I wasn't able to spend too much time in Newcastle, but I did have a good time while I was there! Emma Vaughan came and met me at the train station as she promised, and we walked over to her car nearby. Got on the road and drove right to her house, where her mom and cute little dog Elmo greeted me. I almost immediately face planted onto my bed and drifted off into a nap. There was almost no way I was going to function otherwise. Emma got me settled upstairs in my room and I set my alarm for a little bit later. I stumbled back out of bed and went downstairs where she was watching some TV. It was getting to be dinnertime so we discussed some options, deciding on Indian. I haven't had Indian in a bit, so my tummy was ready to handle it. We left a few minutes later to drive over to a place Emma knew that had a 5 course meal for a set price. Sounds good to me! We both enjoyed our meals; mine was particularly spicy. I guess that's what you get when you order a dish with 3 pepper symbols next to it. But, to be fair, the hottest was 5 peppers, so I thought 3 was in the middle. It was definitely at the higher end of spicy, but it was fine with me. I couldn't finish my meal so I took home the leftovers in hopes of having it some other time, or leaving it for someone in her family to enjoy.
The next morning, Lexi Forth (CEL 09, 2010) met us at Emma's house and we went out for the day. We drove up to Morpeth first, and walked along a riverbank, taking advantage of nice weather for the day, and enjoying each other's company. Then we drove to Alnwick (which I found out is pronounced Annick), another nearby town, which has the castle that part of Harry Potter 1 was filmed in. Although I'm not a Harry Potter freak (or even a fan to be truthful), I figured it was a good opportunity to take some pictures! So, I did just that. After we parked the car, we walked over to the castle, down the hill, across the bridge, and took some photos. We passed just enought time for our tummies to be ready for lunch, which was already decided - FISH AND CHIPS! I hadn't actually ordered a Fish n Chips meal for myself since being in this country. I had a taste from other people's plates but not my own order. The heavy fried food is normally not my choice but in this case, I had to do it. The restaurant even had a sustainable fish of the week, which was what I ordered. It tasted just like a cod or haddock, so I was happy, and I felt less "bad" about ordering it when I knew it was sustainable. I also got onion rings instead of the chips, because I'm just a sucker for 'em. Lexi and Emma couldn't finish their chips and onion rings, so I just keep piling them in. I was eating like a savage. Maybe every now and again, a meal made up entirely of fried foods is just what the body needs. Well...let's see how my stomach feels about that later!
Our meter for parking was up, so we made a quick dash into the chocolate store on the corner, and made our way back to Emma's house. On the drive, despite the music, Emma's singing, and the curving highways, I fell asleep. Needless to say, when we got back, Lexi left for the rest of the afternoon, and even Emma was tired so we both went upstairs for naps. Two and a half hours later (yep, two and a half hours later) we both woke up and figured out some dinner plans. Time to meet up with Sam K! Boy how I miss that character - what a sweetie. Emma's dad was nice enough to drive us into the city so we didn't have to take the Metro in, and be bound by the timetable. He dropped us off at our meeting point, where we found Lexi, and a few minutes later, Sam. We went to Francesca's, an Italian restaurant Sam knew about (because we were in his neighborhood). I was actually kind of hoping for an Italian style meal because it has been a while since I had something like that. I started with avocado vinagrette which I thought would be a salad with avocado on it. Turns out, it was an ENTIRE avocado! Oh how happy I was when they brought that. There was a bed of lettuce underneath it also, and the vinagrette dressing, so I mixed it all up myself. Sam was craving mussels so he got a plate as a starter, and Emma and Lexi shared potato skins. Each of us had our main meal arrive on the table - ravioli for me, various individual pizzas for the rest of them. I kept saying, "Grazie" to the wait staff, in a heavy Italian accent. Boy how I miss Italian!!!
