July 15 - July 19

We left from O'Hare on our Air India 747. We got to Heathrow where Jessie was hassled at customs. The officer told us that if we failed to satisfy them that Jessie was only here for holiday, she would be sent back to the USA immediately. After a tense 1/2 hour of convincing, explaining, waiting and more explaining, Jessie and I were allowed into the country with a few restrictions. There was no problem with my passport or working visa but it was still a tad stressful. In the end the officer turned out to be pretty cool and let us in with a smile.

We then took the Tube to Victoria Station, London where we lugged our baggage to the coach station and then purchased a cell phone. Buying the phone and service plan couldnt have been easier and only took us ~6-7 minutes. I was excited to see all the nice right hand drive cars and we spotted some pretty expensive machinery including several Bentleys (one of them a Red Label Arnage) and typical high end sport cars. We constantly struggled to remember to look to the RIGHT first before crossing a street followed by looking LEFT after we were 1/2 way across so as not to get run over. We are still working on understanding the traffic lights order.

Our very sleepy coach ride left us in downtown Liverpool where we took a London-style taxi (LTII or similar) to our hostel. The Interational Inn Cocoon was surprisingly new, super clean and modern and a welcome place for our first night in the UK.

The next day (dreary but mostly rain-free) we were waiting for a letting agency owner to show us some flats to rent so we walked down to the Liverpool waterfront. It so happens that this weekend Liverpool plays host to the international Tall Ships tour so there were plenty of sailing yachts and onlooking tourists already present. The very old warehouses and docks made for a suitable backdrop to ships of varying sizes and uses on a windy, dark English summer day. I was VERY happy to know that this is not at all a hot climate. Based on temperature alone, I would be very happy to live here as the average summer peak temperature is only around 67 Farenheit.

We stumbled across some Beatles, ship, slavery and art musuems and eventually ended up near a shopping high street and the home of the Cunard line. We realized later that Liverpool was home to both the Lusitania and the Titanic so we expect to learn a lot more about this era as we spend more time in the city and the museums. We also came across a church that had been hollowed out by the German bombing Blitz in WWII.



Our potential land lord picked us up at the train station in order to show us some available flats. I was very excited to see that we would be riding in the back of a black 2004 Mercedes-Benz S500 (the big one). Once of the rooms we visited was on a street of dilapiated or recently restored mansions where our land lord would eventually be living. The area reminded me a lot of my neighbourhood in Rockford, IL called Haight Village. During the tour, our land lord showed us where Liverpool Football Club plays and some useful locations around town were. We eventually settled on a private flat close to the city centre and within walking distance of everything. We are now living on Everton St in Liverpool (picture on left). As another reminded of the passenger line history of Liverpool, it turns out the builder of the Titanic was the original owner of the house we live in. The house is historically protected as a result of this meaning the original oven and stove in the basement of the place cannot be modified or removed.

Apparently the #1 crime in Liverpool is...I hope you are sitting down...Anti-social Behaviour. This includes shocking acts as swearing, littering, vandalism, yelling, loitering and waiting for women to disembark from buses so as to observe them better. We were appalled but we noticed that LPD is on patrol.

After a late night yesteday, we did not even wake up until 1:30pm today. We felt worthless but it didnt bother us too much. After a few errands we settled down for a night of planning our next excursions (Isle of Man, Scottish Highlands).