Newcastle England Aug 2006

We were able to book a weekend off, and with a new (new to us) car, we decided to take a little trip to Newcastle. Newcastle is on the northeast coast, right under Edinburgh. We've been to Newcastle about 5 years ago, but stayed in a totally different part of town.

England - Hadrian's Wall - On our way south, you pass thru Hadrian's wall. When Ceaser his and friends were having their march across Europe, they were able to conquer England, however, when they tried to move north, they were met by feirce resistance. As a result, Hadrian's wall was built from coast to coast to keep out the barbarians from entering into the civilized world. Ironically, Hadrian's wall is pretty close to what is now the English and Scottish boarder.

Here is a poster (albeit shaded) of some of the towns that Hadrian's Wall runs through.

Here is Kim and Seth posing on one of the foundations of the fort. This picture only cost me two icecreams.

And here is Seth sitting on Hadrian's tree stump. You'll notice that Seth is wearing a "Robots" tshirt. We told him that this was an old "Robot" fort, instead of an old "Roman" fort. It just makes history a little more fun for the wee one. Is that wrong?

Hadrian's wall is about 1900 years old, so for being that old, it's in pretty good shape.

These are Hadrian's sheep and cattle. You'd think they look like normal sheep and cattle, but they "baa" and "moo" in an old Roman dialect called "Farmix Spekix".

England - Newcastle - Newcastle is on the North-East coast of England, about 100 miles south of Edinburgh. Like a lot of British cities, it has been culturally neglected. There was WWII in the 40's, the descrution of a lot of old building in the 60's, the horrible cement arcitecture of the 70's, the recession of the 80's, and the restructuring of the 90's. In the naughties, there's been a big push to reclaim the damage inflicted over the last century.

To ring in 2000, a lot of towns and cities were given big grants to improve their city. As a result, you'll notice Millineum Stadium this, or Millineum Building that. We happen to be standing on the Millineum Bridge -- or at least the Newcastle Millineum bridge. (More on the bridge later). Our hotel was just past that golden encircled ball on the left, up the hill a couple blocks.

Here is a further look up the river. A lot of rivers in the UK, including this one, are tidal. It's not because the city is all that close to the ocean, but because there aren't a lot of hills in the country. Here is a mini-yaught - even though we waved and shouted, they still didn't give us a trip. Pirates!

On the right bank is the old "Baltic Flower Mill". This has now been converted into an art gallery. Just behind it are very trendy flats, with more building on the way.

To the right of the above picture, is the new opera house (the big silver peanut). This was not there last time we were here. Between the art gallery and the opera house, they are also doing a little construction as well. It's very busy around this area.
If you're wondering what Seth is watching, he's watching the boat pass under the bridge. Even with Seth acting his cutest (and it works on the burds, believe me), those horrible pirates still didn't give us a ride.

Seth had a long day of walking and running around the city. I've allowed him to travel "Daddy Air". It's a low budget operator, but very reliable, never breaks down, and always gets to the required destination.

This looking down the river. The opera house is just off the picture, and the main downtown would be just off the right.

Here is a good picture of the Millenium Bridge. Since the bridge is white, at night, they have differernt coloured lights, and the bridge will change colours. Since they still have a bit of shipping, the bridge actually rotates, so that larger boats can pass under it. Sorry, I don't have a picture of that, but all you have to do is either imagine it, or turn your monitor sideways.

Behind Kim is the Opera Peanut (sorry, I should really stop calling it that, just incase anyone from Newcastle reads this) and a mid-size cruise ship. Carling (one of the major breweries) has purchased this boat, and turned it into a party boat.

That is it from The Opera Peanut, Seth, and Brian. Hope you enjoyed the waterfront.

England - Angel Of The North - We've been to Newcastle a couple times, but whenever you see a commercial of the Northeast (you'll have to believe me), you always see or hear about "The Angel Of The North". On our way home, we decided to take a little detour South of the city and see if we could find her.

Here is a little poster showing the drawings of the amount of concrete and the pilings that she has. Something you don't really think about.

