Liverpool, England, UK

It wasn’t a hard days night and we did not need help. It was actually a splendid day to learn about the Beatles.

Our tour guide was full of lots of information about the Fab 4. We learned about when they were born. We actually saw the houses that John and Paul lived in as children. We learned that they wrote 280 songs altogether, 30 in the living room of John’s house with Paul.

We passed by the Cavern which was the club that they were banned from playing in, in 1957 because they were playing rock and roll. We also learned that they had eventually played there 292 times before they gained fame in 1961. Not only the Beatles played at this club but so did Elton John, Fleetwood Mac and many others.

The original band started by John when he was in high school in 1957. They called themselves the Quarry Men. He met Paul at a church social where his band was playing. When he learned that Paul could play the guitar he was invited to join the band. Paul was busy going to camp so he told them he would let them know in 2 weeks. After 2 weeks he joined the band. At this time John was 17 and Paul was 15.

Their friend Stewart Sutcliff came up with the name of Beetles, but John changed the spelling to Beatles. In August, 1960, they went to Hamburg, where they played almost day and night. At the time they were ragtag looking, but Stewart’s girlfriend changed their look to the mushroom haircuts and black leather clothing.

We stopped at Penny Lane for photos. Then our guide played the song. We learned the history of how and why some of the songs were written and got to hear the music. Penny Lane is about Paul’s childhood and Strawberry Fields is about John’s.

We went to Strawberry Fields. It was originally a home for orphans or children whose parents could not care for them. It was near to where John lived and he often went there to play with the children. It is now a museum in honor of John, supported by Paul. It had a nice interactive display telling about John’s life and the Beatles too.

Our final stop was The Beatle’s Story which was a museum. It had reconstructed different scenes from their history. There was a mock-up of the Cavern, there was a Yellow Submarine room, there was a Sargent Pepper room with the costumes they wore on the album cover and many other interesting things. At the end was an area dedicated to each of the men, with information on awards and what else they had accomplished in their lives.

It was a very interesting day and getting to hear their music with the context of how or when or why it was written added to our time.

The day was quite nice so we walked back to the ship after our tour was done.