[Previous entry: "Newcastle trip (part 2)"] [Next entry: "Newcastle trip (part 4)"]

07/25/2005: "Newcastle trip (part 3)"

music: BBC, cash in the attic
mood: Tired but ok

It took us some time to wake up and get dressed, but when we had breakfast was awaiting us. It was served in the Seven Seas restaurant.

The breakfast was so good! Really delicious and just my taste. Oh, how I missed the real English breakfast! Toast with bacon, scrambled eggs and tea. I even took two servings and then was totally stuffed. While eating breakfast we heard a couple of the stewards speak some language which we couldn't immediately grasp. Angela and I discussed this but as we weren't sure we decided to ask one of the staff. The girl told us that they spoke Polish and that about half of the staff is Polish and another part is Philipino. So I asked her how to say: "thank you" in Polish, she told me (I already forgot now) and I tried to say it every time I had to say "thank you". They had to laugh about that quite hard.

Anyway, after breakfast we went up on deck, as during breakfast we already saw land. It was great seeing land from the boat, we also have got tracks of the GPS, even put a marker at the moment we called Phil so that's nice to see now.
It was so good feeling the wind and smelling the sea... I wondered what it must have been like back in the olden days, when you sailed for months without even seeing land. How it must have been like to then see land again after months. This wasn't months, just one night, but it still felt good. It was nice feeling the breeze and just standing there relaxed, watching the coast and Newcastle come into view. We also ended up in a conversation with a tour bus driver about Newcastle and the Angel of the North. I wanted desperately to see the Angela of the North and was surprised that I had not seen it yet. The bus driver overheard me talking to Angela about it and told me that you were not able to see the Angel from the sea as it was too far inland. And that it was the most ugly thing he had seen too.

Anyway, after docking we went through customs and passport control which was a wait but quite easy. Because the center of Newcastle is quite an end away from the port of Newcastle we had a bus transfer from the port to the center.
In the bus we let the GPS run as well.

When the transfer bus arrived at the station there was a man selling tickets for the sightseeing tours. We had already talked about this and decided we wanted to do the tour so we immediately bought the tickets for it. Then the ticket seller saw my Pudsey sweater and said: ah, Nationals!

About 15 minutes later the sightseeing bus was there and we were off. Sitting at the top deck of the bus, which was open en enjoying the tour. I can't explain it: you would have to experience it for yourself, but it was great! Just so much fun in the descriptions of places and buildings and historical events. Things about 'miles and miles of red tape' in the town hall... don't even ask me to explain this. So sometimes Angela and I had fits of laughter and most of the other people sitting at the top deck were German so were looking at us as if we were mad. They probably did not get the jokes...I don't know. Anyway, we got 2 bustours for the price of 1. The city center tour and the bigger tour in which we also drove over some of the 7 bridges and saw the quaside. It only rained for a short time so we were lucky, the tour was about 90 minutes so pretty good value for money.

After the bustour we really wanted to eat something and, most of all, have a nice cup of tea. We walked towards the Quaside and, after having walked incorrectly first, ended up at the water side. We asked two technicians where a good pub was to eat and they directed us to the 'Slug and lettuce' this only after they had said that they did not have a problem with 'going Dutch' with us...as long as we paid. As you can imagine we did NOT take them up on that offer! We went to the 'Slug and Lettuce' but in the end only had a good deserved cup of tea and a sitdown. It was too much of a Friday's and not enough of an English pub for us. But still, the sit down was good and the tea even better. A lot of fun was that there was a lesbian couple there with a daughter and friend of one of them. Angela and I walked away hand in hand, but unfortunately I don't think that they have noticed this. We found it highly amusing though!

From the 'Slug and Lettuce' we walked back towards the city center and finally found ourselves a nice pub: Fitzgeralds (60 Grey Street) where we had another nice cup of tea and a long sitdown, but also a really good lunch. Baquette with chicken, bacon and melted cheese: delicious! And the pot of tea helped too.
While we were there we also called Les and asked him how he was. It was good talking to him again as we don't do that too often.
After lunch we decided to have a walk around some shops and we did buy some things as well... I know we shouldn't have but we will cherish those things even more!
I know it sounds unbelievably strange, but it was so good to just walk around English shops, hear English being spoken, go to Marks & Spencers...even though I only saw one Tesco, if only from a distance, I just instantly felt at home! This was hightened by our trip to Waterstone's. I LOVE it to walk around in Waterstone's and just look at books. It was also marvellous just walking around enjoying ourselves and each others company. Especially when the sun broke through the clouds and it became nice and warm.

Toward the end of the afternoon we walked back towards the station and had another cup of tea in a pub (can't remember the name anymore) while watching the Live 8 concert on a big screen.

After this unfortunately our time in Newcastle was already finished and we got back in the transfer bus which brought us back to the port again. It was so short but fantastic! Especially the stops in the pubs...Fitzgeralds was a good example of a fantastic British pub, with people of all ages walking around. And the food and tea were great, the pub was quiet but still bustling...definitely a good place for a stop when you are in Newcastle!

Anyway, it was now back on board again and that's where I'll start off next entry.