One Magnificent City!

This bank holiday weekend coincided with Cunard’s 175 year celebrations here in Liverpool. The city witnessed a three day spectacle as Cunard’s three Queen passenger ships visited the River Mersey.

On Sunday the Queen Mary 2 docked at port and in the evening there was a laser display projected onto the three Graces followed by fireworks.

Monday was the main event! The Queen Mary 2 was to leave Liverpool to meet and greet her sister ships, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria. So, David and I decided to go to Crosby Marina in anticipation of seeing the ships. I am afraid I got carried away with all the excitement around this event.

Crosby Beach

So on a cloudy, cold Monday morning (25th May 2015), we headed to Crosby. We arrived just after 9am. We managed to find a street to park the car and walked towards the beach. Other sightseers were walking the coastal path, laden with chairs and binoculars, both of which David and I could have brought with us if we had thought on. However, we had to be content with standing as we overlooked the beach dotted with Sir Antony Gormley’s Another Place statues and brave the relentless onslaught of the chilling wind. It felt more like winter than late spring!

We stood in total for three hours during the spectacle. I could not feel my fingers they were that cold! Other spectators also shivered as we all waited for the Queen Mary 2 to leave her berth and make her way to the mouth of the Mersey to greet her two sisters. The crowed swelled. Many even went out towards the edge of the tide (that was going out) to get a better viewpoint. Where David and I stood was good enough, over looking the coast but high enough so no one could be in the way!

In the Irish Sea out in the distance we could see the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria as they made their joyous approach to the city. Seeing them draw ever closer gave us something to distract from the cold. The sun briefly made an appearance before being blanketed by a thick bank of cloud that did not shift. I was afraid that none of my pictures of the event would come out due to shivering too much!

Then from around the headland the top of the Queen Mary 2 could be seen, she looked so close! She had left Liverpool at 10.45am. The crowd seemed to buzz with excitement. Cameras started clicking and I juggled with three!

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The Queen Mary 2 lead by the mighty Mersey Ferry stopped opposite where David and I stood. She sounded her horns to her sisters. The horns sounded so forlornly to me. The crowed cheered in response! As Queens Elizabeth and Victoria came closer along the coast, Queen Mary 2 pivoted and faced her bow back towards Liverpool. Queen Elizabeth was the first to pass Queen Mary 2 heading along the river, followed by Queen Victoria. Queen Mary 2 brought up the rear as they both followed Queen Elizabeth in a cavalcade towards more awaiting crowds in the city! With the Queens’ departure the spectacle at Crosby was at an end!

While David and I returned home, the Queens paraded up the Mersey and turned 360° before lining up side by side in front of the Cunard building, one of the three Graces. The ships seemed to dwarf the city’s skyline! There was even the obligatory fly over by the Red Arrows en-route to Blackpool! Their flight path took them over our house. A thundering sound announced their approach but it was over too quickly for me to get my camera out. I saw nine red jets flying in arrow formation from my living room window!

I watched the remaining festivities at the Pier Head via webcams. After the three Queens had lined up before the Cunard building the city said its farewell to Queen Mary 2. Queen Victoria docked and Queen Elizabeth anchored in the middle of the river, but she too would leave the city after the second showing of the laser show and fireworks. Queen Victoria would leave the city on Tuesday.

I thoroughly enjoyed witnessing the three Queens from Crosby beach, even though I was frozen to the bone. Spectacles like these truly show what a magnificent city Liverpool is. It’s street cred is definitely on the increase and quite rightly too! 😀

© 2015 Christine Lucas

Liverpool International Music Festival 2014!

On Friday 22nd August, David and I with deck chairs in hand went to see the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra play at Sefton Park as part of this years Liverpool International Music Festival.

We had been part of the crowd during last years concert in the park and this year I wanted to see them again, though I was not as excited. I think the novelty of last years concert had worn off as this year I knew what to expect.

I was surprised to see Classic FM’s Jamie Crick as host again. He was dressed in a bright red suit, you couldn’t miss him!

Jamie Crick

Though Autumn had arrived unseasonally early, David and I braved the cold wind and sat amongst the swelling crowd as the RLPO took to the stage yet again. They played movie soundtracks such as John William’s Jaws and the theme from Indiana Jones to festival favourites penned by Offenbach, Strauss and Delibes!

Sadly they only played for half an hour (I would have preferred longer!), as the second half of the concert was given over to the Lightning Seeds (a Liverpool band) who would sing ten or so of their songs accompanied by the beautiful rich sound of the RLPO.

If you were a Lightning Seeds fan then you would have enjoyed the set. I however grew rather bored. I only knew two of their songs and the rest sounded ‘samey’! I wanted to see the fireworks finale and when they came they were not to the standard of last years 1812 Overture. They were fired off to Lou Reed’s It’s a Perfect Day. Nice song but crap finale! The only highlight was that the accompanying flames were warming from the frosty chill of the night!

The event was free so there was very little to complain about really. It looked like people were enjoying themselves! Some were clinging to one another dancing and others popping champaign bottles. If the RLPO play at next years festival, David and I will undoubtedly be part of the crowd yet again!

Happiness is for Everyone.

Friday was the beginning of the August long weekend and AT LAST I have something more interesting to write about than garden birds! David with car packed full with deck chairs took my Mum, brother Daniel, his friend Paul and myself to Sefton Park to see the opening of the Liverpool International Music Festival.

First on the bill was the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko. It was a must see and being free was not to be sniffed at! So sitting under a cloud laden sky we all eagerly awaited the beginning of the concert. The organisers said there were up to 10,000 people at the opening night and we were five of that 10,000!

The concert was presented by Jamie Crick of Classic FM fame and whom I thought was a little bit ditsy as he tripped over his words and also got the programme wrong on one occasion. The orchestra opened with the theme from James Bond and went on to Pirates of the Caribbean and the Ride of the Valkyries before culminating with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and at the crescendo a flurry of fireworks accompanied the rousing finale. The concert was enjoyed by all and we left the park feeling uplifted and happy.

On Saturday we left early for Manchester’s Trafford Centre where we spent 1.5 hours walking around the shopping mall. We were not shopping but talking pictures of the Elephant Parade, where there were 30 colourful painted elephants gracing the upper and lower levels of the mall. I loved all the varying artistic designs and also managed to purchase my own memento of the occasion though it knocked me back £45!

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