too.

It was a treat to be a part of the Liverpool Football tradition and see and hear the avid supporters in the Kop.

The actual score at the end of the match was Liverpool 3 and West Ham 1.

After the game we ended up walking all the way back to the hotel to drop off our purchases to be stored for us. Then walking again we were in search of a good spot for dinner. It took a while and a few false starts in establishments we weren’t that thrilled about. Finally getting a little hangry we walked into Salt House Tapas and were so glad we did. The service was great and the food was amazing. The Lamb dish we ordered was the best we had ever eaten.

We took an Uber back to the hotel to gather our stored luggage (which was not as easy as we expected). The front desk was slammed with a tour bus checking in and other patrons with complaints. Ludmilla was a gem and kept here cool and we breathed a sigh of relief when she found our last bag. Josh ordered our last Uber of the day to take us to the Liverpool (John Lennon) Airport to our hotel for the night with an early departure back to Dublin on Monday morning. (That was a long sentence). Even with all the Uber rides we took on this Sunday we accumulated close to 16,000 steps!! Day 10 in the books we had one more full day left in our travels. Day eleven would start with a flight to Dublin and being reunited with Andrew and Katie for our final full day in Dublin. Cheers and Slainte for making it this far.

That post will happen after Thanksgiving Weekend which will be full of family time for us.

We are thankful to God for all of His love, grace, forgiveness and for filling our lives with so many good gifts from above.

From our house to yours we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Psalm 28:7 ~

The LORD is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.

My heart leaps for joy

and I will give thanks to him in song.

Господь–крепость моя и щит мой;

на Него уповало сердце мое,

и Он помог мне, и возрадовалось сердце мое;

и я прославлю Его песнью моею.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Knaresborough~ Day 8

We continued Day 8 of our travels on September 22nd from Skipton to Knaresborough. It was a short journey. We arrived in Knaresborough before our rooms were ready at the Knaresborough Inn. When we walked in to inquire about our rooms the employee behind the counter looked at us and asked, “Are you for Trump?”. Cheeky question and I gave him a cheeky reply with a smile. I suppose it was no secret we were from the USA. Our rooms were not ready so we continued on to see the iconic view of the Railroad trestle over the river Nidd at the Knaresborough Castle grounds. It took us a while to find a good parking spot near the castle grounds.

Like in most towns in England there is a lot of history to explore but we were at a place in our travels that we just took in the views. You could spend days in each of the towns we chose to visit and take it all in.

The Kanesborough War memorial is set up on the Castle, overlooking the River Nidd. 156 names from the First World War and 55 names from the Second World War are commemorated on this memorial. One soldier who served with the Yorkshire Regiment is commemorated on this memorial.

After taking in these beautiful views we continued to some of the market streets.

This is the ‘oldest chemist shoppe in England’ or so they say. It was right to get a photo of our resident chemist in front of this establishment. It is now Lavender Tea Rooms & Coffee.

This Blue Memorial Plague stood out to me as we walked a few of the streets in Knaresborough.

A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker.

Persecution of the Jews continues to this day. It is evil and should not be tolerated.

We finished up in town and drove back to our Inn to check in and get freshened up for dinner at the Inn.

I took the photos in the collage above in the morning without the crowds that we experienced at the dinner hour. Things were really hopping in this newly refurbished Inn. Tables were at a minimum and we finally found one for the four of us. We had to find a waitstaff person to give our order for food and then we had to go to the bar to put our drinks orders in, too. The staff, many of who were young and new were responsible for making drinks with the help of cheat sheets. We had some fun interactions with James, our server, who we watched running about for all the ingredients for the drinks we chose.

The food was good.

It was nice to finish up our day with a good meal and just steps away from our room for the night.

Again we had the most amiable weather and were thankful for another good day to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation.

Dublin Day Three ~ Sunday

Sunday the 17th of September was our third day in Dublin. We were in for rain most of this day so it was good that we had several indoor experiences planned. We met up in the lobby of our hotel to walk to Lemon Jelly Cafe for our breakfast. We timed things well for getting seated quickly before the crowds started showing up.

