Week in Liverpool/ Wales/Home again

The day after we got back from the Lakes was a Sunday and D drove me to Liverpool to spend some time with L&K. We arrived early in the afternoon, and we all went to the city, which was not far away, one could walk it easily, where we had a sunday lunch at a french restuarant. It was fantastic and such a reasonable price for three courses. What else I really liked was the portions were small enough that you could actually enjoy all three courses. Over here, portions are so large that I can't remember the last time I was able to eat three courses at a restuarant. Wish I could remember its name so I could see if it had a web page!
D stayed over and drove back the next morning and L and I went down to the waterfront to check out a couple of museums. Now we would need a good week to really look at all of them, so we had to pick and choose. Today we chose the Slavery Museum and the Harbourmasters House at the waterfront. On the way down we passed the main museum. Isn't it a beautiful day? Then we walked around St Georges Hall. This is a magnificent building.

From the front (or back, not sure which). One day we were watching Antiques Roadshow at home in Oz and it was held in Liverpool in St Georges Hall. As we were watching, KISA saw a person in the background looking on and yelled out, "I know him!" Small world, huh.

This is the Liver Building, the two Liver Birds on the top are where Liverpool gets its name from. I think.

The same building from the waterfront. I was hoping to get a full shot of the three amazing buildings called the The Three Graces, but the middle one was all covered in scaffolding, and I didn't think they would uncover it just for me. Pity because it was such a great day for taking such a photo.

This is the third one, this is the Port Of Liverpool building. This was a seriously wealthy city in its hey day.

This is the Albert Dock. They used to load the ships here. Because the River Mersey has such a big tidal range, the ships had to pass through a lock system to get into this lock, where they could be loaded and unloaded without suffering the vagaries of the tide and the wind. Pretty clever, huh? It is now shops, museums and posh residences.

Just near here was the Harbourmaster's House, which is all set up as a 1940's house. It was fascinating and very interesting to see how it was during the war time. I love looking at old houses like that, domestic history being one of my interests. We then walked across to the Albert Dock to go to the Slavery Exhibition. L and I had a cup of coffee here before we went through the Slavery Museum. That was an amazing place. We came out of it thinking we were both peckish and should think about lunch. When we checked the time, it was a quarter to five!

I got this shot looking over the new constructions to get a glimpse of the older Liver Building. The glass place is a new museum, still not opened, and the one on the right is apartments. You can see boats in dry dock in the foreground. The river is just to the left.

The River Mersey and the ferry that crosses it. Go on, sing the song..you know you want to!

This is the ferry from Birkenhead to Belfast, across the river at Birkenhead.

This is a new part of the Albert Dock. Seems like it is the fashion to have a big wheel to ride around in, everywhere has got them now! This is the front door of the Port of Liverpool Building. KISA used to work here. In fact this is where he was when we first met online in 1976.

He worked in the basement, like all good IT guys did back then. This is his basement window.

This is L&K, taken the next day when we were on our way to the Liverpool Museum. We only looked at one floor, there just wasn't time to do anything else, but it was fantastic. I do miss that sort of stuff living in Australia, we don't have much cool stuff in our museums as England beat us all to it! They took me to lunch in this pub, owned by KISA's cousin. It is a real ale pub and serves boutique beers and real Liverpool food. I had Scouse, a sort of lamb stew that really sticks to your ribs, I could only eat half of it! It was a serving for a wharfie I think! The chips were the real deal too. Thank you L&K! I should have stayed longer in Liverpool, I thought L&K were working all week so arranged to go to Wales on the Wednesday. I barely scratched the surface of this amazing city. Turned out they had another day off so was sorrry to miss out another day with them. My train left about lunch time, and after two changes, I settled in on the train to LLandrindod. It took about 3 and a half hours and R met me at the station and we walked home to hers.

R's car is not ready to drive yet so we walked everywhere, which is easy to do in a village and very good for my waistline which seems to have grown since being here!

As R had to work a few hours each day as she is eased back into it after Phils' death, we had a quiet couple of days. We did some shopping and cooking and chatting over cups of tea.

On one day R and I attended a funeral of a lady who R had worked with as a young girl first arrived in Wales. We walked out to visit Phil as well.

One afternoon, we went for a stroll in the park where the spa springs that put Llandrindod on the map flow. In Victorian times, the town became popular as a place to "take the waters", so is a holiday spot. Most of the buildings are of that era. This water fountain is one of the springs, and is a water rich in iron, as you can tell by the rust marks on the base.

The track follows the stream, all lovely and green and leafy.

You can just imagine all the Victorian strolling around here taking the air and waters. Every year, the town holds a Victorian Festival, where the townspeople dress in Victorian dress for the week and attend events. A lot of tourist come to the town for this.

R said this was carved with a chainsaw! Pretty clever, I told KISA he had to refine his technique with the chainsaw!

This is the bowling green. Not a roof or artifical green in sight! What a lovely outlook! This park and the bowls club are all a few hundred yards from the centre of the town.

Another view while walking in the park.

Isn't Wales a beautiful place..this is taken on the same walk, just a bit higher up the hill. We came out in one of the streets just beyond this spot.Hard to believe it is so close to town.

One evening R and I were sitting in the conservatory enjoying a glass of wine, when we saw this amazing sunset.

I couldn't choose between these two pictures, so I put them both in.

On the last weekend I was in the UK, R and I cleaned out Phil's greenhouse and cleaned it, ready for it to spend the winter. It was a severe winter last year with lots of snow, and they are expecting much the same this year.

On the Sunday L&K cam down for their days off to help R with some odd jobs. This is the last evening I had with them, I imagine one of the last they would have spent on the deck this year as well, as the weather was starting to cool down.

The next morning they very kindly drove me to Hereford to catch my bus to Heathrow. And bought me breakfast in a genuine Greasy Spoon cafe!

I really enjoyed my extended stay in the UK and I really appreciated the opportunity to spend time, good unstructured time, with each of my sisters in law, three lovely women. I am very grateful for your generous hospitality and friendship. Thank you so much.