Bath Abbey

A friend that Gavin works with invited us to a rugby game in Bath, so I thought I would spend the afternoon there and meet Gavin and his friend after work. Turns out there wasn't a game, but I had a nice afternoon anyway.

Gavin's work did a reward for the people in his department. They were going to do a James Bond type of car driving, but that got canceled. They were going to do mini golfing instead, but that got rained out, so they did a afternoon tea and toured the Bath Abbey. Just as good as James Bond driving! Gavin really enjoyed the tour and told me I should check it out sometime, so that's what I did with my afternoon.

I love the high ceilings with the fans on top.

They have stained classes depicting different events from Christ's life.

The fans on the ceiling.

This is the roof of the ceiling.

You can see where the columns are. There is a hole there where they can see into the hall, but I didn't get close enough to see.

This is where the bell ringers pull the ropes to play the bells.

This is also where they can play the bells. Here, just one person can play a song compared to the ten needed to pull the ropes.

This is in the bell chamber. We were up there when the bells went off for the half past the hour. It was really loud.

This is the biggest bell they had. It weighs about 2 tons.

We were able to go on the roof of the Abbey. It was an incredible view. It was such a beautiful day as well.

That's the tour guide and the little winding stair case we walked up. It was over 200 steps to get there.

Walking along the roof.

That's the top of the Abbey, where we went.

Some of the stairs. We went down a different staircase going down, but the ones going up were smaller and steeper.

Looking up the Abbey over the Grand Doors.

Liverpool

While we were touring Wales, we stayed in Liverpool. Our hotel had a beautiful pool. The night we went to the pool, we had it all to ourselves.

Our last day there, we wandered around Liverpool, checking out the different Beatles sites. This statue is where the original Cavern Club stage was.

Now there is a cafe called Lucy in the Sky.

After playing at the Cavern Club, the Beatles would go hang out at the Grapes.

Matthew Street, where the Cavern Club is. There are a lot of bar along it.

The Cavern Club. This is where they played when they first started out.

Liverpool's skyline.

It was raining pretty hard during the morning, but I couldn't hold my umbrella and take pictures at the same time, so Gavin held the umbrella for me.

Part of the Harbor. People had their boats all along the square by all if the shops and restaurants.

We had lunch at a place called Circo. The food was really good, but it was a weird place.

Circo.

One of the main attractions in Liverpool is the Beatles Story Exhibition. It's really expensive, but a lot of fun.

Elvis's shoes.

The drums set from when the Beatles were the Quarry Men. I think this was John's group before he found the rest of the Beatles.

George Harrison's first guitar.

High school pictures.

The Beatles at the Cavern Coffee Club.

An exact replica of the stage they preformed on at the Cavern Club. It was really small and intimate. During the audio tour, it said that the fans who heard them play here were the only ones who really got to hear them play live. Once they started playing in other venues, the girls were screaming so loud, you couldn't hear them play.

Abbey Road Studios, where they recorded most of their records.

I was a little creeped out by the mannequins, but this is what they looked like recording their first album.

John Lennon's mohair suit.

I think I see my mom in there somewhere. :)

They had an airplane set up so you could sit and pretend you were on the flight with them landing in New York for the Ed Sullivan show.

Eleanor Rigby's grave. This was the actual prop from the movie.

Sgt. Peppers

"Are you blueish? You don't look blueish."

Ringo's Sgt. Pepper's outfit.

John Lennon's glasses. They were bought by some guy at auction for $1 million, then donated to the museum.

Original copies of John Lennon's two books.

John Lennon's white piano.

The coast line.

Since there is no Thanksgiving, everywhere is already decorating for Christmas

One of the radio stations.

One our way out of town, we drove past some famous landmarks.

Abbey Road.

This was right below the Abbey Road sign. I have no idea what happened, but am rather curious.

Everything in Liverpool has something to do with the Beatles. The cabs are Fab Four cabs, there is a Hard Days Night hotel, Sgt. Pepper's Cafe, etc.

Penny Lane. They have to really screw in the sign because people keep stealing it.

Penny Lane. John Lennon wrote the song about his childhood here.

Paul McCartney's childhood home.

Gavin was told by some work friends that Chester is a great little place to visit. It was out of our way a bit, but we decided to visit anyway. We got there and Gavin decided that he didn't want to walk around and it was getting late, so we left. It looked like it was pretty cute, though.