Fantastic Beasts in Liverpool!

I was in Liverpool city centre last week.  I'd popped in to pick up some curtain fabric for the newly decorated hall and landing.  And when passing St George's Hall, I noticed there was a lot of metal fencing surrounding it and what looked like fake snow on the steps.

Later that evening my husband and I were back in the city centre to meet a friend for a drink and there was considerable activity in and around St George's Hall.  I took a photo - just in case!

I've since found out that they are filming scenes for J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter spin-off book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them".  The film stars Eddie Redmayne but unfortunately I haven't spotted him around, although one of his co-stars, Jon Voight has apparently been seen in one of the Liverpool night clubs.

Picture from Liverpool Echo

Picture from Liverpool Echo

Picture from Liverpool Echo

Picture from Liverpool Echo

Apparently, Liverpool is the only non-studio location for the film, and the city is doubling up as 1920s New York.

The film isn't being released until November next year but I shall be looking out for Liverpool when I go to see it.

The Best of All Worlds

I'm so lucky.  Lucky, lucky me.  Why am I lucky?  Well it's because I live in such a wonderful place.

I live just a few miles from the city centre.  It's a lively, happy and friendly city.  Full of historic buildings, a beautiful waterfront and museums, galleries, shops and cafes.

I live just two minutes walk away from a sandy beach with interesting shells to collect and the thought-provoking Iron Men.

And if I walk in the opposite direction to the sea, I'm in the countryside in just over ten minutes, surrounded by fields of barley and oats.

If you look closely at the above photo, you can see the off-shore wind turbines.  They look like they are just behind the railway line but they're a few miles out to sea. Here's a close up.

So much variety, all on my doorstep.  Of all the places in the world, I love Liverpool the best.

But I guess, you may disagree with me, you may love where you live just as much.

They Came, We Saw... But Still the Sun Didn't Shine

Following on from yesterday's post about the Royal Visit, we were down on the beach again today to see the arrival of the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Victoria.

At least it was a more sociable hour and it wasn't raining.  It was still very cold and grey.  There must have been a few thousand people spread out along the beach - all well-wrapped up against the cold.  And what an impressive sight it was.  The Queen Elizabeth came in first.

Closely followed by Queen Victoria.

The Queen Mary had come back out of the river and was waiting for them, just off the coast from New Brighton.

The two smaller ships passed behind the Queen Mary and the three of them proceeded up the river to the Pier Head.

As I type this, they are currently performing an intricately choreographed "River Dance" at the Pier Head, no doubt in front of thousands more people crowded along the water front.

Such an amazing sight to see the Cunard liners together in Liverpool, 175 years after the first Cunard ship set sail from here to Boston.  I feel so lucky to live in such an historic city.

The Queen Mary will be leaving once the dance is over, but she returns on 4th July for more celebrations (maybe the sun will shine then). Liverpool has more fun events and happenings at that time.  So good to see the continued revival of this beautiful city after all the years of decline and negative publicity.  If you ever get the chance, please come and visit Liverpool, I'm sure you'll be amazed.

A Royal Visit

Good Morning.   I was up bright and early this morning - out and about in the soaking rain.

This weekend in Liverpool there's quite a buzz.  We're having a special visit.  Three Queens are coming to the city... and the first one was arriving early this morning.

I had set my alarm for 6.45 am but was woken up at 6.20 am by the sound of a ship's hooter.  I jumped up quickly, threw on some clothes and dashed down to the beach.  And there she was - Queen Mary 2, one of Cunard's luxury liners.

Visibility was very poor, the rain was heavy, it was cold and miserable - but never have so many people been out and about on the beach at 6.30 am on a Sunday morning.

I was so glad I was able to witness the enormous cruise liner arriving in Liverpool.  It was worth getting drenched for.  Here's a picture of what she looks like when the sun is shining!

Picture from Wikipedia

Tomorrow, she will be joined by her sister ships, the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Victoria.  They are here to celebrate the 175th  anniversary of the Cunard Line.  Cunard's first ship, the Britannia, departed for her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Boston on 4 July 1840.  The company had its head office in Liverpool until 1967.

The Cunard Building is the middle one of
The Three Grace's on Liverpool waterfront.

The three ships will be sailing together up and down a short stretch of the Mersey tomorrow.  Hopefully the weather will be better because, at the moment, the arrival of the Three Queens is all anyone is talking about here on Merseyside.

Enjoy your weekend.

Imagining

Relaxing Autumn days.

A walk along the promenade watching the waves crashing in at high tide.

Watching the Isle of Man ferry about to enter the port of Liverpool and imagining a boat trip to somewhere warm and exotic.

Where shall we go?

Liverpool Collage

If you've been reading this blog for some time now, you'll know I love my home city of Liverpool and feel great warmth and pride towards it.  I can trace the Liverpool residents from my family tree back to the seventeenth century and if the records existed, probably a lot earlier than that, so Liverpool is very much in my genes.

So I decided to make a collage to show my love of Liverpool and especially its architecture.

The collage features the three iconic waterfront buildings known collectively as the Three Graces.

They are, from left to right, the Liver Building, the Cunard Building and the Port of Liverpool Building.

Can you see the little Liver Bird on top of the Liver Building?

This is what the actual bird looks like close up.  There are two of them and they are eighteen feet tall!

And here's a photo I took last year of three buildings.

I really enjoyed making this collage.  What's not to like about spending an afternoon cutting and pasting for real rather than on the laptop!

The pictures of the buildings that I used in my collage are taken from this wonderful book.

It is full of the author's fabulous drawings of the Liverpool architecture.  Here's Bluecoat Chambers.

And here is my photo of the building.

Here's the Albert Dock with the Anglican Cathedral (we have two cathedrals in Liverpool) in the background.

And my photo of a similar view.

We have so many lovely buildings here in Liverpool - we are so spoilt!

Just a Perfect Day

The seasons are changing, the lovely summer weather we have enjoyed this year will soon be over.  Here in the north west of England we have been lucky enough to have missed the bad weather that other parts of the country have been having lately.  The weather is set fair for the next week or two.  Better make the most of it.

Yesterday, I woke to a beautiful sunny morning with not a breath of wind - perfect for an early walk on the beach.

The early morning sun cast long shadows across the sands.

We have lovely golden sand (with some muddy bits) on our beach.  It's all very flat and gentle.

There's nothing more relaxing and calming than walking along the shore, looking for interesting shells, as the waves gently lap around your feet.

There were a number of other walkers on the beach, and of course the Antony Gormley statues.

Is that Santa's coat he's wearing?

There's always plenty of shipping activity.

I saw this enormous jellyfish on the beach.

I placed some shells next to it (on the left), so that you can judge the size of it.

What an impressive specimen!

I enjoyed my walk, it was a great way to start the day - and I'm so glad I remembered to take my camera with me.