We all enjoyed our choices and were happy with this little spot tucked away from the main roads.

We had ordered a taxi to pick us up at 10:00 so that we could make it to a 10:30 AM church service. The taxi came after ten and we drove to the south of downtown Dublin to Grosvenor Road Baptist Church. The taxi had some mechanical issues but we made it to church on time.

The rain continued.

The sermon was taken from I Corinthians 1:18-2:5, True Spirituality, A Cross Centered Church.

The points covered were, The Message of the Cross, The People of the Cross and The Preacher of the Cross. Some points taken; “True wisdom of the cross does not meet the world’s expectations.” “Boast in the Lord-because all we have is because of Him.” “Simply preach the Word of God.” This service was also a Communion service so we ‘broke bread together’. The last song we sang together was ‘My Worth is Not in What I Own’.

It was good to be with fellow believers in Ireland.

After church our son arranged for an Uber to pick us up and take us to our Sunday Roast destination, The Old Spot east of downtown Dublin. We were early and ended up having a little walk around this neighborhood and the rain had died down for our stroll.

We all had our fill of food and we added two desserts to share. I know one was Sticky Toffee Pudding with the most lovely of sauces but I forgot what the second dessert was. Hmmm. From The Old Spot Josh ordered another Uber to take us to St. Patrick’s Cathedral where we would attend Evensong which would begin at 3:30pm.

The rain was coming down again so it was not easy to get some good photos of the outside of the cathedral.

The Choral Evensong was beautiful and moving in song with a special commemoration of the Battle of Britain (1940).

Shout out and thanks again to Laura who took so many great photos and put together collages on our stops each and every day!

We had one more indoor stop on this day with reservations for entry at 4:45. Another Uber transported us from St. Patrick’s Cathedral to The Guinness Storehouse. That will be another post.

Dublin Day Two ~ Tour Part Four

Our last stop of the day on Saturday September 16th before heading back to Dublin was the city of Belfast.

We enjoyed the little we saw of Belfast.

We popped into the Magnificent Margot and had an enjoyable time in the upbeat and friendly atmosphere. We joined a local couple at a table and had an enjoyable conversation with them.

The Belfast Boer war memorial takes the form of a statue of a private of the Regiment in khaki uniform, with topee and puttees, with a rifle and fixed bayonet at the ready. It lists 130 names of the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the Royal Irish Rifles who were killed during the Second South African War that lasted from 1899 to 1902. The memorial was unveiled by Field Marshall Lord Grenfell in 1905.

There were several meaningful monuments around the City Hall, war memorials and a memorial to the lives lost on the Titanic.

The last work of sculptor Sir Thomas Brock and originally unveiled in the North of Donegall Square in 1920, this memorial was moved in 1960 to where it stands now. In white Carrera marble, the female figure of Death or Fate looks down at two sea nymphs rising from the waves, with the body of a drowned sailor in their arms. It was thought at the time that only 22 local people had died in the disaster and only the names of those victims are recorded on the original memorial. Their names are listed on two sides in order of rank upon the ship.

The Titanic was built in Belfast.

Created by the sculptor Sir Thomas Brock to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897, it was unveiled by her son, King Edward VII in 1903. Carved from Sicilian marble and standing 11 feet high, this memorial is accompanied on each side by life size bronze figures representing spinning and shipbuilding.

The birds have no respect for Queen Victoria or any other people memorialized in the statues.

Robert McMordie Statue at City Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland
The political position of Lord Mayor of Belfast dates back to 1613 when the Sovereign of Belfast received its charter as a town. This is one of four statues of famous Lord Mayors on the grounds of the Belfast City Hall. The sculpture by Frederick Pomeroy is a tribute to Robert James McMordie. He held the post from 1910 until his unexpected death during his fifth year in 1914.

The Belfast War Memorial is in the form of a cenotaph (a memorial to those who are buried elsewhere) with the backdrop of a colonnade. The memorial was unveiled on Armistice Day 11 November 1929. It was designed by Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas and constructed by W J Campbell from 1925 to 1927.

