February 26, 2013

A Big Day In Newcastle on Tyne

We travelled on the train from Glasgow to Newcastle through stunning countryside, ranging from snow covered mountains to windswept beaches.  Newcastle is much prettier than I had imagined with the Tyne River flowing through the centre and a fabulous redeveopment on the riverfront including restaurants, hotels and museums.  We stayed at the Malmaisson Hotel with a view straight out onto the very cool Millennium Bridge which changes colour in the evenings.  I had a little pang of Sydney homesickness when we first glimpsed the Tyne Bridge which is a miniature version of our very own Harbour Bridge.

An absolute highlight of our visit to Newcastle was meeting the Sayer family; Christine and John and their gorgeous girls Emma and Lily. The girls have been enjoying the Alice-Miranda books with their mum and Christine began following me on Facebook and Twitter.  We had chatted several times and when I said we were coming to Newcastle I realised that they didn’t live too far away in Sunderland.  So I asked her if they’d like to come up to Newcastle and meet us.  It was wonderful.  The girls were beautiful – so gorgeous and sweet.  I loved meeting them and Christine and John.  We were only sad that our visit to Newcastle was so short.  We visited two schools the following day which I will write separate blog posts about.

I can’t wait to go back to Newcastle when we’re in the UK again in November and I hope that I’ll be able to visit Emma and Lily’s school.