I just realized I never really wrote too much about Liverpool and Chester, so I'll do that now. I have to do it for class anyway, so here we go.

When we went to Liverpool the first time, we took a walking tour of part of the city and saw the cathedral. It was huge and absolutely beautiful, and not nearly as old as I thought it would be. One of the workers there told us that back when they had their choir, John Lennon auditioned to be in it, but he wasn't deemed good enough. Another interesting thing we saw was a graffiti art of a huge rat done on the side of a building. It was done by an artist known only as Banksy, and no one knows who he really is. Apparently he does them all over the place and sometimes they sell for tons of money. I really liked the fact that no one is sure of the true identity of the artist, it's kind of like a modern day mystery.

Liverpool also has some of the best shopping I've ever seen. There are tons of stores, and you can get practically anything you could ever want. We've already been back a few times, and it's fun every single time. There are all kinds of different restaurants to eat at, from Italian to Mexican to milkshakes. There are also a lot of street performers, which I have noticed about many places in England. We saw everything from jugglers to fire jugglers to Native American pipe players and dancers. I wish there was more of that in America, but I feel like people might be too busy there rushing around to really stop and appreciate things like that.

Chester was a little quieter, but just as much fun. We went to the cathedral there, but never actually went inside since we didn't want to pay. The outside was very nice though, with some lovely gardens. We took pictures with two men dressed up as Roman warriors, since Chester was founded as a Roman fort. It was a nice little nod to the history of the town, and good to see them proud of their roots. The shopping in Chester was fun too, though not as crowded as Liverpool.

We've only been to Chester once, but plan on going back soon, especially since a brand new Primark just opened up there, and most of us have developed a love for that store. It's a bit furthur to go than Liverpool, but worth it if you want the same kind of environment on a smaller scale.