A Magical Mystery Tour

Today we celebrated the Beatles, starting with 'The Beatles Story'. This was an exhibition situated at Albert Dock on the riverbank, focusing on the lives and times of the Beatles. It included an audio-guide, lots of artefacts, and replicas of The Casbah coffee club and The Cavern Club. It was fascinating and very nostalgic, transporting us back to our youth in the sixties and seventies.

Beatles' instruments

Sergeant Pepper's patterns

We followed this in the afternoon with a Magical Mystery Tour - a two hour bus trip with a guide who was passionately enthusiastic about the Beatles. We saw the childhood homes of each of the Beatles, the gates of Strawberry Field (an orphanage in the sixties) and Penny Lane. At each stop, we all piled out of the bus and milled around taking photos - sometimes there was another busload there at the same time as us! - so it was quite a circus. But very interesting and entertaining.

Our magical bus

The rush to take a photo of George's childhood home

Strawberry Field gate

We were dropped off at the Cavern Club at the end of the tour and then walked some distance to the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, the Roman Catholic cathedral. This is a very modern circular building with a domed roof of glass. The walls are hung with the most marvellous embroidered hangings and the great concrete buttresses are adorned with a 'Way of the Cross'. It must be an amazing experience to attend a service in this circular space which seats 2,300 people.

Metropolitan Cathedral Liverpool

Embroidered wall hanging