Liverpool: Day 1

Neither R nor I had ever spent more than a couple of hours in Liverpool before travelling here today, but we've both fallen for the city in quite a big way. We're staying at The Nadler, which is one of those modern room-only hotels with no restaurant; but it's very comfortable and very well-placed for all the sights of the city. Once we'd checked in we went for a walk to orient ourselves, and very quickly arrived at Albert Dock, which is interesting and picturesque, even on a cloudy, grey afternoon.

After coffee and a little smackerel of something, we yomped up past Chinatown to St James's Mount, to take a look at the Anglican Cathedral, which is the largest church in Britain. From the outside it looks pretty dour, but the inside is positively awe-inspiring. This shot shows the west window, which apparently covers more than 1600 square feet and contains six tons of glass, with each lancet being 52 feet high. The top section is called the Benedicite Window, and represents the risen Christ (to whom the church is dedicated) looking down in compassion on the world.

The view of the window here is broken by a bridge which spans the nave. You can go up onto it if there's a member of staff available to go with you, but there didn't seem to be anyone about this afternoon so I had to forego the experience; I would think that the view of this window from there would be fabulous, and another day I'll try to find out if I'm right about that. I've put some more shots of the Cathedral here, if you're interested, and you can read more about it here and here.