B had an open day at Newcastle University. Much to his delight, we all chose to go with him. He was only allowed one guest, and TBH bagged that spot, so Little S and I met A and went sightseeing around the town.
Another bridge and the Baltic art gallery.The curvy glass building is a music venue – The Sage, Gateshead.Visiting the Baltic.
Little S has been taking me to task – apparently he feels that I have unfairly branded him a Philistine on the basis of one incident many, many years ago. He may have a point. Although he is sticking by his opinion of Miro. Anyway, he was quite happy to have a gander in the Baltic and even indulged me again later on, as you’ll see.
Tyne bridges again from the viewing platform at the Baltic.The Procession, Hew Locke.
The exhibit which has left a lasting impression was this huge display of near life-size figures.
More art. Newcastle castle.
This was far from my first visit to Newcastle, but somehow it has escaped my notice that Newcastle actually has a castle. Seems obvious that it would, with hindsight.
Newcastle castle.Newcastle castle.
A was keen to take us a vegan cafe she likes. It was very good. Even Little S evidently enjoyed his meal and he’s usually an unapologetic carnivore.
The weather had been good when we left home, but then we’d been in the cloud as we drove over the Pennines and it remained foggy after that. We’d arrived in Newcastle to find it cold and drizzly. Fortunately, whilst we were in the cafe it brightened up considerably.
Our view through the cafe window.Flower bed at the Uni.Part of the University.The Hancock Museum.Fossil.
The Hancock Museum was another one of those places, stuffed to the rafters with a disparate hodge-podge of wonderful stuff.
Surely ancient Egyptian?I liked the shiny clock.Newcastle city centre.The very fetching Central Arcade.Grainger Market.Monument.Art at the Laing Art Gallery.Art at the Laing Art Gallery.
We were killing time to a certain extent, before a meet-up with the kids’ grandparents for a meal in a very busy Spoons near the uni. It was only when we had run out of time that Little S remembered to tell me that he wanted to go shopping for a suit for his forthcoming prom. Doh!
B was impressed with Newcastle. It’s a good job that I was too, since it seems likely that we will have a few more visits to the North-East over the next few years.
B’s team were having one final tour before they graduate to senior rugby. He had a shoulder injury, so couldn’t play, but after all these years, we could hardly miss it, could we?
We’d been delivered to Berwick-on-Tweed on the Friday evening by our redoubtable, and long-suffering, coach driver. I shall draw a veil over the shenanigans which took place on the bus, then later that evening, and on the following night, because, apparently, “what happens on tour, stays on tour”.
The Saturday morning was clear and bright and incredibly cold. We had snow at home and had been worried all week that the games would be cancelled. Fortunately, the borders didn’t have the snow, just the freezing northerly winds.
Berwick Old Bridge again.
Berwick Youth Hostel, where we were staying, (highly recommended if there isn’t a touring rugby team staying there) is right by the Tweed and Berwick Old Bridge. Since the construction of the bridge, replacing older wooden structures, was completed in 1624, I think it definitely deserves that title. Unsurprisingly, it’s a Grade I listed monument.
Royal Tweed Bridge.
The adjacent Royal Tweed Bridge, another road bridge, is a whipper-snapper by comparison, dating from three hundred years later and finished in 1924. It’s concrete and is Grade II* listed, for it’s scale and innovative design.
Kirkby Lonsdale Colts versus Kelso Colts.
We were back on the coach for the first match against Kelso Colts. Later, we watched their senior team play a local rival in a top-of-the-table, promotion decider. I sat in the stand with the Kelso fans and became very invested in the home side’s performance. Happily, they played superbly and won. Later still, we watched the England vs France match in the clubhouse. The clubhouse was heaving, I assumed due to the home game followed by the six nations match, but apparently it’s always that busy – I can see why; the drinks were very reasonable and, as always seems to be the case with rugby clubs, the atmosphere was terrifically friendly. At one point one of the locals was sharing his enthusiasm for the hiding France were handing to England, but then, when he realised I didn’t share his glee, backtracked and reassured me that England would be better in the second half and would no doubt go on to win. We both knew it wasn’t true, but it was good of him to try to cheer me up.
