English/French lifestyle

This is the end of our trip in Liverpool. This three months were very interesting as regards the discovery of  a new culture and the general background in Liverpool. Before closing this blog, we would like to introduce the main differences between the english and french lifestyle.

As you know the United Kingdom is one of the countries where people are used to driving on the left hand side. Even if we didn't drive any car during this three months, we found it hard to get used to this new traffic, mainly when we had to cross. Hopefully, most of pedestrians are secure with the signal of the traffic lights and the warning on the floor " LOOK LEFT " and " LOOK RIGHT".

Thanks to the double coach and a huge amount of taxi, you can easily move in the city. We noted that the english buses operate differently: you get on and get off the bus by the same door close to the driver. This way seems to operate well and makes it possible to avoid controls. In fact the driver start as soon as everybody has shown their ticket.Then we pointed out the politeness of passengers who are grateful to the bus driver.












As regards the taxi there are two different categories:
-black cab that you can take everywhere in the city.
-Delta taxi which is the cheapest company. You have to call  and wait for them.

We have to admit that it's impressive to live in a foreign city, but quickly we noted the presence of various monitoring systems (bus, club, store, street...).Throughout the day you can see several policemen move all around the city.Everypeople who get into the bars are systematically controlled with their ID. Unlike to the France, servers don't take any order at your table, you have to order at the bar.
We regret not having seen typical english pub in Liverpool in comparison with London.

With the daily life, we have learned more about the english way of life:

- letter box in the door

- EDF with a key
- location contract (no important paper like employment contract or a guarantor if you are a stranger student...)
- electrical outlet with a button  ON/OFF
- carpet in all the home (except in the kitchen and the bathroom)










Finally, we enjoyed living abroad for three months and we are looking forward to doing this again.

A weekend in London

Live in the United Kingdom was a good opportunity to visit London and at the same time meet my aunt, my uncle and my cousins (kévin's familly) who have lived in Orpington for years. In only two days we have succeeded in visiting and walking around the whole of London. Definitely, we claim that London has nothing to do with Liverpool. Indeed, London which is the capital city of United Kingdom is a big tourist city. Certainly, we have heard much more french speaking in two days in London than within two months in Liverpool. Then you can appreciate the London accent which is much easier to understand.

The Shard

Tower Bridge

St James's Park

Big Ben

Camden Town

Notting Hill

Piccadilly

The Climbing Hangar

The Climbing Hangar is probably the place where I have spent most of my time during this last month. As a child, I used to climb in a similar hangar in Toulon, my native city. I was very impressed when I discovered such a place in liverpool which is the biggest bouldering centre in west Britain. I hadn't climbed for quite a long time and I have to admit that I start to be addicted. All the staff is so cool and helpful which enable me to meet and speak with many climbers. The Climbing Hangar is made up of two large rooms with brilliant climbing for all ages and abilities. Let's go climbing!

The Beatles story

You cannot come in Liverpool without visiting The Beatles Story. It is not like a museum without noise and just some annoying texts, we are immersed in the Beatles world. Whole site are reconstituted, "The Cavern", "Mathew street"..., and the music sound everywhere. For about one hour, we went back in time of the Beatles.
This video will better explain to you.

It was an extraordinary visit .

US and traditions

When we talk about English, we think: Pub, Fish and Chips, Cheese Cake, Tea... But as you know, in the United Kingdom there are England, Wales, Scotland and the Northern Ireland. Each country have is own traditions and US even if few of them are the same.

- National day of United Kingdom

• St George's day is the national day in England. It is on April the 23rd. The colours of St George are a white flag with a red cross.
• St Andrew's day is the national day in Scotland. It is on November the 30th
• St David's day is the national day in Wales. It is on March the 1st
• And we think that everybody knows St Patrick's day which is the national day in Ireland. It is on March the 17th. And it is celebrate in England, in France...

United Kingdom and France have several common traditions like Christmas Day, Easter day, New Year's day... But some are more important in United kingdom for instance Halloween, on October the 31st. Contrary to France, many people celebrate Halloween. They buy lot of candies and children go around neighborhoods shouting "Trick or treating".




France and United Kingdom have not exactly the same bank holidays. 
- Boxing day: it is on December the 26th. On this date, the traders receive a "Christmas Box" for their work and Banks and stores are closed. Boxing day is also a day devote to visit family and sport.
- August bank holiday: the latest Monday in August

Poppy remembrance day: English wear a poppy in tribute to soldiers who died during the two world war..






In Liverpool there is a tradition since 1836: Grand National Steeplechase. It is a horse race in April.

Be a young English

In Liverpool there are many students. It's about 50 thousand. There are also lot of different universities and schools: Liverpool John Moores University, University of Liverpool, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine... As regards studies, students have lot of materials. Schools have good equipment as performance computers, several projectors in the same class... But it seems normal when we know that they have to pay a large sum to study in those universities. Students who have not studied in university yet, are easily identifiable because of their uniforms. Uniforms have different colours in each high school. Generally, classes end early, around 3pm or 3.30pm. In universities and schools, students have an access to sport clubs. Each students can find a sport which can suit him thanks to the variety of sport proposed like Badminton, Basketball, Football, dance but also, golf, boxing, hockey, Kung Fu... In England, student life seems to be very active and diversified. Not only with sport. For instance in LJMU (John Moores University) each month about 2 or 3 trips, in England, are organized.