Here Kim and Seth decide to have a look at the statue upclose. Wonder if that's how our moggie feels.

There is Seth and I at the top of the hill. I'm not sure exaclty sure how tall Seth and I are, but I'm guessing in the 7'0"~7'6" region. Now, we're pretty tall, but not compared to the big burd behind me!

Here we are after trying to run up and down the hill a couple times. Mere footsteps for the lady in red.

Looking at Seth's happy face, you wouldn't think it, but he demands attention of the highest degree. And, sure, the going down is fun, but then you have to walk all the way back up the hill, it's a killer with a wee munchkin on your back!

B-bye from the "Angel of the North".

England - St Mary's Lighthouse - We followed the east coast north, until we reached St Mary's Lighthouse in North Tyneside. The lighthouse was originally completed in 1898, and remained operational until 1984 (but probably no relation to Orwell's predictions).

The next two pictures are of the coastline, with St Mary's Lighthouse directly on my right.

We arrived at pretty much the perfect time. As you can see, the tide is going out, so we were able to explore the lighthouse. We did have to wait about 30 mins to be able to cross the walkway, but that allowed us to have a burger from the local chippie.

One wave, and those two would be gone! I did that in Cyprus once... got too close to the stormy waters, and, voosh! But fortunately it was dark, and there were no pictures!

There - we braved across the ocean soaked path -- onward to the lighthouse! Which... after we arrived, was closed. For some reason, the shopkeepers decided to have their lunch after the tide went out. Not sure why they didn't have their lunch when nobody could reach the island, but that's another story.

Here are Seth and Kim winding their way up the over 130 stairs. After Seth braved the journey, he was awarded with a little certificate saying that he had made it all the way to the top.
The one interesting thing about a lighthouse, is that if you compare it's structure from the outside with a windmill, it is pretty much the same, however, a windmill has many floors whereas a lighthouse is just one big pillar. I guess the only purpose of a lighthouse is to provide light (like duh), however, if they were to put floors in them, you could have yourself a pretty nice house, with a great view. Who wouldn't want to have their study just under the light? Sure, it'd be noisy when it was foggy, but then you could be watching an Arnie movie on the ground floor, speakers blaring, none of your neighbours would complain.

The next picture (you'll have to mentally join them together, and ignore the little white space between them) is of Seth and Kim examining the torch's lense and part of the old motor.

By poking my arm into the lense (there was holes, so don't think that I was being a yob) we can look down the shaft that would have once held and rotated the enormous light. Now, with everything being so small, by the time the lighthouse was decommissioned in 1984, the shaft was no longer required (which allowed the IKEA furniture to fit in much better in the lower floor).

And, lastly, we have a picture of the coast, and the path that the sea has momentarily released. Off to find the car (hint: it's parked next to a white car) and perhaps even an icecream.

Scotland - Traquair House - Tranquair House is one of Scotland's oldest inhabited houses. The Tranquair Lords have lived in this house for over 500 years, and have been strong Jacobites who supported the Stuart monarchy. One of the most famous people to be born and live here was Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Here is Kim and Seth in the garden maze. No, the maze is not only 2 feet tall, or, no, Kim has not grown to over nine feet tall, but she is standing on a tree stump (the object of the maze) in the middle.

Here is a picture with me reaching up as far as I can (digital cameras are good that way) to get a picture of the house from somewhere deep in the maze. I'm really not sure where I am at this point, or where I've been or where I'm going, but as long as I don't run out of food, or batteries for my mob, I'll be OK.
The little addition on the right side of the building is part of their brewery. They have a brewery that's hundreds of years old, and some of the casks are over 200 years old. I bought a couple bottles of ale, so if I remember, will let you know if they were any good.

With the house behind me, this is looking down what was once the houses driveway, and at the far end is the "Bear Gates" (you can see the two pillars, but just on top of them are two bear statues). The "Bear Gates" have little bear statues which guard te house. These gates have been closed since 1745 - the last person to walk through them was Bonnie Price Charlie. The gates, and this travel log are now closed.