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Published: September 27th 2017
UP What Stairs?
Walking from the quay into the town by stairs .... Eventually just walked up the street...hilly....restaurant every second door. Found the proper stairs two days later. Very steep hill leads to quay.Meeting the sister of my friend Dorothy was quite an accomplishment. Rita's son arranged email contact. Rita found me on the proper coach. The woman next to me offerd to move so Rita could sit with me but when she saw that Rita could only find a backward facing seat the woman rescinded.
We went to the infamous hotel by taxi. That's a first for me!
Because check in was not unti 11.00 we had time to wander about, ride the bus, walk up the hill, walk across four of the seven bridges. We had already gone over the railroad bridge when coming into the city. We stopped in at The Hilton to use the loo and eventually went to the hotel to unpack and get ready for dinner at Witherspoon's a country wide franchise offering 'Pub" food and a myriad of beer brands. The place was full of boistrous weekenders.
Have since heard ...from a taxi driver that Witherspoons is not the best. It certainly did me no good. My travels have taken me to China, India, almost all of South America, Kenya., Cairo and EVERYWHERE .. I have always eaten street food...yet I had to arrive
Violets
...such a lovely place for tea and/or breakfast. in Newcastle to get the runs. UNBELIEVABLE!!!
Poor Rita had to put up with my constant "runs" to the toilet all day Saturday. Mind you we went into some spiffy places. And Rita gave me a special key that opens ...ready for this ... the diabled door...no not the door is disabled ...it is the door for wheelchairs and baby changing ... pretty darn good and on top of that all seniors have that Freedom Card...I like it!
During my visit here I took a bus right to the last stop. The bus travelled thru what looked it had been a manufacturing area but soon it mostly passed row houses, duplexes and single family dwellings with tiny front gardens and cars parked on that space between the sidewalk and the road. The final stop was so far out it took almost an hour to get there. So I opted to return by Metro. This cost extra..... not covered by my all day pass of two pounds forty. It actually cost me almost three pounds to get back into the city proper. But it was much much quicker.
]Whatever food I could face I bought at Sainsbury ...
big grocery chain.
People come to Newcastle for the bridges, the pubs, restaurants representing varied cuisines, The Sage, where concerts, sports event and food fairs take place, the Baltic showing contemporary art, Eldon Square for shopping, and walking along the quay especially on Sunday when vendors set up shop and have done for the last one hundred years. According to the sheep man sailors would come quickly off ships with whatever they could stow intheir sacks and sell it on Sunday before it could be found to be missing. Also people worked six days a week and only had sunday to shop and socialize
This Sunday Market was a most inspiring, relaxing, fun experience. The vendors were lined up from the Swing Bridge to the Millenium Bridge. I so wanted to try the enticing food but I resisted. Ate little boiled potatoes with cheese on top: no Venezualan street food, no teriaki, no fish and chips, no thai, no polish sausage, no pulled pork and definitely no bacon sandwich. Also no toffee, cheesecake, cookies, ice cream or handmade cupcakes.
Vendors set up, for forteen pounds a day, and come every weekend, all year long with leather goods,
shoes, toys, candles, perfumes and selections from fair trade type sources.
The three most impressive stalls were the woman who sold uniquely designed doggie cookies and treats, the man who made mosaics out of mirrors, stained glass, fine china and silver, all in a frame made of those huge wooden wire holders you see along the road when they are installing fibreoptics (this guy was amazing.... he has a website but doubt he delivers overseas) and the man who sold his chickens eggs, his pigs hams, his sheeps chops and bags of Jacob Sheep fleeces ... for five pound per full fleece. I stood and pondered how to send the fleece to Canada but he told me right away that it would not be allowed in. TOO TOO TOO bad. The fleeces are black and white because ... and here's a bit of info.
"The Jacob is a traditional British breed of domestic sheep. It combines two characteristics unusual in sheep: it is piebald – dark-coloured with areas of white wool – and it is often polycerate or multi-horned. It most commonly has four horns."
"Jacob Sheep are a very ancient breed that probably originated in Syria
some 3000 years ago. Pictorial evidence traces the breed's movement through
North Africa,
Sicily, Spain, and on to
England. Jacob sheep were imported into the U.S. for game parks and zoos around the turn of the century."from the internet.
In my minds eye a sweater was taking shape especially with patterns that are to be acquired further along during this UK adventure.
The last enjoyable occurance was my reservation at CatPawCino. Its a store front place where cats live and you can enter for five pounds and spend an hour surrounded and playing with the cats. Seven are resident cats and two, at the moment, are up for adoption. The place has it's own logo on cups saucers and tea pots and a pot of tea can be had for an additional two pounds. Reservations have to be made because only 12 people can be inside at a time. Shoes must be removed or covered, cats cannot be picked up and tails cannot be pulled. Let me tell you ...it was just what I needed to soothe my vex-ed soul. Go to the email....https://catpawcinocatcafe.com/ ... its priceless. The best cat was Ebby a Scottish Folded Ear.Apparently this is
The Millenium Bridge
This one tilts ..so that the retaining cables are horizontal and the whole thing is an equalateral triangle hanging over the River Tyne a questional breed. Search Google.
Forgot to mention Violets a delectable spot around the corner for breakfast and tea. Also that Rita and I crossed all the bridges of Newcastle ....surely there exsist a web site. I did not visit the fortune teller at the market!
And that in 1067 words is about as excited as I can get about Newcastle.
I blame it all on Vera ...the series. I do love the show and if you watch The Blanket Mire on you tube it shows a lot of Newcastle.
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Sherry
non-member comment
Newcastle
Violets tea shop. Love it. Let's hope you will empty yourself out and be fine for the rest of the trip ? Interesting market Beautiful bridges Cat shop..... very interesting