This is a driving day..
we’re leaving Cardiff and heading to Liverpool! We’re up and getting ready, packing up our
clothes that have been drying around the apt (there is a washer, but no dryer) –
and I’m trying to take advantage of the deck with the penthouse view one last
time before we have to say goodbye to it.
It’s chilly out there, but it’s still enjoyable over my morning
coffee. The kids come out and hang out
too – I try to record some of the seagulls and the noises they’re making. They sound like they’re laughing. But of course every time I record, they stop.
We do our breakfast routine again and we’re up and out by 10
– it takes a while for Tim (our gps) to get a signal, so we’re driving blind
for a minute, but he picks us up just in time.
I’m trying to fool Tim, because the route that he wants to take us to
Liverpool is on the big highways that run back through England. I want to take smaller roads that wind
through Wales. The route with the big
motorway is 3.5 hours, and taking the scenic route is 4 hours. I had routed a way
on the internet the night before, and I put in one of the towns that were along
that route, thinking that after we got to that town I would just re-enter
Liverpool and Tim would have to take us north through Wales. Well, Tim had other ideas. We get through Pontypridd (about 30 minutes
north of Cardiff) and type in Liverpool, and it’s about 10 miles before we
realize that he’s taking us south to Cardiff again. GRRRR.. TIM!
Luckily I remembered another town further north and we get back on the
right track again.
We’re having fun listening to the radio again and then we
hear, “Celebrating 26 years of the Dark Lord” and we freak just a little… are
they talking about He who shall not be named?
He’s not been around for 26 years, right? Or something of a local tradition? Satanic worship? I googled it and I can’t find any reference
to it.. Anyone know? The roads are
winding, but not crazy narrow like we saw in Cornwall – we laugh at road signs
that literally tell us that there will be no road signs coming up.. hmm.. and just when I’ve looked them up! The night before I had done some research
into what all the British road signs meant.
Most of which we had guessed correctly – but one had stumped us. It looks like half of an X from a railroad
crossing sign – white background, with just one black slash through the
middle. We see it everywhere and have
no clue. Turns out that it means, (I’m
paraphrasing a bit) “go the speed that you know you should go for this road
type and situation”…. Yah, that. Like we know what that is. Luckily, Tim is very smart and he tells us
the speed limit for every road along the way (as well as our current speed) –
he beeps very loudly at us anytime there is a speed camera upcoming, even if we’re
not speeding (which we aren’t).
It’s about 1:00 and we’re looking for a place to stop for
lunch – there is this perfect sized town that happens along just at the right
time – Llandrindod Wells. It’s one of
the more normal looking town names. As
we get further away from Cardiff we wonder why they feel the need to give an
English translation of the town names, because both versions look like words
that can not be spoken aloud.
We walk along and down a street where we see some chalkboard
placards out – that usually means a menu..
Except when it doesn’t. So we see
a nice guy with a dog (all people with dogs are nice) and asked him where to
eat. We don’t really get the name of the
place – but we get the direction and what it’s next to, so we’re fairly
confident that we have the right place.
He said that it has “quite nice food”. I’m pleased because they have my
full English breakfast (with beans), and Brittany and I get that – Patti has a BLT (we love their bacon),
Dana gets a sandwich with their bacon too, and a cheese that looks like, but
isn’t, provel. The ketchup here is
called “tomato sauce” and it’s in this huge liter bottle. Thomas decides to get a banana milkshake and
gets a surprise – it’s just banana flavored milk… hmmm…
Back on the road and things are exciting now – rolling hills,
sheep in the road… cow in the road..
this is what I wanted to see when I picked this route! We also run into a little construction, but
it’s so well organized. They have a stop
with a light that is timed (no person standing there with a “slow/stop” sign – I
do have a little bit of a learning curve with it because I stop and wait in the
wrong place. I was following my signs
too literally and I stopped where the little blue arrow pointed (I know my
signs, and that means, this the line)… but it wasn’t. I back up and there is another sign that
said, “stop here”.. Too literal.
Whatever.
We got to Liverpool about 5 – and it’s just a little tricky
finding the hotel entrance… we see it, but not sure how to get into it, and Tim
keeps telling us that we arrived. But
finally we get in, and check into the Dolby Hotel. We picked it because we knew that we would be
later coming in and we would have to check out early anyway – and it was cheap,
great location on the Mersey river and close to the places that we’ll be going
(the Beatles tours). The rooms are built like they’re on a ship – they have a
double bed, and then a single loft/bunk bed that goes across the top. They’re billed as “triple” beds, but we room
with just two people in each room. The bathrooms REALLY look like they belong
on a boat or a train – the shower takes up half the bathroom. You could go to the bathroom, wash your hands
and your feet at the same time. Britt
and Dana pair up because Britt is still traumatized by being kicked by me, and
they say that they aren’t bothered by each other’s “sounds”… ok..
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| Hotel Lobby, looking out onto the Mersey |
We are ready for dinner and we ask about food and shop and
are directed down to a place opposite the Albert Dock. We were a little disappointed just because we
thought it would be cute shops and it was a big mall filled with chain shops, and
mostly clothing. BUT they had a TON of
sport shops and Lauren was able to find the Arsenal gear that we’ve been
looking for! It was a little bit of a
scavenger hunt, we went to the Liverpool Football Team store and asked and they
were horribly offended that we would ask about Arsenal (I guess it’s like going
into a Cardinal shop and asking about Cubs gear) – so we tried another one on
our way to another one… and he didn’t have any either, but directed us to the
Sports Addict who would be our best chance.
And after looking through a bunch of stuff (they have every team) – we were
lucky enough to find exactly what we were looking for and then some. Brittany had been in shopping heaven
elsewhere at this cute dress store that she had found online, and she got a
little something. After they were done
they found us in our 4th sports store like that was where we were supposed
to be. They had no idea that we had been
all over the mall – they just saw this one place and figured we would be in
there. I decided that a Liverpool
Football Team jersey would make for a great Liverpool souvenir, so we head back
to the LFC store and I find a cool hoodie with their motto “You’ll never walk
alone” on it (also one of my favorite songs from Carousel).
Time for dinner – and it’s all mall food, so we settle on a
buffet place. It had great variety and everyone
was able to find something to eat, but it was our least exciting meal to
date. One of the deciding factors were
their awesome pictures of desserts.. the reality was very different than the
pictures. Once more we have been lied
to. Big fat lies.
We walk back to the hotel and chill out in our rooms on our
screens – the others don’t seem to have issues with their devices, but the Internet
cuts in and out for me and it reeeeeelly irriates me. I think that’s my biggest pet peeve,
trigger.. whatever you want to call it – I’m not a happy camper if technology
that should be working isn’t working.
Dana talks me down, gets me connected on her kindle fire, and we go down
and sit by the Mersey river for a while.
It’s so nice out… Eventually we
head back up and we catch some British tv.
Patti and I watch a show about “The man with a 10 stone testicle” (that’s
140 pounds) – dude. British tv doesn’t blur or anything and we saw way too
much, and yet kept watching. He’s
sitting around his living room with his friends, with a ball the size of a
person just sitting there… talk about the elephant in the room…
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| On our walk back from the mall |
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| Sunset on the Mersey River |
Our daily totals: 11,623
24 stairs, 5 miles
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