Saturday Night area

As we said there are about 50 thousand students in Liverpool so imagine the parties. Saturday night in Liverpool is very impressive. All bars and clubs are full, it is incredible. Contrary to France clubs opens early and closes early, the parties start about 8pm. It is also because English people eat very early. Some of them eat at 6.30pm. If you want to go out on Saturday you have to go to CONCERT STREET. Most clubs are there. And it is likely you to heard this song which is the number one in the top 50.

Even if students have lot of occupations with school and its activities, the city of Liverpool doesn't facilitate the leisure for a student. Prices are not interesting for them.

Cathedral of Liverpool

Today, as the weather was not too bad, we have decided to visit the Cathedral Chruch Of Christ and its tower which offers a beautiful general view of the city of Liverpool.

It was built between 1904 and 1978 and it is the fifth largest Cathedral of the world, 9687m².
It is an Anglican Cathedral with a Gothic architecture.

The height of the tower is 101m. At about 67m, there are the 13 bells which are the highest and heaviest in the world, 31 tons.

Cain's brewery

Yesterday, we participated to a Brewery Tour which enabled us to discover the Cains Beer Company in Liverpool. It was very interesting to visit this factory and understand how one of the most popular and cheapest beer in Liverpool is made. During the tour, the guide has shown us the different places, process and the ingredient used to make the beer. They happen to use hot water taken from an aquifer and various  sort of malt to make a huge variety of beer. Finally, a pint was offered to all the participant of the Brewery Tour in first pub built by Robert Cain.

Cain's beer factory

Various malt use in the Cain's beer

The Brewery Tap, Stanhope Street, Liverpool

Visit of Jaguar and Land Rover Factory

 Today, we have visited a factory for the first time. It is situated in industrial area and so it was quite difficult to find it. We have had a meeting with a nice person who explained us the different steps of the visit. First of all, we have seen a small film on the security, meanwhile they made our pass card. Then they gave us safety glasses and yellow security jacket. When everyone was ready we started the visit. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photo inside the factory, so I will try to describe it. It is a  continuous production chain. So workers are always moving, they walk about 27 km per day. It is very huge but it is also a way to keep fit! They product one car every 97 sec. It seems  massive but we have learned that British people who order a Land Rover have to wait for about 1 year. They build cars essentially for exportation. The factory is opened for 17 hours per day and 24h/24 during the summer, because the demand is higher and very important. During the visit, we have seen cars for China, Italy... The factory has a very good and elaborate organisation. As a visitor they expected us to be very carefully and respectful of the pedestrian lines, because it is like a small city. There are lot of handling car which circulate. We noted that the work was automated. The factory is composed of around 3 thousands workers but if we delete all the machine, the factory will need of 50 thousands workers. We could see all the steps of the construction of a Land Rover and it was very interesting and impressive to see this heavy production. Despite the prize high enough 35 million pounds, the market does not reduce. On the contrary, the Land Rover firm has just known its better three months.

Merseyside Maritime Museum

Lusitania

There is many things to visit across the Albert Dock. We have already visited the Museum of Liverpool,  it's time to go to Merseyside Maritime Museum  to learn more about the maritime's history. Here you can find three floors dealing with different subjects. On the groundfloor, when you enter the museum, you can observe several model of ship that have existed through the last century. The major part of the first floor is dedicated to two famous stories. First, there is the story of Lusitania which sank after beeing torpedoed during the first World War. On the other side , there is the story of Titanic which sank  in the North Altantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg. Two beautiful models of both ship are exposed too. These two vessels are related to Liverpool which its port of registry. Finally, you can find some weapons and ways used during the World War battleship. The next  floor makes it possible to learn more about propulsion systems for ships.We have finished the visit with an exhibition of many models of ships belonging to the White Star Line, the main British shipping company.

Titanic

Torpedo of the first World War

Paddle wheeled propulsion system

Propulsion system

Propulsion system

White Star Line

Museum of Liverpool

Museum of Liverpool

Liverpool overhead railway

For Docks and liners

The greatest albums of th Beatles

The Beatles

Boxing

Horse racing

A load of old balls

Yesterday we visited the new Museum of Liverpool which is established in a stunning building close to sea. This museum offers a free access for every people who want to have a reflect of the city's global significance throughout its geography, history and culture. As you can see on the pictures, there are several galleries about different topics. You can see the Liverpool overhead railway. There is a description of all  docks. Here you can learn more about the Beatles story and  favorite sports in Liverpool. At the end of the visit, we have watched a Beatles show which describe  the Beatles story through some pictures , movies and their greatest songs.