June 27, Newcastle

The most memorable part Newcastle was the people. The over-the-top friendly and helpful hostel manager, Brendan, who knew my name upon arrival, my lovely dormmate, Kristine, who was a seasoned traveler from Australia, and the mix of bored and flirtatious waiters at the nearby Italian restaurant, Santana's. What a great time! Newcastle had its own unique assortment of sights and sounds, including three prominent bridges. The graceful white arch of the Millenium bridge - Kristine told me- was modeled from a bridge in Sydney. On our brief morning sightseeing walk, on yet another gorgeous sunny day, Kristine and I unexpectedly saw a person flying across the Tyne in mid air! What's up?! There was a zipline spanning the river - how fun! We meandered through the streets past old churches and monuments, to the waterfront Quayside market. After perusing for a while, Kristine left for the train and I enjoyed a nice final tour through the city by bike and then onwards to the North Shields ferry terminal. Funny enough, I met many touring cyclists finishing the Coast-to-Coast route, which was only a few miles past the ferry terminal in Tynemouth. The 7 miles to the terminal was along a wonderful quiet, shady path. I reveled in being outside on my trusty bike, knowing I was going to be on a ferry for 15 hours. Getting on the ferry was quite the experience, as I was considered a 'vehicle' and had to follow and lock my bike next to the many motorbikes. Luckily, the ferry ride was without any seasickness, although I was woken up at 4 am with a hollering drunk British guy banging on a cabin door, threatening to 'get his gun' if the woman inside didn't open the door... Not as bad as having this situation on a plane, but definitely not pleasant. At this moment, I realized that the cabins didn't have emergency buttons. After 20 minutes of carrying on, a third person finally did something to dissolve the situation- not sure what happened but I was glad to go back asleep! We arrived in Amsterdam around 10 am and I was surprised to see all the modern windmills extending far into the bay. I was the last 'vehicle' off the ferry and was very glad to get off the hulking, stale-smelling, boredom factory. I thought I had to take a train to Amsterdam, but turned out I was wrong and ended up taking a smaller ferry to the city which was much more fun than expected. Ilana and Dan's place was not easy to find, so with all my confusion, wrong turns, and asking over 8 locals for directions, it took me most of the morning to get to my final destination! But what a treat! The city is amazingly unique, with its canals and cycling culture. Ilana gave me a warm welcome and we started our wonderful visit in Amsterdam :)