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Published: November 2nd 2008
As promised, I had a very busy Saturday. I took the metro into Newcastle, about a 25-minute ride, with my friends Aijai and Alena. Newcastle is great -- it almost reminds of New York City in an obtuse sort of way, at least in terms of breadth of culture (there were museums, independent stores, designers, art galleries, music venues, and more pubs than Southington has buildings). We traveled around the city on foot gaping at the odd juxtaposition of centuries-old architecture and modern culture.
What made the whole trip worth it, besides the fantastic views of the sunset from the bridge, was the Baltic Contemporary Art Museum. Situated right along the Tyne River, the museum, housed in an old, five-story Flour Mill, showed several extremely modern art exhibits, though I would be at a loss to try and explain any of them. The building itself was beautiful, with three glass elevators overlooking the river and a view from the top floor that seemed like an exhibit in itself. It was just great.
Considering how close Newcastle is to Sunderland, it's a bit of a shame that I haven't made it over there for a day trip until now. Considering
the plethora of attractions and shops (we didn't even make it to the Philosophy and Literature Library, the classic vinyl record store, or the ancient Castle Keep, among many, many others), I won't tire of the city anytime soon.
That evening we went to the Campus bar to catch a bunch of live bands. It had been a few weeks since I'd seen some live music, so Saturday evening was a nice return to form. I was even familiar with the headlining band, The Week That Was, who just so happened to be from Sunderland. All told, it was probably the best concert I've seen since over here thus far.
And that's about it for now. I have a couple of papers due November 11th, so the next week or so will be devoted to those. I'm also in the process of looking for cheap plane tickets to Rome -- wish me luck!
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The Emperor
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Arena
Wow! The Gateshead Sage Arena is an amazing structure! I've never seen anything like it. It must have been incredible in person.