A brief interlude in Liverpool, as part of a longer journey. Fortunately my friend would show me parts of the city, edited to finely balance any tourist experience.

For example, we headed to the free Double Fantasy exhibition in the Museum of Liverpool. It's the experience-packed John and Yoko exhibit, sharing their story and many extremely well-known artefacts.

Close by was the ferry - yes THAT one across the Mersey. I'd have travelled it (which would be a first) but we've decided to leave it for my next visit.

Onwards to the catacombs of St George's Hall, a complete jail underneath the defunct courthouse. A simple way to understand the 'send him down' as one tripped breathlessly from the cells up flights of steps to arrive in the opulent panelled courtroom above.

Then, in the catacombs, the Italo Calvino exhibit. Based upon his writings, the Six Memos, here were various artistic interpretations of his lively and thought provoking work.

• "lightness" - the need to bear the gravity of existence lightly;
• "quickness" - a deftness in combining action with contemplation;
• "exactitude" - the need for precision and clarity in language;
• "visibility" - the visual imagination as an instrument for knowing the world;
• "multiplicity" - the exhilirating infinitude of possibilities open to humankind.

Ahah, but only five? Calvino died of a stroke before he finished writing them. "constancy" was to be the sixth. There were three lovely people to explain the show. A joy to chatter with and to ask them to share their differing favourite moments of the show. They asked me for mine too. I secretly thought it was chatting to them.

Of course we walked around many landmarks. I was staying at Jurys slap bang in the dock area, which had once been around six miles length of busy ships loading and unloading. Now it has a pristine finish, ideal for a flaneur around the waterfront.

There's cafes and bars as well as interesting buildings and displays. There's the Liverpool Mountain just around the corner from the Tate in its modernised warehouse. The colours of Ugo Rondinone's sculpture are so supersaturated that they look unreal. A blast of colour, such that I'll use more than my average picture size to show it.

And we walked along Hope Street, between the two Cathedrals for the divided religions, we could think that this was once the site of stresses in older Liverpool but now an area containing fancy restaurants and hotels. Then, a lovely meal and more chatter, before I headed back to my hotel, admittedly with another look at the ever-changing Mersey.