Dr. Eric Conway writes:
After an exceptional concert on Tuesday night in Perth, Scotland, the choir had two days of travel. On our way to our next concert in Chester, England on Friday, we had two leisurely travel days through Scotland and England to see some of the local sites.
We had a three hour - 145 mile drive to a local holiday destination, known as England's "Lake District”. Our first stop was to a famous or notorious place called Gretna Green just on the Scottish border before entering England. At some point, English law decreed that a person must be twenty-one years of age to get married, however the nearby country of Scotland said that they did not want to stand in the way of LOVE and allowed young persons in love to get married at a much younger age than in England. Entrepreneurs who saw a great way to exploit this difference in law, created a business of marrying young English persons just over the border. This place was similar to our Las Vegas as far as quick weddings were concerned, in fact, when we were over six weddings scheduled on the day that we were there! While we were there, part of the guide’s schtick was to re-enact a wedding in front of the visiting group. We had two couples within the choir, with surrogate parents, who agreed to be actors for this exercise. This was wildly entertaining for the group. We all ate lunch at this location.
From there we visited the Lake District, a community famous for its lakes, forests, and mountains, and its inspiration to many artists and poets. Prior to our arriving at our hotel, we stopped in Grasmere, a community known for the home of a very famous English poet, William Wordsworth. From there, we checked in at a very Victorian hotel for the evening in the Lake District, eating a group dinner before turning into bed. During the dinner, as has been the case on many of our tours, we managed to have someone who had a birthday during the tour, when we all sang Happy Birthday!
The next day, everyone was excited because our next stop was in Liverpool, famous for many reasons, but most notably because it was the home of the Beatles. While there we walked around the Liverpool waterfront area, that felt eerily like Baltimore's Harborplace area. We had a great group lunch, where everyone had what initially appeared to be an ordinary - a hamburger and chips, but the burger and fries were superior to most American burgers. While in the restaurant we sang a Beatles Tune, which was well received by all in the establishment.
From there we went to the Beatles Museum. Although most students were too young to truly appreciate the Beatles prior to this tour, the museum was so very engaging, and I believe all the younger students gleamed a greater appreciation of the Beatles and their impact on the world!
From there we were surprised to visit the International Slavery Museum. This gave a world-view of the inhumane slavery commodity that touched much of Western Europe, Africa, South America, and of course North America. Our tour guide wisely chose to take us to this museum, knowing that we all had a vested interest in the slave trade history as African-Americans.
Within the same building was an exhibition dedicated to the Titanic tragedy, as this ship departed from Liverpool! These museums, Beatles, Slavery, and Titanic were all conveniently and ironically in the same large building!
After the tours, we traveled another hour to Chester, England where we would stay for two nights and prepare for our Chester Cathedral concert on Friday afternoon.
See attached more photos than usual trying to share the experience of these two days of travel. Also see a few links to impromptu Beatles performances in Liverpool.
Bagpipes performance in Gretna Green:
Morgan performances in Liverpool in front of Beatles museum:
Penny Lane: https://youtu.be/Ngn8CMp3w6M
Let it Be: https://youtu.be/nfDNpClh96M
In Liverpool restaurant Bills:
Here Comes the Sun: https://youtu.be/jOn0aoqlMfo
BeatlesMania:
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