Newcastle

I left the lovely Lake District area by reversing a couple of the train journies I had taken from to get there from Dumfries. Once I got to Carlisle, I joined the train to Newcastle, which was about an hour and a half journey.  

The Rooms Inn is located about a 15 minute uphill walk from the Train Station. I had absolutely no plan to come to Newcastle until I met someone in Dumfries that suggested I check it out and so I decided to do so. The unfortunate part about Newcastle is the trash. It is everywhere. There is litter and garbage all over the sidewalks and on the green parts. This was not so impressive. There is a collage in Newcastle. And there are areas that are being built up and improved. Newcastle boasts a number of bridges crossing the Tyne, joining the city with Gateshead, which was considered a burrow, but is now a town in its own right. Newcastle also has a number of beautiful old buildings and a fantastic castle.  

After checking in a settling in the Rooms Inn, I decided to head downtown and find the Tourist Information Centre. The downtown is about a 15 minute walk from the inn and is very manageble to walk around once you become familiar with the city. The woman at the office helped me out by providing me with a number of maps and pamphlets as well as suggestions for places to visit that were free. She also helped me to find a laundette as it was time to wash again.  

I thought that I wanted to take it easy on Tuesday. Just have a bit of a break day. So I started off with breakfast and then a run (lots of uphill again). Once I was ready for the day, I needed to find a laudromat. The woman at the tourism office had located one for me and off I set. The only problem was that it turned out the laudrette was not self service and there wasn't one close by. So, I left my laudry for someone else to do. Kind of weird but it needed doing. The woman said I could pick it up at 2:30.  

In the interim, I went to The Discovery Museum, which is just down the street. This museum showcased the history of Newcastle from Roman occupation to the present day. Newcastle was originally selected as a site for development due to its proximity to the river and due to its placement as a defence between Scotland and England. There were small vignettes to each of the eras: Roman, Norman, Medieval, Stuart, Georgian, Victoria, and finally The 20th Century. Newcastle was a shipbuilding community and then later, during The Georgian period, the industries were glass works, paper mills, roperies, and iron works. A very industrial city, where the descrepancy between the rich and the poor was large.  

I enjoyed my lunch at the museum cafe. I walked to China Town and down by the old city walls. It was time to pick up my laudry so I set of to gather that. The rest of the afternoon I spend lounging - literally. I watched some tube and read. It was a relaxing day.  

Wednesday was my walking and touring day. I wanted to make it down to the River Tyne. Since there are a number of bridges, I decided to cross over the farthest one, walk along the river on the Gateshead side, and then cross over a different bridge to get back to Newcastle. I choice to walk over the Redheugh Bridge which was the bridge that was the closest to where The Rooms Inn was located. On the opposite side of the river there was a walking path that followed the road, rather than the river, but that was the path I had to take. So I followed the walking path along until I reached The Tyne Bridge. There is not too much really to say about this side of the river. It was a highway and more road side trash.  

Where the Redheugh Bridge was a rather flat and highway like bridge, the Tyne Bridge was made of a large metal arche with criss crossing girders. And it was painted green. There were many great views of the city walking over this bridge. And there were great views of the other bridges including the Swing Bridge. There are seven bridges in total connecting Newcastle to Gateshead. The newest being the Gateshead Millennium Bridge. The castle and the steeple of St. Nicholas Cathedral were also visible from the Tyne Bridge.  

My goal was to head to Newcastle Castle. This castle gave the city its name. The castle keep and he gatehouse, The Black Gate, are the remaining structures. The gatehouse and the castle are separate buildings. The Black Gate was the original guarded entrance to the city. I was able to walk around the guardhouse. The city is working on preparing the interior for visitors by 2015. I was able to visit inside the Castle Keep. Newcastle Castle is a really interesting castle to visit. It is not too big but has many different pathways and stairwells to confuse a visitor. I was able to visit the Garrison Room, the Chapel, the Lower Hall, the Great Hall, the Gallery (which is like a square hallway that looks out over the Great Hall), and the Roof. As with all castles, the stairs (some spiral) and floors are uneven, there are lower doorways, and it is cold. Interesting features of this castle were the guarderooms, the well, the fireplaces, and the chapel. I also enjoyed the roof and looking out over the city.  

Close to the castle is St. Nicholas Cathedral. This cathedral is beautiful. There are a number of beautiful stained glass windows. The Baptismal Font is extremely ornate and the "lid" to the font is raised by a pully above the font. When I looked at it, I thought it was off centred. I read that it really was off centred due to the tilt of the steeple tower! It is also amazing at the number of carvings of both wood and stone exist in this cathedral. Some carvings are so intricate that it is unbelievable. There was a little cafe in the cathedral so I stopped for a spot of tea.  

I wanted to take a look at some of the architecture in the city so I left the cathedral and headed toward Grey Street, located in historic Grainger Town. Grey Street ends with a giant statue of Earl Grey (love that tea) so I assume that is who the street is named after. Grey Street is lined with beautiful buildings. I have absolutely no clue what era they were built but there is something about them that are appealing to me. So, I just googled the street and this is what the Newcastle tourism site said, "Grainger Town is one of the dazzling jewels in our crown, with classical architecture designed in the 1830s by the internationally renowned Richard Grainger. Grainger Town is the historic heart of Newcastle upon Tyne and includes Grainger Market, Theatre Royal, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street. 40% of buildings in the area are listed as being of historical and architectural importance. The focal point of Grainger Town is Grey's Monument, erected in 1838 to commemorate the Reform Act of 1832, drafted during Earl Grey's time as Prime Minister." So, there you are.  

Having seen most of the items of interest in Newcastle, I had some time in the afternoon. The day I arrived, I had walked by the LIFE Science Centre. I noticed that Body Worlds Vital was on in the centre. In 2009, when I visited Dublin, Body Worlds was on at the museum there and I had debated visiting then and choose not to. I have always wanted to see this display so I decided today was the day. This was literally the best part of Newcastle.    

For anyone who doesn't know, Body Worlds Vital is an exhibit featuring real human bodies that have been preserved through a process called plastination. The full human bodies that were on display were arranged in a different ways to display different body systems. For instance there was a man running. His body was separated into the skeletal system and the muscular system. Also on display were the digestive system, the circulatory system, the nervous system, and the reprodutive system. The human body is unbelievably fascinating and to see it displayed in this manner was so intriguing. Besides full human bodies, there were displays that showed different parts of the body. Especially fascinating were the healthy lungs versus the lungs that were tarnished by years of smoking, the health heart versus the diseased heart, and the skeleton with osteoporosis. Also of interest were the "slices" of different parts of the human body that show cross sections of various organs and in one case an entire body.  

Seeing this exhibit really puts in focus how important heathy eating, exercise and rest are to the human body.  

Also within the science centre I saw a movie at the Planetarium called "What's Up, Einstein?" which "explained" physics, black holes, dark matter and the like. The audience was age 7 plus but I still find some of the information in the presentation really difficult to grasp. After, there was a live performance in the Science Theatre called "Move It!" where Duncan showed how and why the human body works. Finally, an interesting art display on the second floor consisted of items that teachers had confiscated from kids in London. Some of the items were funny - notes: Do you like me? Check yes, no, maybe. Other items reminded me of things Adina and I had seen in the Kingston Penitentiary, homemade weapons and the like.  

After my afternoon at the science centre I headed to the grocery store for some dinner items and then to Starbucks for a large Americano. Back at the inn I started to do some research on the city of York and I am really looking forward to heading there on Thursday.