Several days after we were here our daughter Katie and hubby Andrew reached Belfast on their small tour and stayed in the hotel directly behind this memorial.

From this stop we boarded the bus for our trip back to Dublin. We had one ‘convenience’ stop off the motorway on our trip back. Dropped off along the River Liffey in Dublin we decided to walk to The Church Cafe for our evening meal. This was a great find I learned about by watching podcasts of places to visit in Dublin. I’ll share more about this Cafe in a post of it’s own.

Sláinte!

Christ Church College ~ 2

Today we will go that way…

A fair warning: This post will be long with lots of photos!

The Grand Staircase where Professor McGonagall met new students arriving at Hogwarts.

A more well-known Harry Potter filming location is the stairwell, leading up to the Great Hall.

These iconic Harry Potter steps were used in multiple films, but they are mostly known for the grand arrival of the students at Hogwarts on their very first day at Hogwarts.

Now we move on to the dining hall that was the inspiration for the dining hall in the Harry Potter series. This great hall is filled with non-fiction history and not just the fiction of J.K. Rowling and Lewis Carroll.

The Christ Church College Dining Hall is the largest in Oxford, seats 300, and is known for its stained glass, hammerbeam roof and portrait collection.

The Dining Hall at Christ Church has dozens of paintings hanging on all four of its walls. This is the wall at the one end of the hall and features paintings of Henry VIII in the middle and Elizabeth 1 to the left. To the right of the King is Cardinal Thomas Wolsey(1475-1530), Lord Chancellor of England (1515-1529).

Christ Church College was founded during the reign of King Henry VIII in the early 16th century. It is the only college that was founded by King Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor of England, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. It was founded in 1524 and originally called Cardinal College, named after Wolsey himself. He was a product of Oxford, having graduated from Magdalen College. The founding of his own college was a great undertaking, and one that could only increase his already-impressive status. He was not only one of the wealthiest men in England, but also one of the most powerful.

Cardinal Wolsey fell out of grace with Henry the VIII when he failed to secure an annulment for the King and his marriage to Katherine of Aragon. He was charged with allegiance to a foreign power (Rome and the Pope). He was forced to hand over all properties to the King. The college was known for some time as “King Henry VIII’s College,” and finally named Christ Church College by King Henry in the year 1546 – one year before his death.

There’s a lot more interesting history from this college but I’ll let you discover it if you wish.

Looks like I’ll need one more post in the Christ Church College series to cover Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland. Till next time, cheers!

The Turf Tavern

The Turf Tavern was on our list of pubs to visit while we were staying in Oxford. On Tuesday September 13th late afternoon our tour guide dropped us off at St. Helen’s Passage to make our way to The Turf.

We got the lay of the land and found our table # so we could order our food at the bar. Fish and Chips for Dear and Steak and Ale Pie for me.

We found by the end of our stay in Oxford that this was the best run pub in town, in our opinion. We enjoyed a meal or an ale at the Turf Six different times while we were in Oxford. The Staff was always cheerful and the servers were efficient and ready to help with any requests.

Since Sticky Toffee Pudding was on the menu we ordered one for us to share for dessert.

To find one of the passages to the Turf find the Bridge of Sighs and then walk under it to a narrow passage way which will take you down another passageway to the property.

Their name drop board shows all the famous people who have been to the Turf. We heard about it in researching the Pubs from the Inspector Morse Series.

The Turf Tavern (or just ‘The Turf’ to it’s locals) is probably the oldest pub in Oxford. The pub was built in the Canditch (the most outside City Wall) as gambling and betting was not permitted inside the walls of the City.

It’s foundations and use as a malthouse can be dated back to 1381, noted by tax imposed by Richard II. Originally called the ‘Spotted Cow’ the name was changed as it’s reputation grew as a venue of gambling. Patrons would frequent The Turf to mee their “Turf-Men’ and although logic might dictate that this was primarily a horse connection, it seems they would take bets on pretty much anything.

