Liverpool (Sabbatical 2, Week 1)
It's probably more accurate to say that Halifax is mirror Liverpool, since the latter is older and larger. Generally, the "feel" of the two cities is similar - a little rough, a little run-down, perhaps the denizens drink too much (this is a bank holiday, and clearly the Scoucers get started early - several groups Craig passed on the walk home from the University were..... boisterous).
There are also lots of specific similarities. Both cities are tied through seagoing trade. Liverpool's Emigration Museum pairs with Halifax's Immigration Museum at Pier 21. Both cities have ties to the Titanic, they were opposite ends of the convoy routes in WWII, the waterfronts have working sets of docks, etc. Liverpool even has a "Canada Dock"! So Liverpool's maritime museums will be the theme for this post.
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"Lion": a steam engine built in 1838
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First up: the actual
Maritime Museum, home of exhibits on the Titanic, Lusitania, emigration, and the International Slavery Museum. There are several interesting exhibits, but editorially, the Slavery Museum is not nearly as harrowing as it perhaps should be, nor was the Titanic exhibit as haunting as the one in
Cherbourg. On the other hand, others might applaud the choices of the curators in emphasizing the beauty and diversity of African culture (and the beauty of the Titanic, if not the diversity). Down the road is a "Titanic Memorial" (actually a memorial to the 244 engine room staff who went down with the ship as "heroes of the marine engine room"), a Battle of the Atlantic memorial, statues of various VC winners, etc. And, of course, a bunch of statues of the Beatles and other musical acts, but we'll get to that in a later post.
Next: the Museum of Liverpool, a nice airy new space with a surprising number of artifacts. In keeping with the military city theme, there's sets of uniforms and equipment of Liverpool-raised regiments through the years. In addition there are, of course. lots of other "people's history" kinds of things on the Beatles, music, and movies filmed in Liverpool.
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The Big Board!
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Finally: the
Western Approaches HQ museum, a restoration of the titular WWII headquarters that tracked convoys, escorts, and U-boats as they crossed the Atlantic. This was Craig's favorite (and also the most expensive, being the only one with an admission fee). You could get a feel for the claustrophobic intensity of the life-and-death proxy chess match being played out between 2000 and 2 miles away. The various rooms held a few "easter eggs" like a newspaper account of Dieppe published the day after the raid ("...our combined forces smashed through the Nazi defense") and an "Official Football Program" for the 23 November 1940 match between Liverpool and Manchester United sitting on an officer's desk.
P.S. I appears Craig is still not good at selfies.
