Newcastle? More like really really old castle

So, in our apartment frustrations and quest to get away from York, we booked a trip to Newcastle to celebrate Valentine's Day. Other than some remains of Hadrian's Wall, we weren't really sure what there was to see, but off we went regardless. We arrived and wandered around a bit trying to find our hotel. Turns out it what in a bit of a ghetto a mile out of town, uphill. On our way though, we stopped and had an amazing lunch at this very Portland-esque cafe (carrot and coriander soup, artichoke and hummus sandwhich). Nice atmosphere (we consequently went back there for the lunch the following day). We found our hotel and relaxed a bit before heading out again to see the sights. We saw several impressive looking churches/cathedrals and a momument to Earl Grey (yes, the man whom the now famous British tea is named after) before deciding we had to try Newcastle's very own Indian/Italian restaurant. Yup. How can you pass up such an offering of cultural delights in one prime location (ie: five minutes from our hotel). So we went, I went with Italian and Jon with Indian, both were delicious. We had samosas for appetizers and cheesecake for dessert. Ah Luigi Khan you did not dissapoint :)


The next day we set off to fulfill our original mission of finding Hadrian's Wall. We took the metro (I would not have expected Newcastle to have a metro...) to Wallsend, which made sense as that is where the giant walling stretching 80 miles from the west to east coast of England really did end back in Emperor Hadrian's time. As cool as that aspect of it was, it was not the most ideal place to see an example of the wall. While some places still display examples of the wall in its prime, still standing 7-8 feet high, this end of the wall was quite the site of industrialization and left a mere footpath of where the wall once was, next to a replica of how high it would have been (see picture). Still, it was exciting in its own way. Jon even took the opportunity to climb the wall replica (see picture). I told him he was going to get us kicked out for ruining a World Heritage site, but it turns out there were stairs running up the other side, so I guess they didn't mind. There was also a museum there, with artifacts dating back to the wall's inception in 122. Yikes that's old.

So we were content at having accomplished our goal of seeing some small part of that ancient aspect of history. On another note, that night for dinner we went to a place called "Stateside", and was fashioned in the style of the 50s in America. Gotta love those diners. We figured we had knocked out several cultures worth of food the night before, and were suddenly craving a good burger, so this is what our search turned up. Laugh though you may, it was so good. Curly fries, veggie burgers, chocolate cake for dessert, milkshakes on the menu and pictures of James Dean and Marilyn Manroe on the wall.

Before heading home the next day, we felt we ought to explore one last thing which sounded promising. 'Castle Keep', google maps said. We were dubious, since it said it was right in the middle of city center, and we had wandered through city center quite a bit and seen no sign of a castle. Also, the dot on the map was very small. This seemed to indicate to us it was rather a small castle, but since we had the time we felt it justified further investigation. Actually, it turned into the highlight of the trip (no offense, Hadrian's Wall and Luigi Khans). There actually was nothing left of the castle itself, save the gigantic keep. The first fortifications built on this site were done so by Robert Curthose, son of William the Conqueror, and the Castle Keep which we explored was later built in the early 12th Century by Henry II. It was really cool to explore, very unlike the stately castles of Versailles (Paris) or Hollyrood (Edinburgh) but instead looked much more medieval and one could actually picture medieval life going on inside those walls. Tons of old stone corridors to explore, with little windows overlooking the Great Hall. We even saw some 'unfinished stairs' which would have led to the roof. There were other entrances to the roof however, which gave a lovely view of the city of Newcastle that we had just finished thoroughly exploring.