We went out to a nearby bar to get a drink and check out the scene, which apparently is very much students. Lots of young people there. We couldn't stay too late (I had to leave on the train the next morning, Lexi had class, and Emma had work) and the bar was closing right around 11pm anyways. I thought it was early for a bar to close but it wasn't yet the weekend so maybe that's what they do here. I did have a Newcastle Brown Ale...in Newcastle...which I have to say was probably my highlight of the trip! A little after 11pm when the bar closed, Emma and I walked to the Metro to go home, and ended up on the wrong one by mistake. Emma only realized it after it was a little too late, so we got off in hopes of another train coming back the other way. She checked the train times, and we had missed the last one! Oh no! Thankfully, she had the number in her phone to a taxi company, so we had one coming in a few minutes. Well, we thought it would be very quick, but it was about a 15 minute wait. And I was cold! You could see your breath kind of cold! Finally the cab came and we hopped in. The driver was very nice and very friendly. He and Emma had a nice little chat about the taxi companies in Newcastle. Once I chimed in to some part of the conversation, he could tell I was American - and either I had mentioned it (but I don't exactly recall) or he just guessed I was from NY. I was surprised at how friendly he was. In NY, you don't talk to cab drivers. In Jerusalem, you barely do. If they speak English (or your Hebrew is good enough) you might have a conversation with them. But most of the time, cabbies are nonconversational. Not in Newcastle! So friendly. He dropped us off at home and we called it a night.
I'm now sitting on the train heading south to Newton Abbot where Dawn Wylie (CEL 06-2010) is picking me up so I can spend a day with her. My morning was quite the hectic one, to say the least. There was much frustration and even tears. The main problem was that I had mistakenly selected an e-ticket for my train reservation, which was sent to my email. It required that I print it out and present it to gain access to the train platform and get my ride. However, I didn't have access to a printer, and I was sure that when I got to the station I could retrieve my ticket another way - through a self-service machine or the ticket counter. I first tried the self-service machine. My credit card was read but my reservation was not found. I went to the booth next to it so I could actually speak to someone and explain that I had my ticket in my email but could not access it nor print it. The teller gave me the phone number to Cross Country, the company of the train I made my reservation with, and said I could try calling them, or going to the hotel across the street to see if they had a business center and I could print off my ticket. Well, I went over there, and they had no business center where I could print off my ticket. So, I walked over to Emma's work to see if they had a computer where I could print off my ticket, and she said she didn't have it. I started to panic, and the tears started. I put my bags down and called the Cross Country company. The woman who was on the phone clearly did not speak English as her first language, so it was a bit difficult to understand her. What I did understand from her was that the only way I could print my ticket was to use Adobe and print off the ticket. I really thought it was so bogus that you couldn't do it any other way. I was standing, face to face, with someone who WORKS at the train station, who should be able to retrieve reservations, and settle the score. And he couldn't. The lady on the phone was not much help either. I hung up, gave Emma my bags to keep while I ran across the street to yet another hotel, in hopes of them having a business center or a place I could print out my ticket.
I walked in and waited patiently behind the last person in line at reception. They must have just had a group check out and everyone was giving in their keys and making final payment arrangements. I knew time was running out. I got up to the counter and asked nicely, "Hi there, do you have a business center or another place I could print out an e-ticket I need for the train across the street?" The receptionist told me they didn't have a business center but that I could forward them an email and they could print it out for me. I said I had no internet access (does everyone think that everyone has Blackberries and iPhones now? I guess so) so I couldn't do that. She said I could try getting on the computer if it would open Gmail and I would be more than welcome to print the ticket if it worked out and showed up. THANK GOODNESS it worked. I printed out the ticket, thanked her profusely, and ran out of there. I got back to Emma's where I collected my bags, gave her one final hug and ran out. I was so hungry, and there was a Starbucks between where I was and the train station. I popped in to grab a muffin to go, because, well, they are really yummy. At this point, I considered it comfort food. Just enough time to spare, I got my muffin, walked back to the train station, and showed the barrier clerk my ticket so he could scan me in. Walking toward the platform, I realized I didn't have my scarf with me anymore! I must have left it at Emma's work, when I left my things there in a haste. Well, I hope that after all the hassle I've had, that's the only thing I've misplaced, which is not a big deal. If she still has it, she'll bring it to camp when she flies over, and I will then thank her profusely for dealing with all my crazy shenanigans this morning!
On the train, I finished watching the 4th Indiana Jones movie, had all of my leftovers for lunch (Indian from the other night, and my ravioli from last night), and I'm all caught up on my blog. I think it's time for a well deserved nap.
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