Day 2 in Newcastle - Our holiday!

 Following on from last weeks blog post we had arrived in Newcastle and had a good look around all the shops the 2nd day was all about doing all the touristy things. We had such a great day and by the end of it we were worn out with all of the walking we had done!

We had such a great nights sleep and were up early to have a hotel breakfast. The only time I eat breakfast properly is when we are on holiday. Simple things like toast with marmalade on, bacon and sausages and even apple juice always tastes better when you are away. hehehe

The hotel was in a great location, right inbetween the city centre shops and the Quayside. We headed down there first, Stu and I haven't been down there for about 18 years. lol It always seemed like such an effort when the kids were little. It has changed a lot. There are a ton of places to eat, just sit and relax and I loved seeing all of the bridges!

We then crossed the Millennium Bridge and decided to have a look in the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The Baltic is a converted mill with minimalist interiors, hosting temporary shows by contemporary artists. It was free to visit and we thought why not. I will have another blog post about it but it was so interesting.

While we were walking around the Quayside we had seen the open top tour bus driving around and planned on getting on and going on the tour. Just as we came out of the Baltic we realised we had missed it by a couple of minutes and we had half an hour until the next one which worked out perfectly because it came over a loudspeaker saying clear the bridge, the bridge is going to be tilted!! We didn't know that everyday at noon between the 1st of May and the 30th of September it tilts. I was so excited, I've heard about it but haven't seen it before.

We realised we had timed it so right, just as the bridge had finished tilting the Toon Tour bus arrived! When we lived in the North East we always saw the bus but we always had places to be or the weather wasn't nice. The Thursday was perfect for a ride on an open top bus! A full circuit of Newcastle takes an hour and I was just glad to be sat down and rest my aching legs. I am going to do a whole blog post about it but the highlights were going over the Tyne Bridge, seeing Newcastle's football stadium, St James's Park and going through Ouseburn. I had never been there before.

We jumped off the bus after more than a full lap of Newcastle and went and got some lunch. Of course we had ham and pease pudding sandwiches. We can't get it in North Lincolnshire so I do make the most of having it when we are in the North East. We spent the rest of the afternoon listening to buskers and just sat people watching.

We headed back to the hotel for a shower and to get changed, the weather had been lovely and we needed to freshen up. We were going out for another meal and I had read the reviews for an all you can eat place and they weren't great so we headed to Frankie and Benny's. At least we knew what to expect there.

Newcastle was totally different on the Thursday evening compared to the Wednesday. I suppose the weekend starts early in the toon. hehehe The girls were shocked at some of the sights they saw. Homeless people having a street party, women with next to nothing on and lots of police cars and ambulances whizzing about. Eek! 

We were back in the hotel for 9pm and had a drink there as only residents were there and it was nice and quite. We all went to bed by about 10pm as we were worn out again. lol This holiday lark is exhausting!