It feels odd to be posting this picture of the dome in Liverpool’s impressive town hall. I used to live not far from here and when I had visitors I would take them to this, and other fine buildings in the city. Liverpool is a richly historic city with more than 2,500 listed (protected) buildings, and more public sculptures than any other place in the UK aside from Westminster.

I was in Liverpool with my friend Will to get a replacement passport. Surprisingly enough, despite growing up not far from here himself, Will hadn’t really explored the city, so I offered to take him on an impromptu mini tour of some of the cities fine buildings which I came to know well when I showed visiting ‘couchsurfers’ around Liverpool.

It’s funny, I wasn’t entirely excited to be here today, or for that matter, anywhere in the UK, but walking around Liverpool with Will transformed the way I felt about being here. My mood changed from being rather downbeat, to being quite excited about just how impressive Liverpool is looking these days. Seeing the great architecture reminded me that while I may not be delighted to be here, there really is a lot of stuff here that people can be proud of. I was essentially a tourist seeing this city for the first time as an outsider, and I found myself being impressed by it all over again.

So todays picture shows the stunning blue and gold dome above the grand staircase in Liverpool town hall. The Latin inscription around the edge is the city’s motto which, translated, reads: “God has bestowed these blessings upon us.”