The Honeymoon Tour: Liverpool - Day One

If you are a fan of The Fab Four then you know that they originated in a little English town by the name of Liverpool. 

My husband is a HUGE fan of The Beatles and when we planned England as a honeymoon destination we both knew we would add a quick stop in Liverpool (only an hour or so train from London) for the Beatles-mania stuff. And how could you not start with the Magical Mystery Tour?

The Magical Mystery Tour is a guided 2 hour bus tour that visits a variety of Beatles-famous locations, including a bunch of childhood homes (unfortunately, you can't go in them all on the tour), the church where Paul met John, restaurants, schools, and pubs they visited, Strawberry Fields, etc. By the way the bus totally looks exactly like the ticket:

The bus drove down Penny Lane and the guide told us that people kept stealing the Penny Lane sign so frequently that the town tried to paint it onto the brick wall.  However, the fans then tried to chip away at the bricks in order to get a piece for themselves! So the town eventually returned back to the normal signs. I assume they still have to replace it somewhat frequently. 

We also stopped at the real Strawberry Fields, which is not a field of strawberries like its name suggests. Strawberry Fields was actually a Salvation Army kids home located in John Lennon's childhood town, Woolton. Also, fun fact, John and Paul used to bike to each other houses when they were younger--wish I could have grown up in a time when I could bike to a friend's house!

 John Lennon would often climb the fence of Strawberry Fields to play with the kids in the home, much to the owner's complaint! Our tour guide told us that John's Aunt Mimi (he was living with her) told him that if he kept up with his antics they would hang him. The lyric "Nothing to get hung about, Strawberry Fields forever" makes a lot more sense now, right? 

This is the gate, though the actual gate has since been replaced and we saw the real gate later on in a museum.

Along the way we saw Saint Peter's Church, where a headstone reading Eleanor Rigby is found. We also saw The Empress, which was featured on Ringo Starr's first solo album. To be honest I had no idea about that and wouldn't have remembered it if they didn't paint it above the window.

We also stopped by the childhood homes of Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Because only people on a tour through the National Trust (who look after the residences) can go inside, we weren't able to actually go into the homes. But we could stop and take photos outside. So we visited Paul's childhood home at 4 Forthlyn Road and John Lennon's home. Naturally we also booked the Trust tour for the next morning so we could see the inside. It was really interesting to see where these mega stars started.  This is John Lennon's home.

On the way back to the hotel, which by the way was named A Hard Day's Night Hotel, (Beatles themed and actually really nice), we passed by the Liverpool Cathedral, which was incredibly impressive. We planned to visit the cathedral the next day. But seriously, look how intense the cathedral is:

We had a quick delicious meal of too much Cuban food at a place on the Albert Dock. Seriously, we bought a bunch of tapas and I'm convinced we ordered one of everything on the menu:

Everything was delicious!

After lunch we stopped at The Beatles Experience, a museum dedicated to everything The Beatles. Throughout the museum they had a mix of authentic objects and staged scenes. For examples, they staged the Cavern Club so you could take pictures. Although you could just go to the real Cavern Club too since it was only a short walk away.

We got to see Ringo's gold sparkly drumkit, which was used during The Concert for George Harrison a year after his death:

These were sold at auction for about $64,000.

They also had a replica "white room" with the white piano. 

We also stumbled upon this super cool Beatles statue near Albert Dock:

Overall, it was a really good day. And we were looking forward to continuing our Liverpool adventure the next day. Be sure to check back again to see what we did on day two in Liverpool!

Are you a Beatles fan?
What is your favorite Beatles song?
Is Liverpool on your list of places to visit?