Day Two in Newcastle! We had read the night before that there was going to be heavy showers. Then Mom said before we went to bed (via facebook chat- again, shall never make fun of that function again....) that it looked like it was going to be a nice day. I (Michal) had a heck of a time getting to sleep and then all of a sudden it was 10:00! The plan was go get up, go find some fabric freshner, some groceries and thencome back and check out. We decided to do a little change of plans: we quickly repacked (sparying things with my Lucky) changed, had some quick breakfast and then checked out. The first St. James's tour was at 11:00, so we made it there in time, was helped by a very friendly gentlement who went quite out of his way to make sure that we found the tour and bought tickets.
Our guide was a sweet old gent named Richard. The tour was wonderful- incidentially, it was slightly different from the one that I had been on the year before. I had been to some places last time that we didn't go to this time (the top floor and the last row of seats, some of the larger banquet rooms, the children's technology room) but we also went to some places on this tour that I hadn't been to before, like the away changing room and a different suite. We also were down the hall from Michael Owen's suite but sadly did not get to see it. I contemplated running down the hall but I honestly bleieve that Richard would have taken me out.
Shiri's thoughts on the tour: Hello! Oh man, the tour was absolutely amazing. The stadium is huge and much more modern and high-tech than Anfield was, which was really cool. It was awesome hearing about all the traditions and history of the club (including famous players and such) because it's all stuff I reallydon't know. The Liverpool tour told us lots of things that I had already heard about, but this was all new, which was fun. We also got to see a lot more on this tour, including the place where all the press conferences are held (we took a picture of each of "signing" with Newcastle United FC). Plus, i got to take a picture near Shearer's, which was cool.
Sadly, no Michael Owen sighting this time but we did get shirts that said "Walking in a Keegan Wonderland." After the tour, we headed east to the Seven Stories Museum. This was quite far out- probably a good fifteen minute walk, out by Ouseburn. We were quite looking forward to this- Seven Stories was basically a museum dedicated to children's books. There had just been an exhibit about Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake (famous illustrator of Dahl's books) and there were also lots of original manuscripts, inclding soem from JK Rowling. However, when we arrived, we found that it wasn't free as I had thought so we decided to just have lunch (oh, I forgot to say that after leaving the tour, we stopped in the Grainger Market and bought some strawberries, apples and tomatos) before heading back to the other side of the city. We walked kind of along the quayside towards the Discovery Museum and it was about a 30 + minute walk because it was literally on the other side of the city, but it went by pretty quickly as I related to Shiri virtually the entire plot and extensive background on all the characters in the first few seasons of Prison Break and she did the same for me regarding the plot of Friday Night Lights. We also did some seriously speculation about what's coming in season 4 of Supernatural. Excellent way to pass the time.
Before we knew it though, we were at the Discovery Museum which was actually really cool. It wasn't Discovery really like at home at teh Cube museum, but there was a little section about magnetism, electicity, sound, motion, etc. The three coolest exhibits were the Newcastle Story, the Soldiers' Story and the Fashion section. There were all these creepy mannequins that again freaked Shiri out, especially the ones that were motion censored. One of them (in the soldier exhibit) started yelling at SHiri when she stepped on teh indicated footprints. That was kind of funny for me. Also, in the beginning of the Newcastle exhibit, there was a creepy bloodied man and a priest and all these other bizarre mannequins. There was also a tortue thing where you pertended you were being branded and when you touched the button, a voice in the background screamed. It was very odd but in general, an incredibly interesting and informative museum.
We left then the museum closed and headed to get dinner. The only problem is that seriously, where the frick do people in newcastle shop? Because we cannot seem to find a grocery store in the entire city. We finally found this place called Herrons which did not have a great selection but luckily, we were able to buy some chicken slices for sandwhiches (the hostel had free bread) and then foudn another grocery store that kind of sucked. Thank goodness for being back down south tomorrow where hopefully there is Tescos. Because we love their bread.
Now we're blogging and uploading pictures and in about half an hour, we're going to head back out and enjoy the gorgeous weather Newcastle has to offer today. Then our last night bus (halle-frickin-lujah) and ten tomorrow Winchester, Salisbury and seeing James and Michael! Then Bath, Stonehenge, Avebury and then the end of nights in hostels and the beginning of relying on friends. Yay for friends.
PS- Shiri wanted to mention that absolutely adorable, freckle-faced Australian lad in a Michael Owen kit on the tour. He seriously was so cute!
No comments:
Post a Comment