Newcastle! Rain! What else!
We arrived around 5:30 in the morning in Newcastle. This is when you DON'T want to be early. Because then you are stuck walking around in the pouring rain trying to figure out what you wanted and should do. However, the figurative sun was shining down on us. We went to the hostel and checked in. The sweet girl at the desk asked if we wanted to upgrade to a double room (aka, just us in there) since there was one free at the moment. I thought it was going to be 5 pounds each but as she was checking us in, I was telling her our situation and how we only had one more night bus and if James had screwed our Salisbury hostel up I would kill him and she's like "well, because you're the rain-bringer" (yes, not in Newcastle for fifteen minutes and I already have a nickname) "and because I don't want a screwdriver in my back, I'll give you a discount." So, for only 6 pounds altogether, we got a room right away juts for us. After long and well-deserved showers, we fell asleep for about six or seven hours. It was heavenly.
Upon emergence from a dead sleep, we got dressed and headed out into a somewhat cloudy Newcastle. (OK, sidenote. There is a seagull not shutting up outside the window right now. It's like in Nemo "Mine, mine, mine. End sidenote). We decided, seeing that it was about 3:00, to head first to the castle keep and then see where we were with time. The first thing we saw of the Castle was all scaffolding and I nearly died. The Newcastle Keep is absolutely gorgeous and I was just gutted that it was covered up! We went through the Black Gate and upon seeing the other side of the castle, I was greatly cheered to discover that only two sides were being worked on. So we just pretended that it wasn't there. Because I've already been there, I'll let Shiri talk about her experiences at the castle.
Why thank you, Michal. Okay, so for the record, as we were walking up the steps of the castle to the visitor's center I told Michal that just for kicks, while we were in the castle she should call me Aurora and I should call her Belle, but needless to say, she didn't really go for the idea. Fun-sucker.
The castle was amazing though. It was picturesque and medieval and creepy and beautiful and everything a castle should be. It was really fun just exploring the random staircases (one of which leads nowhere), looking down the uber deep well, and pretending to be locked behind bars. We also went up to the roof (where it was raining) and looked out at a spectacular view of Newcastle. It really is an awesome city. On one side of the Tyne there are all the old buildings like the castle and train station and St. John the Baptist Cathedral, which are all built in that sort of medieval/olden time style. Then on the other side are buildings like the Gateshead and Baltic Museum which are both really modern--but not that ugly kind of modern, but the really artsy type of moder, with lots of glass and shiny things, and cool architecture. So it was fun seeing the meshing of old and new.
Okay, so I'm done talking about the castle. Now, Michal, back to you in the studio.
All righty then, where were we? Ah yes, leaving the castle, we walked across the bridge and then down the quayside (pronounced Key-side) to the BALTIC. This is a contemporary art museum housed in the old Baltic Flour Mill building. Six stories, over 200 stairs and some very odd exhibits. I won't get into too many of them but there was this one that had some crazy video installations, one exhibit that had several houses constructed with the same Japanese-y styled painting of the same girl scattered throughout all the buildings. She kind of creeped Shiri out a little. My favorite was this digital technology exhibit with these tinted mirrors that made you look both purple or orange, depending on where you were standing. It was crazy!
When the BALTIC closed, we went searching for a supermarket and discovered every place and their mother closes at 6:00. So that left us going to subway for dinner, which was fine. Tomorrow, we'll plan better and get some supermarket food for lunch and dinner and preparation for the next day as well.
So, on plan for tomorrow- St. James's, maybe the Laing Art Gallery and Seven Stories, a museum dedicated to children's books. Awesome!
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