The Tweed at Kelso.
Between the two games I had time for a short stroll into Kelso itself.
Market Square Kelso.The River Tweed Salmon Fishing Museum.
Housed in the former town hall, this is the River Tweed Salmon Museum. Now, I’m very fond of a museum, but this seemed a bit too niche for me.
I was very taken with Kelso. A handsome town, it looks as though it has, at some point, been a prosperous place, with a number of grand buildings.
Cross Keys Hotel.Kelso Abbey.
There’s a Border Abbeys Way in this area, which looks like it would be a great walk to do. Years ago, I walked St. Cuthbert’s Way with my parents, which starts in nearby Melrose and that was a very pleasant route.
Kelso Bridge.
Another bridge over the Tweed. Kelso bridge, completed in 1803, was designed by John Rennie, who was also responsible for the Lune Aqueduct at Lancaster, and for Waterloo Bridge over the Thames.
The view from Kelso millennial viewpoint.
On the Sunday morning we had a more leisurely start, or so I thought, so I took the opportunity to have a longer wander around Berwick.
Royal Tweed Bridge.Entrance to the icehouse.
Like Kelso, Berwick’s large buildings give a strong impression of (perhaps former) affluence. It’s clear that, historically, the trade in Salmon was very important to the town. Because fresh fish fetched a premium, the catch was stored in ice. This icehouse, by the river, built around 1790, is vast inside – large enough for three double-decker buses apparently. When the winter was mild and didn’t provide enough ice it was imported from Scandinavia or even America.
Royal Tweed Bridge from Meg’s Mount.
Berwick is surrounded by ramparts, built in the mid-sixteenth century. Meg’s Mount is at one end of the ramparts and gives good views of the town and the bridges over the Tweed.
The Royal Border Bridge from Meg’s Mount.
The Royal Border Bridge is a railway viaduct with 28 arches. It was completed in 1850, opened by Queen Victoria and designed by Robert Stephenson, son of George Stephenson, the ‘Father of the Railways’.
Meg’s Mount pano.Berwick Battlements map.Cumberland Bastion.Cannon!Looking towards Brass Bastion.The North Sea.
A town with walls or ramparts is pretty much irresistible to me and I enjoyed my walk enormously, although I had to cut it short when I received a message from B to say that we were leaving an hour earlier than had been originally advertised.
Berwick Barracks.
Berwick Barracks are the oldest in Britain. It’s run by English Heritage and I’m sure it would have been fascinating to have a look around, if time had allowed. I’ve visited Berwick before, a couple of times, long ago, and came away, somehow, with a not particularly favourable impression. Clearly, the fault was all mine. This time, I felt like I’d barely scratched the surface and would love to come back for a more leisurely visit.
Anyway, we were back on the coach and en route for another game, this time in Hawick (pronounced Hau-uhk). The ground was right beside the River Teviot, a tributary of the Tweed, and a footbridge took me across the river to a park within which were a number of statues and the Hawick Museum.
The River Teviot.Steve Hislop statue.Jimmie Guthrie statue.Bill McLaren statue.
Famous local sons, Bill Mclaren was a rugby player and commentator, ‘the voice of rugby’, whilst Steve Hislop and Jimmie Guthrie were both motorcyclists, who both died in accidents.
Hawick Museum and fish sculpture.War memorial Hawick.Steve Hislop’s bikes.
The museum was one of those small places with a heterogeneous mismatch of exhibits: curling stones, a typical borders kitchen, motorbikes and myriad trophies, a natural history section, a couple of art exhibitions. I loved it.
