A Traveler Returns
My week in Newcastle Upon Tyne.
First, I apologize for not posting sooner, but I had all kinds of techno trouble while I was in the UK this past week. Monday was the last full day I was there and we went to Durham to see the cathedral not expecting it to be crowded because we’d forgotten it was a bank holiday. The morning started quietly enough but by lunch time the town was a mob scene. I took plenty of amazing pictures and had a delicious steak pie, but I enjoyed our visit to Tynemouth even more. I wanted to see the town and its seaside location but it was the 11th century castle and monastery that held my attention. The photo above is a shot through the castle’s gate of the remains of the monastery with its cemetery on the right and a cluster of WWII era buildings to the left and behind. Tynemouth, as the name implies, sits on the cliffs where the River Tyne meets the North Sea, so of course, since it faces Denmark and part of Germany, the military would commandeer the cliffs for surveillance. The monastery, or priory as it was called, was much older than the castle and had been attacked by the Vikings among other marauders before being sacked by Henry VIII. Its history is fascinating, here’s a link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tynemouth_Priory_and_Castle.
I was in Newcastle most of the time visiting my dear Paul, who marched me through numerous contemporary art galleries as well as up and down a million stairs and was appalled when I said my fish and chips were bland and proceeded to smother them in ketchup. I did however really like the Sunday roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, and the previously mentioned steak pie, but I somehow missed tea and scones, and the Greggs sausage roll I kept seeing everywhere we went.
Next time, maybe, for that sausage roll, when I go back. But the tourist season is upon us now in Provincetown and my summer job goes into full swing on Saturday, so it will have to wait. In the meantime, I’ve brought Newcastle’s chilly wet weather home with me. It was 80 degrees when my plane landed Tuesday evening, it’s in the 50s and raining today. Which makes sense since I feel like I’m still over there, climbing stairs and in search of a really good cup of coffee.