My journey started on Boxing Day. The lovely holiday in Europe of the train workers to strike. I ended up having to take a bus to Liverpool. It took about 5 hours. It was rough.
LIVERPOOL.
First stop was at the home of The Beatles. If you had absolutely no idea who the Beatles were, I think you may get arrested there. I didn't get there until 8 pm and I instantly fell asleep. And then woke up at 5 am wired and ready to go.
I went on the 3 hour can tour of the Beatles. It was awesome. I thought I knew quite a bit about The Beatles. Nope. However now I feel like an expert. It's so cool to see the city though, everyone there is so passionate about the Beatles. Especially those who lived in the 60s-70s. They act as if they were all close, personal friends with the Beatles. It's so funny but it makes it a lot more personal feeling.
On the tour the guide would break down different lyrics in the songs and take you to those places or explain what they meant. There's a line in strawberry fields and he sings, "nothing to get hung about...." Apparently John Lennon would sneak into Strawberry Fields which is no a field with strawberries but it was an orphanage and he would do stupid things like climb the trees and the workers told his aunt Mimi who he lived with, that he can't sneak in anymore it's a liability thing, whatever.... So his aunt Mimi said, "John next time you go in there, they're gonna hang ya."
The little smart ass John Lennon around when he was 11 replied to aunt saying, "but Mimi there's nothing to get hung about!"
John Lennon had a horrible mother. Actually I'm sure she was a nice lady but within 5 years she was knocked up by 3 different guys. The eldest was John, his sister Victoria was given up for adoption, and the last one, the guy said he'd care for his mother and he's care for the baby she was carrying but he wouldn't care for John. It's said the day he moved into his Aunt Mimi's house was the day he considered losing his mother.
Apparently aunt Mimi and uncle who's name I can't remember were the best. Mimi was a lot older than john's mother so it was almost like moving in with your grandparents. Because visiting your grandparents normally meant you'd Getto eat a lot of sweets and maybe a present or they will take you to do setting cool. John was only supposed to be there for a year or two until his mother got her act together. He stayed for the rest of his life, well until he had to move to London, but it's said even when he lived in NYC with Yoko, his real Home was aunt Mimi's house.
He's about 14 there, standing in front of Mimi's house on his first day of high school.
Obviously that's me looking like a boss in front of his house. It was so cool.
My next destination was Manchester, however I had a few train issues and ended up in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire.
It's a very charming little town, it's pretty small, it makes Harbor Springs look like a city. Well the train was having issues, and we made it to the second stop on our way to Manchester. We were about a mile away from the train station in Holmes Chapel, and for the record the train station is a solid mile and a half from the town center, so with my massive backpack I made the trip to Holmes Chapel. The names was familiar to me hence why I actually considered the 2.5 mile walk into the town centre, it was in the One Direction movie! Not knowing ANYTHING about the town I walked in to find a single street with 4 hair dresser, a bank, a real estate agency, 2 card shops, 1 microbrewery, 1 inn/pub, 2 small grocery stores, an indian take-out restaurant that looked like it shut down, a bakery/ butcher, and a library. I'm not kidding when I say, that is the entire town.
Oh and this massive church that was absolutely gorgeous.
Next I went to MANCHESTER
But only for like 15 hours. However I was able to see a little bit, I did an early morning bus tour of the city so I got to see the Picadilly Gardens, the university, the manchester United Stadium or something but I did the quick tour and they mean quick, we didn't really stop anywhere so I didn't take many pictures.
However, the best part of stopping in Manchester was going to a secondhand store and finding a Carhartt sweatshirt that said in bright red letter, DETROIT so obviously I had to buy it...
Next I went to visit a friend from high school, Miss Maddie Howard.
WAKEFIELD/LEEDS/Not really sure what the name of the town was....
So Maddie and I had visual imaging together in grade ten! We weren't even that close but thankfully to social media, we were able to meet up. It. Was. So. Much. Fun. Granted, I was the only person there that didn't have a tattoo, but it was a riot. First of all her fiancee Kenni, every time one of their friends walked into their house, he would ask if they have ever seen a real American before and it was awkward for myself and the person he was asking but hilarious at the same time. We went to some bars it was awesome, I had an absolute blast. The last place we went too the band was horrible but we knew all the songs so it was still a good time even if they were murdering whatever band they were covering.
FINALLY, EDINBURGH...
Well I got there on the 30th and it was raining and windy the entire time I was there. But that's what you get for going to the UK...
I was not emotionally prepared to see what I saw that weekend. Mostly the fact that I saw so many guys in kilts it started to scar me. I got off the train and walked out of the station to watch the Torch Light Procession. It. Was. So. Cool.
Around 35,000 people, 26 Up Helly Aa' Vikings and 6 pipe bands with over 100 pipers marched the streets of Edinburgh and up to the bonfire and spectacular Son et Lumière display on Calton Hill.
http://youtu.be/7MBdd7_p-zE
I met some Aussies from my hostel. They are crazy party animals. I was shocked by the amount of alcohol was consumed by each person and the fact that they were functioning normal. Anyway, on New Year's Eve we went to the Hogmanay Street Party. I honestly had no idea what the street party was going to be like, but I was not disappointed.
There were 80,000 people in attendance of the street party. It was crazyyy. They blocked off Prince's Street which is the main street in the city, then there were a bunch of concerts set up in a park near the street. There was also a ferris wheel and carnival rides. It was AWESOME.
With the Aussies, we met some extremely stereotypical Americans and they made me embarrassed to be American. The one guy said he was a boxer and wouldn't be afraid to take on a kangaroo. Granted, they were pretty drunk, but when the first question was when they found out they were Australian, "do you guys say 'oh the shrimp on the barbie mate.'" I was a little embarrassed, mostly because I asked that too and they don't use the word shrimp they just say 'prawns...' so that was awkward. Then the one told us he could pole dance and I don't know if the video I have works so just bare with me.... if you can't see it, it's awesome if you can, I hope you aren't scarred for life.
He was playing "My heart will go on"
Then I went back to see my aunt and uncle and came back to france :(
