Liverpool

Have you ever heard of the Beatles?  They are one of the most famous music groups ever so I'm guessing you have.  The Beatles (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr) were originally from Liverpool which is a city about 3 hours by train to the northwest of Nottingham.  Before I went to the Beatles museum in Liverpool I didn't know really anything about the Beatles.  After I went though I found out that a lot of songs I like were actually written and performed by the Beatles!  One thing that really surprised me about the Beatles was that they split up in the end because their manager died and they were having lots of disagreements!  I had no idea that they weren't friends anymore, especially since they'd made over 200 songs together!  The Beatles started in 1960 and split up in 1970.  There are only two of the Beatles left now because in 1980 Lennon was shot by a deranged former fan and in 2001 Harrison died of lung cancer.  McCartney and Starr remain musically active however. 

In the middle of the Beatles museum there was all of a sudden this loud beeping noise!  At first my mom said that she thought either dad or I had touched something we weren't supposed to but it turned out it was just a fire drill. =)

 This is the front of the Beatles Museum.

This is a replica of the Cavern Club where the Beatles first performed.

The other museum we went to in Liverpool was the Merseyside Maritime Museum.  This museum had stories of three famous ships that were linked to Liverpool.  They were the Titanic, the Lusitania, and the Empress of Ireland.  Each of them sunk in a famous and tragic disaster.

Many people don't know that the Titanic was owned by the White Star Line which was headquartered in Liverpool.  If you look at the back of the Titanic, you can see the name Liverpool written right under the name of the ship.  Many of the crew were also from Liverpool.

The Lusitania and Empress of Ireland were both liners like the Titanic.  The Lusitania sailed during World War I.  On the way from New York to Liverpool the Lusitania entered the war zone.  The Germans sunk the Lusitania and 1153 people died.

The Empress of Ireland was a very impressive liner designed to be competitive in the lucrative transatlantic trade.  The Empress was a very safe ship.  The crew was very well trained and it could float even if two compartments were flooded.  This did not matter however, when it collided a Norwegian collier (coal ship) and 1012 people died.