Day 10- October 23rd

Wake up today was very early as we had to catch the ferry back to England. We were out of the hotel by 7am. This crossing is slightly shorter from this part of Ireland so it was to take about an hour less than the earlier crossing and it did certainly seem shorter. I spent my remaining Euro in the duty free shop on the ferry as it was my last opportunity to use it. I bought a Christmas ornament that looks like an old Irish pub, a canvas purse, and a map of Britain and Ireland. I got the map in order to highlight the roads that we took on tour. Outside was pretty windy and cold, but I managed to get some gorgeous photos of the sunrise. I sat with Jane, Audrey, Terry, and Marcia for the crossing. Our ferry docked in Holyhead, Wales. Our first stop was to the town with the longest name in the U.K.-
Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.
This translates to "The church of Mary in the hollow of the white hazel near the fierce whirlpool and the church of Tysilio by the red cave." I browsed through the visitor's center and ended up purchasing some postcards. I walked with Audrey to a nearby grocery store to use the ATM as I only had about £3 on me. Audrey had already been to the ATM and must have emptied it because I was unable to get any money out. I dozed as we drove onwards, back into England. Our next stop was in Chester. This was actually a pretty neat old town. Doug gave us a walking tour of the city. Our first stop was at the cathedral that was dedicated to St. Werburgh. We had time for a few photos before continuing on our walking tour. We lost Jane, Marcia, and Terry here as they lagged behind taking photos of squirrels. Apparently they don't have squirrels in Australia. We walked along the old walls that were built to fortify the city back when Chester was an important port town. Along the way we stopped at an excavation site where they had found Roman ruins of an amphitheater and then again at some Roman gardens. Next we stopped at some very old houses built in the 1600's, the oldest of which was 1622. We concluded our walking tour here and had 45 minutes of free time. Audrey and I headed to McDonald's because she was hungry and I very much needed a restroom. I ended up just getting some fries. After we had eaten, I was on a mission to find an ATM. Jane flagged us down. She was sitting outside a cafe with Terry and Marcia. Jane pointed out an ATM just around the corner. I had totally missed it because the bank was actually attached to the cathedral! After I got some cash, Audrey and I went back to sit with Jane, Terry, and Marcia. Then we were back on the bus and onwards to our final destination of the day- Liverpool. Liverpool is home to the largest cathedral in England. Tonight we are staying at the Brittania Adelphi hotel. It was built in the early 1900's when Liverpool was a major port for transatlantic voyage. On the first floor there is a massive mezzanine which is pretty fancy and modeled after the smoking room of the Titanic. It's actually used fairly often in movies when they need to film a scene in an old cruise ship. Tonight I'm rooming with Jeanette and our room was very near the lift. Most of us met Doug back down in the lobby at 5:30 to do a brief walking tour to the Cavern Club where the Beatles first played. This is on Matthew Street. Across from the Cavern Club, which is really a replica since the original was destroyed to make an underground trainline that was never built, was a statue of John Lennon standing by the Cavern Club Wall of Fame. On this wall, each of the bricks is engraved with the name of an artist or band that performed at the Cavern Club. Around the corner was a statue of Eleanor Rigby sitting on a bench. We were back at the hotel and dinner was at 7. After dinner I went back to the room as I was pretty tired from the early wake-up. Tomorrow we are off to Scotland!

Hotel: Britannia Adelphi. Our room was very pretty. It was almost like a suite. The main door opened into a little foyer with a closet. There was a door to the right that led to the bedroom and a door to the left that led to a bathroom. The bathroom was quite large. However, it only had a bathtub and no shower. There wasn't even a handheld showerhead in our bathroom as was in everyone else's bathroom. In addition, there was just a thin, sheer curtain in the bathroom and the window looked out on the busy street. The front of the building also had scaffolding on it. I was hoping that we would be gone in the morning before the construction workers arrived as they would have easily been able to see into the bathroom. I was very disappointed in not having a shower as I do not like to take baths AT ALL. And I certainly wasn't going to take a bath in a tub when I was sharing a room with a virtual stranger. The bedroom had two twin-sized beds, two closets, a TV, and a vanity. Dinner was probably the worst on the tour. The food was just not good. What made it even worse was that this was the worst service we had of any hotel on the entire tour. Doug had talked up this hotel and went on and on about how wonderful it was, but to be honest, I very much disliked this hotel and would not choose to stay here again.





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