Newcastle upon Tyne

First, I apologize for not keeping up with my posting last week and I've been called out by several of you, which is actually quite flattering because it means you're enjoying this as much as I am.  Sorry I was slacking-- it won't happen again!

This past weekend I went to Newcastle upon Tyne (click to see the map).  It was an amazing weekend, and I know I promised to make my posts educational and interesting with fun facts, but this post is purely a recap.

My best friend, Brooke (everyone say hi, Brooke!) hooked me up with a phenomenal tour guide/local in Newcastle.  Actually, Brooke and I somewhat swapped English friends in the past month.  A few weeks ago, I had a British friend traveling through Phoenix, and Brooke (like the social butterfly she is) agreed to meet up with him and show him a good time in Tempe, AZ even though she had never even met the guy (and actually, I've never met the guy in real-life either, haha!).  She just agreed to meet him because I asked her to.  Then, Brooke has a friend who lives in Newcastle who has family in Artesia, and he offered to show me around Newcastle for the weekend.  I think I got the better end of the deal because Brooke had to be the tour guide and I got to be the tourist!

I had only met Carl once briefly at the Inn of the Mountain Gods in Ruidoso when I was there with Brooke on Labor Day weekend 2010.  So, as you can imagine, it was so kind for him to offer to show some girl around that he didn't even really know.  I'm finding that my connections to Artesia come in handy worldwide.

It was a bit of a fiasco catching the bus to Newcastle on Saturday morning, and customer service isn't the Scottish bus company's first priority, but with some "I'm an American and I suck at public transportation" excuses, I arrived in Newcastle in one piece.  Fortunately, the sun decided to come to Newcastle on Saturday, and that was the first time in six days that I had seen the sun, which was quite exciting.  First thing we did was go to the beach, which was breathtakingly beautiful.  I took off my boots and tights and walked barefoot on the beach in northern England, which made me quite happy.  We walked up and down the shoreline and he let me ramble on about my England experiences thus far and he told me about his time spent in Artesia (which is a lot!).  We spent the rest of the day walking around the city.  We saw a castle dating back to 1250, walked along the River Tyne, saw amazing shopping areas, old cathedrals, parks, and the soccer stadium.  Saturday night, I met several of his very welcoming friends and they showed me around Newcastle nightlife--and they taught me a useful cheer for the soccer match on Sunday.

Sunday morning I was so happy to finally watch some British TV.  I got to watch the news and I felt connected back with the world again!  Sunday afternoon we went to my first real soccer match,  Newcastle United vs. Tottenham Hotspurs.  It was quite an experience, and very different from an American sporting event.  But a good different!  (Not having to get patted down and my purse searched for a start!)  But, I got to see the passionate soccer crowd that we hear about in America but don't really understand.  I wish Landon could have been there with me!

I got back to Leeds late Sunday evening.  Thank you to my sweet best friend, Brooke for sharing your friend!  And thank you to Carl and his roommate, Chris for putting up with the American girl all weekend who probably spent way too much time in their bathroom.

I suppose you all want to see photos now!  I will get photos from the past twoish weeks up tomorrow.  I have to strategically stretch out my posts so y'all will keep coming back for more!

It's worth mentioning that on Friday night, I spent the evening at a traditional Bavarian pub (Bavaria is an area in Germany) with three Bavarians.  At one point, everyone in the pub was singing Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams.  Dozens of people who could only speak broken English at best knew every word to this song.  In case you need a reminder at how classic that song is, I've included it for you to listen to.    Turn your speakers up!