newcastle, england

We decided to take the train to Newcastle, England in the morning. It's where Jay was still staying with family and It would be a good stop on the way to Harrogate. There were two trains leaving from Edinburgh bound for London (we would get off at Newcastle though). One of them was late, but ours was on time. When our train arrived, the people waiting for their late one thought it was theirs, so there was this huge mix up and SO many people trying to fit onto the train. They had to make an announcement telling the other people to wait for their original train because that was the one they had reservations on. What a mess! There really isn't a lot of room to maneuver in train aisles, so just imaging people with luggage all trying to shimmy past each other in all directions. I had to cram my big pack under a seat and had a little scare when I pulled it out and heard a big SNAP. Luckily it was just a snap coming undone and I hadn't broken my bag!

Anywayyyss... We arrived in Newcastle, where they have one hostel, and paid the most we've ever paid for a hostel yet. Supply and demand I guess! We went looking for food and came across a Jessop's camera store and Mike was finally able to buy his new lens (wide angle) and a compact tripod. We also realized that we were in England now, which meant there might be a Nando's around (England is the only place in Europe with Nandos). Mike asked the guy at the store and sure enough there was one right around the corner in the mall. Mike was jumping for joy, and we had a nice meal. What I usually get at home for $7 cost about $14 here. Yikes. After that we went to the grocery store to get stuff for later, and went back to the hostel where I sent Jay an email about maybe meeting up the next day. I checked my email again later later that night and Jay said he was coming into town anyways and would stop by the hostel to see if we were around (sure miss having the convenience of instantly being able to talk to someone with a cell phone!).

Jay did in fact show up the next morning and we all headed to the nearby town of Hexham, where the best preserved part of Hadrian's Wall is. Before that though, we watched the demonstration of how the Millenium Bridge in Newcastle works. It's this huge pedestrian footbridge that can lift up and close like a giant bear trap to let ships pass underneath. You might be able to get an idea by looking at the pic below, but I also have a video of it ya'll can see when I get home! Anyways, back to Hadrian. Hadrian was a Roman Emperor who built the wall from coast to coast to keep the Scots out of England around 122AD. It's amazing to think just how old that really is! At this section of the wall was also a Roman fort, Housesteads Fort. Not much of it remains, stone foundations mostly, but it was still neat. Jay had to head back a little early to help his cousin move, and Mike and I decided to head back at the same time as well. We were both starting to not feel so good and felt nasty colds coming on (probably from sitting in the freezing cold before the fireworks!). Our train back was delayed, which meant as soon as it arrived back in Newcastle Jay had to RUN for his bus.. hopefully he made it! Mike went to Nando's again. I didn't have much appetite so I just had some soup and rice.

The hostel computer was buggered that night, but Mike got it to work somehow (I'm reluctant to use the work hacked.. haha), and it appeared we had free internet! We were able to get ALOT of planning done that night, and even found a realllly cheap flight ($20 canadian) to Switzerland. We want to head there before it gets too cold, so we're going there next even though it's not the most logical country to do next. We booked the flight and accomodation in Switzerland as well as accomodations for Oxford, Bath, and London. It sure felt great to get that much done! We also looked up the train schedule to Windermere (a city in the lake district of England), which is where we wanted to go the next day.

We set the alarm early, but the next morning we really didn't want to get out of bed. We both felt terrible and were all stuffed up with sore throats. We decided to forget the lake district and just stay another night in Newcastle, relaxing and doing nothing all day. We wanted to stay as healthy as possible because we have the busy city of London coming up as well as Switzerland where there will be lots of outdoor activities, hiking, etc. We slept in, then got some of our things together that we wanted to send home. Boy did it cost a pretty penny!To send a 2kg package home it would have cost 19 pounds. Anything above that, and the price doubled to 40 pounds. Guess how much mine weighed? Yup - 2kg and 119 grams. Over by 119 grams!! I ripped that baby open and took one of the books out. There was no way I was paying $80 canadian to ship a little box home! So mom and dad if you're wondering why the box looks like it was opened and re-taped up, that's why! hehe.. Mike was way over the limit so he cut a bunch of stuff and had to join the long line (queue! haha) again. By the time we were done it was like 3pm and we felt like crap and still hadn't eaten yet. We went to the store and got some soup, and I got some yummy blackberry/echinacea tea and a lemon to go with it. Even Mike was drinking tea.. I think that may have been a first! lol.

The next day it was on to Harrogate, a smaller town near York, where we would be staying with (another!) one of Mike's cousins who is from the Czech Republic but is working in England at the moment.