On to Newcastle

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So I discovered last night that the Dr. Who watch I bought doesn't work. Looks like it needs a new battery, but I wasn't sure, so I called up the museum this morning to ask. Seems that all of their watches weren't working, so I'm guessing it is the battery. Hope I can find a replacement easily. (I know, what a geek! A Dr. Who watch??? Anyway.....)

Checked out of my room this morning with a few hours to kill before my train. I decided to go and sit in George Square and found that there was some kind of presentation going on, involving the army, the police overseeing, and a few Royal officers. There were too many people and my bags were too heavy to find out exactly what it was, but it looked interesting. What was also interesting was seeing the one photographer climbing up high to get a good vantage point to photograph the crowd. 😉

The day was sunny and so I sat in the park for a few hours enjoying the sun, playing sudoku and resting. I don't tend to do much of that on my trips. It was quite nice, though it made me sleepy. 😉 An older couple came and sat on the bench beside me and started chatting to me when they saw my Canadian flags on my bags. Turns out that despite their Scottish accents, they're actually from Barrie! They were waiting for family to show up so that they could get started on their day of sightseeing. (The family still hadn't shown up by 1pm. Oops.)

The train to Newcastle was interesting. I had to change trains in Edinburgh, and only had about 10 min. to do that in. Of course, do you think that they would post anywhere visible where I had to pick up the next train? I was able to (barely) see the large boards in the main part of the station to determine that I actually had to pick up the train going to London. Who knew? I made it to the train and boarded with only about a minute or two to spare. Cutting it a bit close! At our first stop along the route, there was a call out for a doctor or a nurse as one of the passengers had "taken ill". Then there was a delay for the arrival of an ambulance. When the train finally pulled away, I saw a youngish (20s?) guy sitting on a bench looking wasted. I wonder if he'd started his weekend partying early? The train was then running about 25-30 minutes late, so I texted Anna to forewarn her.

Finally I arrived in Newcastle, and met up with Anna. We walked back to her apartment, which was only about 5 min. from the train station, and I sat with her and Alan (her fiance) discussing things to do in around the area. I think I'm going to take the bus to see Hadrian's Wall tomorrow. Anna is on call, and Alan has other plans, so I'm on my own. It'll be an early start -- bus leaves at 9am! I saw some photos online, and they looked awesome. I just hope that the bus will take me to those places! More tomorrow.....

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