Liverpool Trip: To the place where it all began

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته and good day!

After my parents, grandparents and grand aunt arrived from Malaysia, we planned a trip to Liverpool on the next day. 

Why Liverpool? Well, because my parents used to study there. It is the place where they met.

But on our way to Liverpool, we stop by Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet to give a chance for them to buy some cheap designer products.

Cheshire Oaks is the first designer outlet village in Europe!

 

The outlet is huge!! The stores are located in a circular form, with the parking space in the middle. But to circle around to see every store will take you hours.

You can find the map leaflet at the lift or anywhere around the outlet.

This place has a lot of brands to choose from.

To let the others to shop freely, I offered to look after Zafirah. I took her to the playground so she can run and play all out.

But all that she's interested in playing with are these electronic cars that you have to pay.

See how she's so attached and can't let go.

Dear little munchkin, if only money comes easily, you can play as much as you want.

Luckily for these types of cars, there's two seats. so whenever there's a parent paying for their one child to play, Zafirah being so clever ran towards it and sat in the empty car. anak sape nih??

After waiting for a few hours, Zafirah's uwo (grandma) came and we followed her.

It is so hard to make her do this pose. haha..

On the way, we bumped across this beautiful husky. I just love this breed. Zafirah got all excited seeing a huge dog.

After fulfilling everyone's shopping desire, we get a move on to Liverpool. To go to Liverpool, you have to cross the River Mersey which is very big. To go through the tunnel, there's a toll that you need to pay. This is my first time going through a toll here in UK. All their motorways don't have tolls, unlike Malaysia.

Our first stop is of course my parents' university. My dad's uni is University of Liverpool and my mum's is Liverpool John Moores University. 

My parents said not a lot have changed. Well, of course. UK has already been developed in the 1800, so there's not a lot more that they need to improve on. 

Some buildings are modernised, but most are still the same.

We stopped near my dad's former engineering building.

We saw this cathedral and my mum told me that this is a monument here in Liverpool. It's called Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral. It is a Roman Catholic Cathedral.

The front view of the cathedral.

This is actually the new one. The old one is this..Anglican Cathedral.

This is the student union building which is new and was not around during my parents' time here.

This is the engineering building where my dad used to study.

The place where it all began.

Then the family grew. There's four generations now. Alhamdulillah...all praises be to Allah that made it possible.

After almost 30 years

This is where my dad told us his stories of when he was here. The train tracks run beneath this building towards the main station in Liverpool.

This is the Liverpool Central Station. 

Opposite of this St. Johns Shopping Centre. Clearly this is new.

We also went to where my mum used to live, which is this building here. She lived right in the city because her campus is just behind this block, around the third corner (this is my mum's direction). My dad lived a bit outside the city at Birkenhead, at the other side of River Mersey. 

Did you know that my dad used to play in a band. I know right? Shocking! They should call themselves The Birkenheads. It would've been a hit! =D

This is where they used to shop. It's still here!

According to my mum and dad, this is where they had their first date, The Empire Theatre. But they only saw Gandhi..so geeky. huhu...

My dad said, previously there's no Starbucks. Of course not dad!

This is St. George's Hall. It's a library actually. My mum said this is where she used to hang around (according to her, spent time looking for materials..iyeke?? hehe..). She said they used to held the graduation ceremony at one of the cathedral. Not sure whether it's still the same today.

I just love this view. According to my mum, all the places that we visited is called Merseyside because it's on the other side of the river.

Afterwards, we searched for a mosque to perform our prayer. We initially searched for the first mosque ever built in Great Britain which is the Abdullah Quilliam mosque, at 8 Brougham Terrace, West Derby Road. but it was closed. Luckily we found another place to pray at. Sadly the prayer hall for female here is not so friendly to disabled people. It is located on the 2nd floor. However, there's a space at the ground floor and an ablution area that the elderlies can perform their prayer there.

That's about it for our journey to Liverpool. A lot more to come.

Until next time...