It's been about 3 days I think. Our last post left you in Newcastle with our friendly Bulgarian couch surfing hosts. The morning of the 29th we headed into Newcastle to see the sites. Our host Yassen and his wife live in a 1970s housing development called the Byker Wall. At the time it was a very revolutionary development designed by Ralph Erskine. Although it has become quite run down over the years with increased crime and vandalism. The city has began to focus their attention on the Byker Wall as it has always been a recognised area of the city. So, the point of that was to make aware that as we explored the city, it was obvious a lot of improvement was needed throughout. It was a bit dirty North of the river that runs through the city. Don't get me wrong though, the city is that kind of picturesque neat looking city, and there is a lot of culture in it.
On the South edge of the river, there was a lot of newer construction. The Sage building designed by Sir Norman Foster was quite cool actually. It is a big bubbly outer shell of metal cladding and Northern facades. Inside was pretty awesome though. The lobby opens up to a large central space all the way up to the shell with all the auditoriums contained in more regular volumes inside the bubble. Quite cool and very Foster like.
There was also a large art gallery that was a reuse of an old industrial building kind of like the Tate Modern. This building had a lookout deck upon which one could see all of Newcastle. Also, an indoor viewing room that overlooked West at the Sage and along the river. It was very cool from these spaces to get those views of the city.
Of course, there was the sweet Gateshead bridge. This pedestrian bridge tilts to open long ways to lift the walking arc to allow for boats. very unexpected...
There was also the new Library with some good South shading and a nice atrium space; and of course all the neat old buildings and monuments.
We left Newcastle very early the 30th to get to Manchester, England. I accidentally slept too long so we just brushed our teeth and walked to the bus station to get to the train station. Once in Manchester the first thing we did was take showers in the hotel we stayed at. Ahh we felt so much better. The rest of the day we walked around Man. looking at the interesting new buildings. There were some nice facades with good rhythm. Then for lunch, we ate at Wagamama's! Woot for fun authentic Japanese cuisine where everyone sits in a long table across from whom they are with.
We then found the Urbis building which is this big glass building wrapped in a double facade. Little to our knowledge, it is an art gallery with a cool elevator that ascends at a 45 degree angle instead of straight up. Sure was a lot of glass.
Today, we woke up and walked around Manchester a little more then decided to head to Liverpool a bit early and got into Liverpool about 2pm. We walked about a mile to our lodge and I have been typing this blog. We are about to see the city and get some dinner a little later. We want to get to London, our bodies are so tired. We are hoping we can cancel our second night here in Liver pool and get to Birmingham for a night and get to London on Friday instead of Saturday morning. The lodge probably won't let us cancel our second night because it isn't 24 hours before we check in, but it is 24 hours before tomorrow night.... lame.
And we're off into the city via foot...
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