I spent two days last week in Liverpool. I was visiting two professors at the University there to discuss projects in Ploen. Basically, they are writing models about how the complex life cycles of parasites may have evolved and we are trying to test them empirically. Though I spent most of the time discussing parasites and evolution, I did manage to wander the city for a couple hours. Liverpool is one of the two European Capitals of Culture for 2008. However, after visiting the city, I'm unsure as to why. In my humble opinion, it didn't have the charm of older European cities. With the exception of the many typical, red brick buildings (often run down, see pics), there were a lot of 60s and 70s style buildings that have not aged well. In my opinion, Liverpool is a cultural capital simply because the best band ever came from there. The Beatles formed in Liverpool, and a number of entrepeaneurs are keen to take advantage of this...Beatles shops, museums, statues of Elanor Rigby, clubs that still boast "The Beatles played here". The poverty was also palpable, at least in comparison to places like Leipzig. The city (the whole region) has suffered from the slow draining of manufacturing jobs.

Other observations...a major similarity to the U.S.: unfriendly border officials. A major difference to the U.S.: language. I noticed a number of colorful phrases used by my British hosts, but unfortunately only managed to remember a couple. For example, jacket potato = baked potato, rat run = back-alley shortcut.