Easter holidays saw us take a short break to Liverpool.
The original idea was so that Mark could go on the stadium tour around Anfield. However, due to Liverpool playing in the Champions League on the Wednesday evening, the tour was quite restricted (no access to the dugouts, changing rooms and the This Is Anfield sign) so we gave that a miss. However, we did still end up at Anfield twice but I'll more about that in a bit.
The journey to Merseyside took around two and a half hours. We had a good run up (mainly because we used the M6 toll road) but we didn't need to make a stop. Chloe slept most of the way, which always makes travelling easier.
Our first stop, of course, was Anfield, home of Liverpool Football Club. Whilst there we took photos of the ground and went on the museum. Obviously this trip isn't aimed at babies but there is easy access as there was a lift to the museum and it's quite spacious so easy to push the buggy around. The museum itself isn't very big but is separated into the Steven Gerard collection and then the history of the football club. It was interesting, though, having been to many football grounds and museums it's quite basic in terms of interaction. We had our photo taken with a replica of the European cup and, because there was actually an issue with the images, we had quite a few taken until we were happy with them which was actually really useful because trying to get Chloe to look at a camera when you want her too is not always easy. One thing that I did find interesting at the ground was that there were photo opportunity spots for tourists.
After we left Anfield, we went to our hotel. This time we stayed in a Travelodge (using the voucher we were given after the fire alarm incident in Eastbourne meaning we paid £1 for two nights). When we got there, there was no travel cot in the room, despite me phoning ahead to book one. As previously mentioned, at least with Premier Inn you book it when you make the initial booking and don't have to request it after you've booked. We did have a room on the ground floor, however, so at least we didn't have to carry all our belongings up and down stairs as many of the travelodge hotels don't have lifts.
We then took a walk to Albert Docks and to have a look where we would be going the following day. From the hotel, which was at Brunswick Docks, this took around half an hour, and as the weather was quite pleasant it was not a bad walk. We stopped off at the Tate Liverpool for a quick drink, but didn't get a chance to have a look around. We then looked around by Pierhead and of course I had my photo taken with the Beatles statue. Overall this part of Liverpool was lovely and definitely an ideal place to go for a walk with a pushchair. I did learn something on this part of our mini break. Probably stating the blinking obvious here, but I never knew that black cabs could take pushchairs without folding them down. Thinking about it now, it's quite obvious because I'm guessing some, if big enough, can take wheelchairs in the same way, but hey... everyday is a school day!!
On the Wednesday, we took a train from Brunswick to Moorfields (it costs £5.15 return for three of us, obviously Chloe was free..... Adults are £2.15... I can't even get to town and back for that!!). Chloe, in true Baby Nemo fashion, slept on the train. Merseyrail is so easy to navigate. In fact the most difficult part was getting back to the correct platform in Moorfields station. There's full lift access to the platforms so no climbing up and down the stairs like the experience in London. We then took the short walk to Pierhead where we got on the ferry across the Mersey (see what I did there??).
A little tip if you're travelling with older children. When you buy your ticket you are given a flag and a sticker. If you do the rivercruise, which we did, you get free entry into the U-boat Experience and you can pay a bit extra to go to Spaceport too. Each of these venues also have stickers which complete the picture on the flag. Not much but it gives a nice little souvenir of the journey.
Also if you can survive without singing "Ferry Across the Mersey" for the rest of the day, you definitely have more will power than me.
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| Chloe glowing in the dark |
Our first stop was Spaceport in Wallesey. This was a lovely little space exhibition, which at the moment has a Star Wars section so obviously Moo was very happy. There's quite a lot of things to do and lots of interactive bits. Again it's very accessible for buggies as the majority is on one level, although the Star Wars part is on a second floor. There is lift access however. Before we went, I did read somewhere that it takes 3 hours to go around. I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. We were there for around 2 hours and that was only because we had to wait to go to the showing in the planetarium. Chloe seemed to enjoy that. Her buggy leans back into a flat mode so she was able to get a similar experience to us. She was quite happy waving at the little square head people on the film whilst learning about life on Mars and lasted the 25 minutes without making a sound, which is more than can be said for some of the older children in there.
After Spaceport we went of some lunch at the Cafe Cross the Mersey. This was a nice little cafe and there is a soft play area next to it. The prices were reasonable and there were facilities to warm up baby food (which is in the soft play area). Definitely handy for a quick spot of lunch.
After lunch, it was back on the ferry for the ten minute journey to U-boat 534. This was a small exhibit about a German U-boat that failed to surrender at the end of the second World War. This was again easy to get around and the outside parts were all decks so were accessible.
Then it was back on the ferry to return to Pier Head. The whole ferry journey was around 45 minutes and you can do the trip without the stops. In true Chloe fashion, she fell asleep on the way back. Clearly, public transport has this affect on her. It had rained on and off all day but on the ferry there was plenty of shelter, as well as refreshments that you could buy during your journey. I'd definitely recommend it for a family day out. The cost for two adults and a child (Chloe was free) for the river cruise, Spaceport and u-boat experience was £39 and was a really good day out.
On the Thursday we went to Liverpool Cathedral. This building is magnificent (and has great access for wheelchairs and pushchairs). We only had to carry Chloe up and down a few steps whilst looking around, and they actually had a small lift, we just decided not to use it. The Cathedral is free to go in but there is a small parking charge (I think it was free for half an hour). You can climb up the tower which costs £5.50 for adults.
After leaving the Cathedral, it was back to Anfield to spend some money in the shop and then back in the car for the journey home.
We loved Liverpool and I am pretty certain we'll return again soon. There was so much more that we could've done but unfortunately we didn't have time. Maybe another day.
Bye for now
Kat & Chloe
This was Chloe’s first ever visit to a soft play centre (well technically that’s not true as she attends Sing and Sign at on but she never goes to the actual soft play bit). Riverside Hub requires you to have a card which has all your child’s details on. We already had one of these for Matthew so it was easy to just include Chloe onto our card. it cost £3.50 for each adult and £2 for Chloe. There are a few different areas for babies and toddlers including sensory rooms with water shoots and lights and fish (Chloe loved the fish). She also loved sitting in the ball pool and of course eating the balls. 
It was really nice to have areas where she could just crawl around and explore, obviously made a lot easier because of how quiet it was. 
We spent around an hour and a half there (you can play for two and a half hours) and Chloe had a great time. Even in the Toddlers village, she was able to go down the slide with Daddy and spent a lot of time in the walker, something which really helped when we got home, as she
