Paris - Day 2 (afternoon and evening) - On the way back to the Hotel - Dinner at a small restaurant in the Montmartre area - The 23rd of November 2015

As I made my way back to the hotel I noticed it was quite bright, still cold but in fact particularly agreable. Having reached the Gare Saint Lazare I crossed over and spent about one hour at FNAC, which I cannot help going to whenever I am in France, once music and book novelties always seem to reach us much later.

Evening came and with it an invitation by a trip companion to join him at a local restaurant in the area, which I would never have found, had I been on my own. Discreetly located around a corner, the restaurant was very cosy and the food particularly good and well presented. I really enjoyed the evening.

 Photos of the restaurant and dinner taken with my mobile phone.

Paris had won me back ... The "traumatic" situation which had happened to me back in 2013 in this same area was finally begining to fade away and I felt I was in my element once more, unafraid of exploring the city as if I were exploring it for the first time ever.

My Liverpool trip - Day 2 (morning cont.) - (curiosity) - Several of the "eight for 8" - Outside the Museum of Liverpool - The 27th of November 2015

 

Outside the Museum of Liverpool, both on the main entrance and at its back we came across several mini replicas (often referred to as "the eight for 8") of the well known "Superlambanana". The original one in yellow (intended to be a cross between a banana and a lamb) was designed by the Americam based Japanese artist Taro Chiezo.

 

They somehow provided a certain colour to the "grayish" atmosphere.

 

My Liverpool trip - Day 2 (morning cont.) - The Albert Dock area - The 27th of November 2015

(...)

It is said that once hundreds toiled at Albert Dock loading and unloading cargoes in and out of the 1846 warehouses now transformed into a rather unique mixture of restaurants, shops and Museums. We found the explanations provided on outside panels to be of great use so as to understand  what we were being given the possibility to see, such as the dazzle ships or even some of the statues.

 

We opted not to visit any of the four Museums in the area (The Merseyside Maritime Museum, The International Slavery Museum, The Museum of Liverpool and the Tate Liverpool, unless we had time (on the last day), once we had a very tight schedule.

Legacy sculpture by Mark DeGraffenried - 2001 to commemorate those who embarked on a brave and peioneeringvoyage from Liverpool to start a new life in America (right).

 

 (To be continued)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Liverpool trip - Day 2 (morning) - The Pier Head area - The 27th of November 2915

 

We left the hotel fairly early in the morning having taken the Water street heading towards the Pier Head. Behind us the imposing Georgian-style Town Hall building whose magnificent dome was added in 1754.

For centuries the Pier Head is said to have been Liverpool's foremost departure point for passenger shipping with hundreds of thousands having boarded the liners there in the 19th and early 20th centuries in search of a better life in the New world. 

 

 

One of three 20th century buildings (known as the three Graces) give Pier Head its identity, it is said - The Port of Liverpool building (1909), Italianate in style with a classical dome, the Royal Liver Building (1911) with its copper liver birds on top and the Cunard Building (1916) in the middle of those showing Italian, Greek and American architectural influences.

 

 

Indian Building detail (1923)

The whole water front bore the mark of the old days and the importance it had in the lives of those in shipping, commerce and port-based industries but also the darker side to it, which despite not being visible is remembered in the Slavery Museum, just a bit further into the Albert Dock.

(To be continued)