Liverpool Trip & Tim Minchin

2019-11-01UK, Us Standard

[Photos from 01 November 2019, posted online 13 May 2020. The weather has switched to full-on spring (chilly though) and Covid cases are declining rapidly, but one or two are still popping every now and then.]

Many moons and what feels like several life-times ago, I bought tickets to see Tim Minchin perform live in Liverpool. (Yes, it was an excellent fall show-wise for the nerd in me!) The grand plan was to go see his show on a Friday, then attend an Everton home football game on the Saturday (my first!), and fly back home to the kiddos on Sunday morning.

As luck would have it, the game got moved to Sunday, so the plan got changed. I would still go home Sunday morning (and miss the game), but Finnur would attend the game with a few other Icelanders, and then travel to London to work at the London office for three days, with a cozy room and board at my dad’s and Shirley’s house.

Friday 01 November 2019

Two child-less travelers at Keflavik airport, about to fly to Manchester, England.
Back when Keflavik airport was busy. (Right now, due to Covid-19, there are only cargo planes, and Icelandair flies occasional passenger flights to Stockholm, London, and Boston, but that’s about it.)
Take off.
Some remnant structure from the US air force base?
Just a friendly reminder not to go walking just anywhere, or you could fall into a crevasse.
Hello Manchester!
By 2 pm we’d disembarked.
We’d planned to take the train to Liverpool, but the schedules didn’t favor us, so we took a taxi instead. In retrospect, the bus/coach service would have been a cheaper and less nauseating experience than this hour-long trip in an air-deprived taxi, where the driver talked on the phone the whole way in some random language, accidentally turning on the intercom several times en route.
At the hotel around 4 pm. Finnur looking out the huge window.
It was view!
Looking the other way, at the Liverpool One shopping plaza.
We couldn’t find an interesting cafe, so we stopped at a restaurant for a small appertizer, before my blood sugar levels crashed through the floor.
By our hotel again.
Tickets, check! I signed up for a “fan-pre-sale”, but even though I logged on as it began, all the regular-priced tickets were sold out, so expensive seats it was! (Apparently, the difference in seat prices went straight to charity, as the guy is a decent one.)
Actual dinner, at a Thai place in the One center. Finnur was slightly sad that his not-so-spicy soup was actually very spicy. We were short on time, so there was no fixing it.
Selfie as we waited for the light to turn as we walked to the theater in the rain. (Yes, we bought the umbrella en route.)
We made it!
Swag being sold in the lobby, I abstained.
The view from the control booth.
The stage view from our pretty sweet seats.
What a pretty theater!
Proof we were actually there.
The lobby during intermission.
Lyrics from this damn great song.
The stage as the second half was about to begin. By this point in the show a whole backing band had emerged!
A well deserved standing applause at the end!
Walking back towards the hotel.
Not feeling particularly tired, we walked around the harbor area for a bit. There was an art show going on, this may or may not have been a part of it.
Photographing a photographer.
Next up, the locks of love.
Awwww…!
Warning sign #1.
Warning sign #2. Apparently love locks are a serious thing.
The Ferris wheel had closed for the night, but it was still an impressive sight.