To the Beach

February 23-24

Saturday morning I woke up and tried to edit my York post, but got the video finished and had to stop to head out to the Metro station. I apologize for the delay in the post, I've been busy spending my time avoiding other tasks.

I got to the Metro station and got a pass that covered all zones, as Tynemouth was in the third zone. Afterwards, I've come to realize I did not have to do that at all. Coming back there was no point where we had to use our tickets (even getting to the metro station).

On the ride to the beach, the guy the three of us had sat around couldn't help but hear our non-british accents. As he lived near the beach (one stop before) he was able to recommend a few things. One thing we hadn't realized was there was a castle. Also three Kings are buried below it (we didn't see any signs when we got there, so him telling us was quite important, as we'd have never known). The first was St Oswin, next was Osred II, and the third was Malcolm III, who is ironically the same Malcolm from Macbeth.

We were originally going to meet up with the other exchange students when we arrived, but ended up doing our own thing. We began by what we saw when we got off the metro, which was the Tynemouth market. It was by far, the best market i've ever been to. It was the mix of a flea market and a food market. It had so many cool pieces of jewelry and other antiquities for like a pound each. They even had souvenirs from all over the globe. There was this one area where they had old postcards. I nearly spent a load of time hunting down a Canadian postcard just for fun. I'm definitely planning on coming back, either next Saturday or the one after.

We headed out and met up with Queen Victoria. A seagull landed on her head as I was taking pictures. Part of me wondered whether it could have been one of those ghostly signs or not. Either way, it was a cool picture.

We headed to the cast first, there were a lot of people having lunch in the grass in front or standing around.

We ended up heading down to the beach. I was heavily reminded of the beaches near Portland, Oregon. It looked just the same and the air felt just the same. It was a warm and sunny day with a bit of wind. The temperature his about 15C, which according to the news and a local is probably one of the hottest days in February recorded or something. According to a lot of other people, we've been lucky on our exchange as it's normally gloomy and cold, but this year has been one of the best February's on record.

We stood in line for the restaurant on the beach called Riley's Fish Shack. It had quite the long line, so we figured they served some good fish and chips, and were cheapish. However after waiting an hour, we got to where the menu was, and were quite surprised. They did not serve fish and chips at all, and what they did serve was more expensive than a 3 course meal. We were a bit upset, but I decided to be optimistic and say the wait wasn't terrible as we got to see quite a lot of cute dogs running along the beach and swimming. We even were welcome to a meeting of a litter of pups meeting up for the day (that was 5 dogs with 4 separate owners meeting up for a day at the beach).

As per Aunt Karla's comment on my Instagram post, I counted a total of four swimsuits. The first was a small child (but that may have been his underwear), then two who came out of the water just as we were beginning to leave (they'd been swimming the whole time in that water), and the last was one guy tossing a ball to his dog. I should also mention the nude child, but he had no suit on at all, so I don't think that counts.

We headed back to where we'd come from (the area near the market) and passed by a few fish restaurants. One, as my blurry picture shows, had sold to Jimi Hendrix. The one we went to had the highest rating on google reviews.

In the line-up I battled my inner self over whether I should try fish (as I've had horrible, gag reflexing experiences in the past) or go for the slightly more expensive crustaceans (which I know I'd like). I ended up biting the bullet and ordering a small cod and chips. It came with gravy and I grabbed a yellow Fanta, my friend from back home recommended I try.

The small restaurant was packed, so we took our food out to look for a bench. There were none overlooking the water, so we ended up on a path overlooking the roads and an ice cream shop.

This was from inside the Ice Cream shop - didn't realize those were our national drinks

The first thing I tried was the Fanta, which was amazing, and now I'm mad at my friend, as I know I'll have trouble finding it again. Now onto the fish. It was deeply fried, and surprisingly good. I didn't gag at all. It also didn't smell like fish, which I think helped a lot. I was also thankful neither of my friends ordered salmon, as I know that smell would have stuffed my appetite. So, I guess I'm fine with cod, but it has to be deep-fried.

The fries were quite soggy, and not really great. The gravy was also lacklustre. It was more of a pour on mashed potatoes gravy (very liquidy). I prefer thicker gravy. Overall, it was a good experience. It was also less than 5 pounds.

This church had a candy shop, a shoe store, and even a little Princess meet-and-greet inside

We went and took some pictures in front of the castle, as it had been gated off, so no one would be in our pictures.

Then, we headed in the direction of the statue pictured below.

As we approached, we started guessing who, or what it might be. I saw a bit of a dress in the back, and wondered whether it was a figure like the statue of liberty. One of my friends wondered if it was a sea god. However, we were all wrong as it was just some guy who did some stuff, as his plaque says.

I couldn't get that great of a picture as people were sitting right in front of it. These are all I got from the area.

I also saw Sirius Black, from Harry Potter roaming around.

We then headed back to the metro. My Finnish friend and I got off a couple stops early to go to Asda, which is a cheaper grocery store. It reminded me of Walmart and Superstore. I saw some clothes I liked, so I might head back on a day when I have more time and check them out in detail. They had a great bakery section too. We were going to go to Lidl, which is even cheaper, but we'd missed that stop, so we'll probably go another day when we get a metro pass, as otherwise it is not worth the price of paying to use the metro.

Once back at my flat, I had a pint of milk and took a nap before my neighbours started to pre-drink. That way I could go to bed later, but not having lost too many hours of sleep.

Today I spent the day looking into a few more excursions and enjoying the mini apple pies I got from Asda. I bought a ticket to see the Harry Potter Studio Tour for the end of May, as there were none left for April (I would have had to book with a tour company, and that would be 80 pounds, as opposed to the 43 pounds of a regular ticket - there was no way I was spending that much for the studio tour). I then decided that since I didn't have exams, and there wasn't that much I could afford to do, especially if I wanted to have the freedom to beg to go visit Emily in the Summer, I would fly home before June 1st. It also gives me two weeks to prepare for my driver's exam.

Since I've made a lot of friends on exchange, I know I'll have the opportunity to come back to Europe at some point and do more then. I've already begun crossing things off my list that I don't really want to do. Basically, I don't really want to do Manchester, as I'd only go there to see a football game and go shopping and that's not the point of this trip. I told myself beforehand that I was going to do cool excursions to castles and areas most people would not typically go. Shopping is something that is not only costly, but something I can do anywhere in the world. Also, I'm more into vintage clothes, and you only really find those cool items in small towns.

I did want to go see the Puffins at the island from Star Wars, but to be able to do that it would be costly and risky, as you're not always guaranteed entrance to the island. I'll just have to go another time. Since Amy plans on moving to Wales, it might be easier to go then.

For now I only have 2 castles on my list as must go to's which are the castle from The Princess Diaries and the one from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Alnwick too, but I'm waiting for the Spring, as it's got an amazing garden for pictures.

I've been keeping my eye on Groupon as well, as they sometimes have some tours and dinners on there.

Also, as this week is my birthday I'm planning to go out for lunch, but not dinner as I have a big day in London the next day and will need to be well rested. I'll probably go and buy myself a nice shirt or dress on my birthday to wear to London as the studio requires people to be well-dressed (as you're on camera).