LISA

To continue our adventures...

This past Saturday saw us getting up ridiculously early again (6.45am - It's cold and dark here remember) so that we would have time to print out some tourist-y maps at uni before having to board our bus to Newcastle. After some rushing, and a brisk walk in the cold, we made it on time and secured the front seats. We know from experience that these are the best seats in the bus as they give you almost 270degree views of the countryside. Alas, although cold, it was also sunny that morning, prompting our friendly bus driver to pull down the sunshade, thereby reducing our forward visibility to a little tiny slice of bitumen road! Ah well, we settled in for the 2 hour trip immensely glad of the great heating, and double-glazed windows.

The tourist information we had informed us that if we "approach[ed] NewcaslteGateshead by rail or road… you'll be welcomed with open arms by the iconic Angel of the North. Apparently one of the 'seven wonders of Britain' and 'wider than the Statue of Liberty is tall' you may understand that we were rather interested to see this 200 tonne steel sculpture…until we did. Ok, so maybe our experience was affected by our high expectations, but as we drove past it in the bus we had to wonder what all the fuss was about. To begin with, it's a rather ugly sculpture (sorry to all offended Newcastlians/Geordies) stained orange by either paint or rust, it's hard to tell, and with a rather unimpressive scale. We're not convinced that it is actually wider than the Liberty lady is tall, but seeing as we haven't measured either, we'll have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

So, moving on, we arrived at our destination and were dropped of at the Sage, which is a fancy convention centre/concert venue shaped like a 'giant glass shell'. It's pretty impressive from the outside, although the inside is fairly regular. We had been reliably informed (by the internet) that the Gateshead visitor centre was just next door to the sage, so thinking we would get some local advice, we headed off to find it. I probably should explain at this point that the city is actually two, one on each side of the river, that have merged over the years, and seems to be called either Newcastle Upon Tyne (the river), Newcastle (if you're lazy) or Gateshead. Anyway, we spotted a nifty old building that had potential and looked for the entrance. Only after a circumnavigation of it and it's fenced-off grounds was I able to convince Paul that it had closed down and was being re-furbished (hence the scaffolding). It was, however, a pretty building so we took the opportunity to take some snaps (although not many, hands froze as soon as they were removed from pockets!).

Giving up on that idea we headed across the TyneBridge, and managed to get some nice pics of the river and its other famous bridges on the way. Next stop was the Castle Keep, not left over from the original wooden 'New Castle' built in 1080 by William the Conqueror's son, but actually dating from the Norman period, about 200 years later. The city walls and Black Gate are also from this time period. As with all castle keeps, this was the last point of refuge in an attack, and was actually used for this purpose, at least once, during a Scottish invasion. We explored the numerous corridors and rooms within its walls, and climbed the 134 steps of the stone spiral staircase to the top to be rewarded with great city views. Paul claims that this is what killed his legs (he was hobbling around for the next 2 days).

Our next stop was a rather contentious one. It was LIFE, the centre for biomedical science or something similar. Anyway, Paul really wanted to go so we paid our 5 pounds 50 each to get into the exhibition area expecting something a little bit cooler than Brissy's science centre. We only realised then that the exhibition was targeted at kids aged 5-10. That would've been alright, but they didn't have the interactive kind of stuff that makes science centres great. So…I'm getting a free ticket to the footy 'cause Paul's feeling bad that he made us go (not entirely his fault, but hey, if I'm getting to go to the footy…). The DiscoveryMuseum (with free entry) was much more satisfying. It had about 6 separate exhibitions on ranging from the Newcastle story, to fashion over time, and its own science area complete with shadow board - flash of light, shadow stays on the wall, very cool. Strongly recommended if anyone ever happens to be in Newcastle :D

Looking to further our cultural/historical experience we wandered off to see Blackfriars' (a 13thC monastery now housing shops), some of the town wall (was originally built through the middle of the friars' gardens!), GraingerTown (the historic centre of the city), and Earl Grey's monument (we decided the tea was indeed named after him). The monument was erected in 1838 to commemorate a reform act drafted during Grey's time as PM. It's insanely tall - about 43m apparently.

Before heading down to the river we stumbled upon a gorgeous little arcade with full mosaic tiling, which we later discovered was actually a city landmark. In here we managed to finally find a tourist information centre (should it really be that difficult?) and bought a postcard each. The next hour and a bit was spent rambling (English term for walking apparently) down along the Quayside next to the Tyne trying to get a winner photo of the famous bridges. We had to leave before sunset, so we didn't see the river all lit up, but it was impressive as it was.

We ducked into the Baltic contemporary art centre before heading home as their glass lift and viewing platforms had been highly recommended. The three art installations were pretty interesting, but no photography was allowed.

Then it was back on the bus and home again. All in all a fun, satisfying and entertaining day. Check out the pictures. Until next time…

P.S. For Beck and Dave and other slackers - Went to Newcastle. Saw lots of buildings and bridges. Froze our noses off. Had a great time! :p