Day 122 (69): Downpour At Newcastle

My alarm rang quite a few times but the cozy bed pulled me from getting up. So did the others, and this can all be attributed to the rain since early morning around Newcastle. Finally got up as the clock approaches 9AM and went for a shower, followed by a nice free breakfast downstairs (we paid for it, but not the extra GBP50 =.=).

We went back to bed as it was still raining and at 11AM, we walked out under the drizzle heading to the city center. The first place we visited was the Hancock Museum.


It was an awesome place to be. How often you can see a real elephant and other huge wildlife being displayed in a museum? I'm not kidding, just those animals were specimens. At first, I thought I would spent little time there as the first few exhibition room displayed more on animals and the Hadrian's Walls.



Later, I discovered the exhibition on ancient civilisations of the Greek and Egyptian and I messaged the others informing them to leave without me. They went to other the attractions around the city while I stayed back to read everything being offered in the museum. The Greek part was better as compared to the World Museum Liverpool but as for overall, Hancock Museum is much smaller. Other displays include lifeforms since the ice age to the present world.



I braved the wind and rain, walking my way to St. James Park, home to Newcastle United F.C. There was not much to see there, and I just took some pictures of the stadium's exterior. Adjacent to the famous landmark, there is this Chinatown but was abnormally quiet due to the rain.



After those crappy pictures taken, I walked down the road to the Discovery Museum, a place I think worthy of visit (just I did not have the luxury of time). It's free and most stuffs exhibited are suitable for kids.


Greeting me in the main entrance was this big ship model - Turbinia, which was the first steam powered turbine ship. Climbing up the stairs, I entered the different gallery with different stuffs being displayed. From the bridges of River Tyne, to the history of Newcastle and interactive section of Science Maze.








As we were rushing to get on the bus, we spent relatively little time there. I wished for more but god didn't approve it. T.T Here I got two more pennies crushed. One have the image of Turbinia while the other portrayed the Angel of the North. Too bad I was not able to add more pennies to my collection as the two machines in Hancock Museum was out of order.

We got up the bus and traveled back to Sheffield, stopping at those stops as yesterday's. Reaching Sheffield, we went for takeaways at Chino's. Now, after having a nice shower and dinner, stay here to present you with my life for the past two days at the city around River Tyne.

Although I did not get to visit the Castle Keep and St. Nicholas Cathedral, I had a great time with Denise and co. Hopefully next week trip to Blackpool will be a better one. ^^ For now, I would like rest first as I need to complete the seminar discussion question allocated to me by tomorrow night.