Sat. May 28...Day 12

Day 12 May 28, 2011

 

Today, we arrived in Liverpool, England. It is quite a modern city and comes right down to the port on the River Mersey. We arrived in reverse up the river. It was quite interesting and docked around 8:00. At 9:00 we were on our way, by bus, to the Roman city of Chester. We had a tour guide who was very good. It was about an hour away. We pulled up in front of the City Hall and across the street from the Cathedral. The architecture in the city is very interesting. The reason the city is called a Roman city is because it used to be a major port city on the River Mersey until it silted in and now the city doesn’t even have a river. It has a canal instead that the Romans built. We did a walking tour of the city with the guide and then saw a little bit more on our own.  The time went too fast and then it was time to get back on the bus and go back to the ship.

Port of Liverpool 

 Chester City Hall

The Cathedral of Chester 

 The architecture

The Northgate 

 The Eastgate

 

These gates were to the city of Chester. You can still walk around the walls of the city.  They run over these gates. We walked the Eastgate wall.  Street level and upper level. Can you see Mike

and Emily waving from the upper level shops?

Shops are on both levels.

Chester is a city on the border with Wales. In fact, at one time it was a part of Wales.  But now it is back in England. As we left the city we were able to “see” Wales. The hills are in Wales.

There was so much more that we saw. More lightposts, another mailbox (different country—different box) more people, more architecture, roads, canals. A few more pictures:

We came back to the ship and had our lunch. Then Mike and I went down the quay to a little commercial district that they have built up from the old dockyards that used to be there. It is pretty neat.
There are several museums for the “famous four”. But we didn’t go to any of them :) We walked around the area. Then found an internet café and sent out the updates.  Emily stayed in the stateroom. She has a bad cold. Plus, she had had enough of walking for the day.

We had to be back at the ship at 4:30. We got back at 4:00 and just after that the captain came on and said that because of bad winds we would not be able to go on to Ilfracombe (Devon) England. So we would be staying in port here until later tonight.  We ate our dinner on board. Then Mike and I walked around the deck. We watched as a small tanker cozied up to our ship to re-fuel it. It was very interesting to watch. The second officer came on with a very important announcement. Can you guess what it was? “No smoking on the outside decks during the refueling!!”  But we saw and smelled a cigar being smoked on the opposite deck.

 Emily’s critter tonight helps us to say « Good night from the port of Liverpool, England »