1 post tagged “newcastle-upon-tyne”

I was really excited about Newcastle before I went there.

When I was in the planning stages of the trip, I made a list of cities I wanted to go to. Why not go to the place where my favourite beer is made? (That idea is sparking off another trip!)

Anyhow, I remembered that another UT friend resided in Newcastle so I e-mailed him up and asked to impose. Flib agreed and it was all arranged. I'd only be staying for the day, as I had to leave back for home early the next day. I said goodbye to Janey and her family, and armed with my sexy knickers (which were really, really too big) I was on the train to Newcastle.

One thing I wish I had gotten some pix of was the English countryside. It really is lovely, and I think that the countryside alone is worth a trip. Gorgeous.

Anyhow, my train was a bit early and Flib's (er, Peter is his name) bus was late so I hung out in their massive train station:

I only had to wait a few minutes and was attempting to figure out what time my train to London was departing and there he was! I can't explain how cool it has been to meet all the people I had been talking to for so long! Plus I was dying to hear the infamous Geordie accent (verdict: what's all the fuss about?). We got into a taxi with the most abysmal taxi driver ever. He wasn't very cheerful guy, but he got us where we were going.

I will however complain about Peter's street. Mullholland Drive has nothing on that crazy zig zag of a street. I kind of wish I knew what it was called, but it seriously made me nauseous every time we went up and down it. It was amazing in crazy school bus sort of way. There's a trick to getting off the bus - maybe it's because I hardly take public transport ever, and am not used to it. And he lives right next to a hospital which kind of made me wonder how the ambulances get around without dropping the bodies all over the place.

Peter actually has a very nice house/flat/place to live. It was too nice. I think maybe is mum or girfriend comes and cleans up for him, because out of all the boys that I've known, none of them have been very neat. We dropped off all my stuff, had some apple juice and went out to explore the city. First off, he was going to take me to a museum. yay!

 

On the way to the Baltic Flour Mills, Peter took me to see the castle of Newcastle fame. I argued that it needed to have a moat to be a castle. Peter promised me a moat. I also said it needed to have a dragon and a knight. Peter said "well, it doesn't have them, but it has a moat". So we get to the castle...there's no moat. Liar. But here's a picture.

 

So the pigeon poo! After seeing the old castle, a pigeon dropped an aerial bomb that hit Peter! So sad (but hey, at least it wasn't me!) and we went to the Baltic at Gateshead which is a really lovely museum. It's big and modern and all of that. They had an exhibition there called "Fat House", which reminded us of Super Mario Bros. (Super Gaming Nerds) and there was a few installations, but all I really cared about was the museum shop. Ok I just wanted an excuse to shop. I bought some loverly things there, namely some arty thank you cards, a bag with a photo of the Baltic on the Side and The angel of the North on the other, and a black half pint mug. 40 some odd (ugh!) dollars later, Peter was dragging my purchases all over Gateshead and Newcastle.

He then took me to see The Sage Centre, home of mostly classical concerts: looks like a giant shiny condom. I said shiny slug but whatever. We had some delicious treats there, and had a very nice view of the city. I'm not joking when I say I could very easily live there.

On the way back down (and I feel really bad, because for most of my time in Newcastle -- all I really wanted to do was sleep. boooo.) the Millenium Bridge was being let up and it really is an interesting sight to see. It's like an eyelid, it flips up and the boats go under and then goes back down. Wow, that doesn't sound too impressive does it? But it is! I swear it!

We sat on the sidewalk and watched the bridge and the people on it and came up with a new reality show, where contestants are forces to stay on the bridge while it flips up. The tricky part? The bridge is covered in lard. Then, because I was extremely nervous, I started telling some of my most embarrassing stories. I always do that with people that I meet and really like. They just pour out. I think I mentioned something about my infatuation/obsessive love with Disneyland Park. If he didn't think I was a freak...he did then.

So then we went to the Laing Art something -- I can't recall the name. I can really only remember that we really wanted the samurai swords, and there was this huge retrospective of this artist that was really crap. He did like three different color of ink splots; like someone took a tennis ball, dipped it in black ink and had a go. The title: Evening in Venice. If that's what Venice looks like at night, do NOT sign me up.

We then walked down the "Nicest Street in the UK" - Grey Street. Named after some guy named Grey, it's pretty nifty street with a nice leaning curve and some shopping. It was nice to just walk around the street and just chill. We went to an Italian cafe for lunch where I was served by real Italians. Who, upon hearing my accent asked "What's wrong with your country? You're all crazy!" GAH! I thought I had made it all the way through England without having to defend my country. My response "Yeah, we're all a little crazy" made Peter burst out laughing and me, I just wanted my pineapple juice and sarnie. Wonder of wonders, my mom calls during to ask what time I'll be home tomorrow. She overhears Peter talking and asks if that's her future son in law. oy. She's still trying to marry me off.