Since then it has become a firm favorite for Oxford Dons, students, Tourists from near and afar and many celebrities all searching the streets of Oxford, to find it’s best kept secret.

This is one of the outdoor patios at The Turf. The ancient city wall and the Bell tower at New College you see looming over the patio. I zoomed up with my camera to catch the gargoyles.

After church on Sunday when most of the Pubs and restaurants in town were full with people getting their Sunday Roasts and other goodies we high tailed it to the Turf again and tried to find a seat. At first the only seat we could find was outside in the patio but when our food arrived we noticed an empty seat inside and asked our server if we could switch and he obliged us. It was nice to leave the patio as some of the patrons were lighting up their cigarettes. I enjoyed a delicious Lamb Roast with standard Yorkshire pudding and gravy and roasted veggies. Dear opted for Fish and Chips again.

Our final visit to The Turf was on Friday afternoon the 23rd of September. This was our last full day in Oxford.

A pint and 1/2 a pint. We ordered something way outside of our usual on this day. A Chicken Wings platter with different sauces, etc. We met a Canadian mom and daughter who were visiting relatives in Oxford. The mom was originally from England and went to college in Oxford. A fun conversation.

If you ever find yourself in Oxford follow the passageway to The Turf, quiet and off the beaten track.

Getting Settled in Oxford

We arrived to Heathrow airport on Monday September 12th in the early afternoon. We were amazed at the customs procedure. There were several entry stations where you enter singly and put your open passport in a scanner while a camera takes your photo. After the scan, if no red flags pop up, you proceed to the baggage claim area. No human interaction at this point. We were flabbergasted but happy with the streamlined procedure. Next we followed the signs to baggage claim and waited for our bags to appear on the moving belt. Again we were happy to see them both appear and then we looked for signs for the central bus station located at Heathrow Terminal 3 . It was a long walk and when we found the bus station we looked for the The Airline Bus, Oxford. The first bus we spotted was with a cranky bus driver who felt his bus was full but a few stalls down there was another bus with a happy bus driver ready to take our bags and let us know a return ticket would save us money. On board and ready to go. The journey would take at least 80 minutes with the stops involved along the way. When we got to Oxford it was a prime traffic time so the journey took longer. We got off the bus and got our luggage and proceeded to find our apartment. Our Airbnb hostess gave us great directions and instructions. It was only 0.2 miles to our apartment from the bus station.

To get into the apartment complex we had to enter a security code for the door to open.

We found our apartment and entered another code to get the key from a lock box. In and ready to dump our bags and settle in before we headed out to find a pub for a meal.

We found our way to New Inn Hall Street heading for St. Michael Street to find The Plough Pub on Cornmarket and St. Michael Street.

The Plough was closed so we headed back a few businesses on St. Michael to the Three Goats Head Pub. We found a table and placed our order.

We both enjoyed a Steak and Ale Pie and we had a conversation with a couple from Finland. Maybe half a conversation as we both tried to get beyond a language barrier.

On the way back we discovered a connection to the Wesley family on New Inn Hall Street.

Walking back on St. Michael you can see the Wesley Memorial Methodist Church on New Inn Hall Road.

Oxford is full of connections to the Wesley family. John and Charles Wesley followed their elder brother Samuel to Christ Church; their father, also Samuel, was a student at Exeter College; and their grandfather John studied at New Inn Hall (from which New Inn Hall Street takes its name).

If you follow this link you will find some interesting history of the Wesley family in Oxford and beyond.

On the same road we passed St. Peter’s College.

This was the apartment building where our airbnb apartment was located on the Oxford Castle and Prison location (part ruined Norman Castle). The Swan and Castle is a pub in the Wetherspoon Pub chain. A cheaper pub that is open from 9am until 1pm. We weren’t aware of this fact before we booked our apartment. This wasn’t the type of pub we would choose.

