Walking in Newcastle

So today, my new friends, Alissa, Rachel and I walked around the city. It was really cool, and helped to get us oriented.

First off, we had a traditional English breakfast at a little restaurant near our building. It included, sausage (of course), thick, salty bacon, stewed tomatoes, mushrooms, a fried egg and toast. It was pretty tasty, but the bacon was so salty that my mouth was dry all day!

We then went to St. James Park, which is right next to our building. It is really pretty, and even has a lake in the middle! I imagine spending a lot of time there reading. There were also a couple of gentlemen fishing, but I don't know what kind of fish there are, or if they are edible. You can also rent a boat and go rowing on the lake!

We then went to the university, because Alissa had to get some paperwork done. I also filled out the form that is required to be filled out by the school in order to get a bank account, so I will do that hopefully on Monday.

We then decided to walk to the River Tyne. It is not that far of a walk, and we got to see a lot of the sights. The "new castle" upon which Newcastle is founded is called Garth Castle. It was built in the eleventh century, and is in ruins, but you can walk around it. There are also lots of really neat older buildings in the city, which makes it really picturesque. We made our way to the river side, bought ourselves an ice cream, and walked along the river. We crossed one of the bridges, which leads to the town next to us called Gateshead. We sat for awhile, and did some people watching. It was really nice.

The weather today was also quite warm. The three of us wore sweaters, but by the time we were walking back to Newcastle, we needed to remove a layer. We got back to the city center, and went to the H & M. Megan and I discovered it when we went to Europe after high school, and it has pretty inexpensive clothing that is pretty decent quality. However, since we are in England, it was more expensive than the US. It's time to start beefing up my winter wardrobe since this AZ girl doesn't have a lot :)

We found a restaurant for dinner, it was called something like Paris Texas, and was basically Mediterranean food with a few Mexican dishes (not what I expected in Northern England). We shared a couple appetizers and a pizza. We also noticed that most restaurants have the same kinds of food, that include Mexican-inspired foods like nachos and fajitas! Crazy.

By the way, for anyone who enjoys Harry Potter, my two new friends stayed in London for a couple of days before they came here, and there is a platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross Station! They took pictures and video, which is definitely a must see next time I'm in London. I also found out that Durham Castle, which is only a Metro ride away from us, is where some scenes from the Harry Potter movies take place! We might go tomorrow, if not then definately some other time.

Well I am off to prepare myself for another night on the town. I am pretty tired, but would much rather be out with people, than in my room alone!