Newcastle And The Vampire Rabbit

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We reluctantly left Edinburg.  We enjoyed many things.  Among those were the architecture, history, food, and warmth of our hotel room.  The weather this year has been brutal, according to the Brits we have talked to.  A lot of on and off again sun and rain, warmth and cold.

We hit the roads, both highways and winding country roads.   We saw more road traffic than ever.  Being retired with no real set schedules, we have forgotten those routines we had drilled into us for so many years.  Spring break is everywhere in the world, and here in the U.K., vacationers are on the go.  RVs filled the roads along with the very popular car-top popup tent rentals.  

We had no issues finding our apartment in Newcastle.   Driving in the U.K. has now become second nature.  We found parking in front of the apartment.  Not the nicest of cities or the cleanest.  However, each rental seems to have more positives than negatives.  A nice two-bedroom with one of our best kitchens for preparing meals.  Super good heating and comfortable heating.  Again, I planned it so we were just two blocks from a bus line direct to the city center.

Newcastle has a population of 330,000.  In a local museum, we read that the population in 1880 was 220,000.   I thought that the difference was quite low.  

We always check for the quirky things to see and do.  There were two, and one was the Phil & Lit Library.   Built in 1793 for a members-only meeting place where taboo subjects would be discussed, among those natural philosophy, or what is referred to as science today.   

Phil and Lit is not a public library but a membership, just as it was started.  It is the second-largest library in the U.K.  In the basement, members only, is a crescent-shaped meeting hall.  This meeting hall is where new scientific creations were presented.  In 1879, Sir James Swan displayed the first light bulb and later. the first illuminated public space. 

Inside the library a few finds, and one of them is two wall clocks.  I was a clockmaker's apprentice in high school.  Juan calls me the human clock.  I can pretty much tell him the time pretty accurately without checking. 

1880s Fusee 8-day clock.

Another "quirky" sight is the Vampire Rabbit.  The statue was placed atop a doorway on a building in 1901, behind the cathedral.  Legend says it watches over the cemetery to scare off grave robbers, years before.  In the early years, three teens were found dead in the early morning hours with bloody and scared white faces.  Another event found a known robber dead in the doorway, with the rabbit looking down.

St. Nicolas Cathedral was built in 1091.  

This tablet commemorates the free lectures in the 1840s.  Space was provided by the church for people to gather and discuss many subjects besides religion. 

Grave markers of those buried under the church floor.  

After renovation efforts, the riverwalk has become a place for tourists and locals.  Many new businesses have opened up offices.  This is the Glasshouse International Centre For Music.

We walked down by the river the next day.  Since the 1500s, the river has been used to transport goods.   By the 1800s, like in most parts of the world, new things were being invented.  In Newcastle, it was steam locomotives, shipbuilding, and weapons.  However, like Detroit, the decline came, and most factories, warehouses, and shipping came to an end.

Another great bottle of wine that we picked up on sale for less than £4.

I have yet to try haggis, but I'm willing.  I need to find a breakfast plate or a type of roll that has haggis.  They sell it in the markets, but I don't want to buy too much of something we might not like.  If I remember correctly, haggis is made of a mixture of blood, liver, and barley.  We grew up with blood sausage that was homemade in our neighborhood.  In Mexico, we have morcilla, a dried version of sausage.

The Grainger Market is Newcastle's city market.  Like most we've visited on this trip, there are small shops that sell clothing, food stalls, and, more than others, fresh produce, meats, and cheese.  We bought a huge slice of Camembert that was delicious.   It went well with wine on two occasions.  It would be easy to say that 80% of the stalls or shops were dedicated to food items; Thai, buns, sausage rolls, smashed burgers (always makes us grin), and pastries.

The entrance to Chinatown.  We really enjoy Chinese food, and when we saw this, we thought we had hit a goldmine.  As we walked through, most of the restaurants were permanently closed.  People we asked said that the economy was heavily affected by COVID, and they never reopened.

There is always more to bore you with, but we have fun doing all of these things.  We've learned so much about the U.K. and its people.  It explains much about our friends who are from England and Scotland, and why they are so friendly.