The second balcony up is our apartment. Outside tables were situated below our balcony and windows. The drinking age in the UK is 18 and because this pub was one of the cheaper pubs many young people congregated to drink and smoke and enjoy themselves loudly each night. OYE. Such a nice apartment in a wonderful location with this downside. Thankfully we packed earplugs and there was a fan in our bedroom that we utilized for white noise. It was quiet from 2am until 8am so that was a plus. We decided to go with the flow and enjoy the upside to this apartment and not get in a snit about the downside.

Looking out our apartment window we said goodnight to our first day in the United Kingdom.

Back to the present we are getting more acclimated and feeling less tired. Hopefully we’ll be able to sleep longer into the morning, too.

Oxford Archives ~ Bodlein

Continuing posting from my archives to refresh our memory of our time in Oxford and to remind us of what we do not want to miss this time around. We will be making sure to sign up for a tour of the Bodlein Library this time in September of 2022.
This magnificent room in the Bodlein in Oxford was used as the Hogwarts Infirmary in the Harry Potter movies. The detail of the carved ceiling is amazing, don’t you think?

Our timing wasn’t the best to be able to get the guided tour of the library room while we were in Oxford in 2014. You have to sign up for their timed tours and we were a bit late out of the gate to do that. Next time…

Trinity College ~ Oxford (Archives)

This is a post from my archives from July of 2014. We traveled by train to Oxford from the Cotswolds leaving our rental car behind which is a very good idea when visiting Oxford.
You can read about the history of Trinity College by clicking here. After our walking tour of Oxford on our 6th day in England Dear and I enjoyed some lunch and then walked about on our own. We visited two more of the University of Oxford Colleges, Trinity and Magdalen. We had to pay a small entrance fee to walk about these colleges.

The Chapel was consecrated in 1694 and was hailed by contemporaries as the most magnificent Chapel in the University. Its dynamic integration of architecture, sculpture and painting is unrivalled amongst surviving ecclesiastical interiors in England.

Deposition of Christ ~ (copy after Andrea del Sarto) by Gaetano Cannicci, 1870.

We were in Oxford the summer of 1974 briefly on our way to Blenheim Palace with our Singing group before we were married. If my memory serves me correctly it was in Oxford that I purchased the tea set for the Teapot I bought in Canterbury in 1973 on our singing group tour (Royal Albert, Moss Rose). In 2004 on a Literary trip to celebrate our daughter’s graduation from high school we visited Oxford for a day. We parked in a park and ride outside of town and took a bus to the city center and set out to find all the places that C.S. Lewis and Tolkien were known for. We had lunch at the Eagle and Child. We spent some time at Magdalene College and walked the path where Lewis and Tolkien walked. After getting back to our car we ventured off to Wolvercote to try and find the cemetery where Tolkien is buried. With our daughter’s determination we finally did find it and found his gravesite.

Back to July 2022 here in the States. We hope on our journey this September to attend Evensong at Trinity and at Magdalene colleges. Since our time in Oxford will be extended from just several hours to many days we hope to enjoy more leisurely visits to much of Oxford that we didn’t have time to see in 2014. We’ve also been researching churches in the area to attend on the Sunday we are there.

St Paul’s Mission Kettle Falls

When our friends from the coast, Bob and Jan, came to visit last week we took an outing to see this historical site and to walk through the museum.

You can find some history of this area here.

History of Fort Colville can be found here.

“This grooved boulder was a favorite whetstone used by generations of Indians who camped at the south end of the fishery. Left there by the last glacier, it is made of amphibolite, more fine-grained than the local bedrock. The stone has been placed here in the same position in which it was used to sharpen the spear points, knives and other implements used to harvest the salmon.”

We stopped in to the museum and I only took a few photos.

While our friends were here we enjoyed a couple meals out and some meals in. By far the favorite meal was at El Ranchito where we were treated like royalty…again. We had lots of good conversation and relaxed time together. We said goodbye on Friday morning and after they left our little grandson was dropped off for a play date with Baba and Gramps while big sister went to a Preschool/homeschool co-op for a few hours.

More to come from our time with JJ.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Historic Landmark