Weekend in Liverpool

Date: 03 May 2010 16:13:24

Having not been to a single wedding since our own at the end of 2007, we found ourselves going to 2 within a month! Firstly of course there was the wedding of Auntie Doris and The Mister in Guernsey, and then this weekend some friends from York tied the knot in Liverpool. I've not included photos of the couple this time as they don't read this blog (as far as I know), but thought I'd share some of our adventures anyway. It was my first time in Liverpool ever (and HD had only ever been once, to a 21st birthday party just after leaving uni and hadn't really explored at all, so really it was the first time proper for both of us). The wedding wasn't till 3 so we had plenty of time in the morning to explore.

And what a treat! The weather wasn't bad at all (which of course helped!), and there was plenty of blossom out, which left an impression of Liverpool as quite a colourful city. Actually it reminded me quite a lot of Glasgow - they have a lot of similarities anyway (docks, shipbuilding/industrial past, large immigrant populations because of the docks, two big football teams, up-and-coming areas amongst deprivation, unexpected architecture, regeneration of the city centre, etc). Last year Liverpool was one of Europe's Capitals of Culture (you'll remember when I was in Sibiu in 2007 that was Capital of Culture that year along with Luxemburg - there are 2 capitals of culture per year), and of course Glasgow too held that honour, back in 1990 (something which really boosted the profile and cultural vibrancy of the city).

We drove into town and headed for Albert Dock, which was obviously pretty up-and-coming and at the centre of things. From there we walked into the city centre (we needed to find some shops, as someone who shall remain nameless forgot to pack his smalls!!), and came across this fabulous sculpture, called "Pillar of Friendship", where each square of the sculpture was by a different artist. I really liked it, we spent quite a lot of time gazing up at it:

From there we walked to one of my two "must see" destinations - the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King (the Roman Catholic cathedral), otherwise known as "Paddy's Wigwam" (or, so my friend the groom tells me, "the Mersey Funnel"). And my goodness it was well worth it - what an extraordinary space, inside and out. I thought it was absolutely beautiful - the lines, the light, the colours, the atmosphere - most definitely one of those 'thin spaces' where the presence of God is almost tangible. I could have stayed there all day. Here's just a small selection of my pictures:

Here's a couple more back at Albert Dock:

I had to explain the pun to HD - I got it straight away, whereas he didn't see it at all. Usually it's the other way round, he's usually much quicker at that sort of thing than me! (If you don't get it either, think of Liverpool's most famous group from the 1960s, and their song of the same colour).

The church where the wedding took place had some amazing stained glass windows. This very detailed one (featuring particularly red devil!) was at the other end from the altar, and is of the creation story. The other photo here is of the wedding cake (figures made by the very creative bride!):

There's a bit of a story behind this picture. The jacket I wore to the wedding was the one I bought for our wedding, and the only times I have ever worn it was for our wedding, Auntie Doris's last month and then this one in Liverpool. As I was driving to and from the wedding I'd popped the keys into the jacket pocket, and felt this lumpy thing, and pulled out the lovehearts. I couldn't remember putting them there, but thought maybe I'd picked them up at Auntie Doris's wedding, and didn't think anything more of it. I happened to mention them to HD afterwards, and he confessed that he had slipped them into my pocket at some point during our own wedding, as a little romantic gesture. It only took two and a half years to find them!! Whoops! (we're not that good at romance, by the look of things. But it's cuter this way, and a better story!).

The reception took place at the hotel where we were staying, and it was quite a striking building. It used to be Liverpool's main aerodrome back in the day, and was full of Art Deco features inside and out, as well as lots of memorabilia from the earlier days of flying and random planes in the grounds (I resisted the temptation to burst into a rendition of "Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines"). This is HD round the back of the building.

The next day we went, with a couple of other friends, to the other "must-see" bit of the trip - about a half hour drive away, Crosby Beach is the home of the Antony Gormley installation "Another Place". Like the single iron man sculpture we saw on Herm last month, this is based on iron casts of Gormley's own body, but whereas the Herm one was just the one in isolation, "Another Place" features a number of the casts over quite a large stretch of the beach. I think we expected them to be a bit closer together, but even so the effect was quite mesmerising. I loved how the iron has become all barnacled and seawater-worn, so you can see how the figures have interacted with the elements of their environment, as well as with the people who go to see them on the beach. This is just a small selection of my pictures - needless to say if you're ever in the area, it's well worth a visit! (check the tide tables first though - you don't want to go all that way to find they're all underwater!).