Jimmie Guthrie’s bike – different vintage.Some of Jimmie Guthrie’s trophies. Presented by Adolf Hitler.For some reason, this really tickled my fancy. Cesi n’est pas une pipe.The Architecture of Time – an exhibition of the work of Bill Zima.
The retrospective display of Bill Zima’s art, The Architecture of Time, left me bemused, but also intrigued. I suppose it did make an impression on me; there was another exhibition next door and I can’t even remember that.
More Bill Zima art.Large sheets of very closely written text.Numbers!More numbers! Kirkby Lonsdale Colts versus Hawick Colts. Losing again.
Finally, another game and then watching the Scotland vs Ireland game together in the clubhouse. I was rooting for Scotland like most of those present, so of course, they lost.
A mammoth post to cover a single weekend; whole months have been written up more succinctly, but then this area obviously has a great deal to offer and I shall have to find some time to come back for a more leisurely tour.
On our return journey from out frisbee golf outing we stopped for ice-creams (Mine was ‘London Fog’, allegedly Earl Grey Tea flavoured, I couldn’t tell, but probably a hangover from Covid wrecking my sense of taste.) and a visit to the Erie Canal Museum and a set of locks on the canal.
Erie Canal Museum.
Actually, there were two sets of locks, a narrower set which had been rapidly superseded by a much wider set alongside. The large naval vessels we’d seen in Buffalo apparently travelled along this canal from New York, although I couldn’t see how that could be possible.
A boat!The older locks.The larger locks.A pleasure boat.
A fascinating place, but sadly our final outing during our American sojourn.
After a long drive to Buffalo, we were itching to get out and see what the area had to offer. The Whirlpool was really awe-inspiring – you perhaps have to see and hear it moving to get a proper impression of it’s massive power.
There were numerous large birds of prey circling overhead and, not for the first time, I regretted the lack of my superzoom camera.
Whirlpool Rapids.
Captain Matthew Webb, the first man to swim the English Channel unaided, died here attempting to swim across the Whirlpool. Foolhardy doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Niagara pano.Cable Car over the Niagara Whirlpool.Hydro plant visitor centre.
The visitor centre at the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant had all sorts of interactive demonstrations, quizzes and games. It was a big hit with the younger members of the party. I enjoyed the history of power production in the area and of the rivalry between Edison and Teslar over AC and DC supply.
Two hydro plants – Canadian and American.
I think this was the day we ate lunch at an amazing cafe right by the river which served enormous sandwiches.
We were packing a lot in and by the time we got to Fort Niagara it was already quite late in the day. We did a whirlwind tour of the museum, but didn’t have time for the film, which young M assured us was a great loss.
Never mind, the fort itself was fascinating.
A Tower at Fort Niagara.Cannon!
I’m always a sucker for any kind of battlements and was particularly taken with the top of these roofed towers.
Tower view.Another view from the tower.River Niagara flowing into Lake Ontario.Reenactors.
I assume the man on the left is dressed as a member of one of the local native American peoples. An Iroquois?
The man on the right was demonstrating the loading and firing of a musket. I think his uniform is French. His talk was entertaining and informative. The main thing I remember is the huge weight of wool he told us was in his uniform. He must have been sweltering. It was hot.
A Red Coat.Inside the Trading Post.A barrack.The chapel.Lake Ontario. If you squint, Toronto is just about visible behind the sailing dinghy. Another tower.More cannons.Nesting swallows.Another tower view.Fort Niagara Lighthouse.
The fort was closing as we left. Just one last thing to squeeze in…
Lake Ontario paddle.A huge Cricket in the Prof’s garden.
Quiet and/or leafy places seem to be at a premium in Manhattan and we were very grateful for this little space opposite our hotel where we sometimes sat to eat a meal.
Antique shop on 6th Avenue…
I was very taken with this shop, perhaps because even though it’s a five floor building, it’s dwarfed by the buildings either side, and even more so by the skyscraper behind.
…with a towering skyscraper behind.
We were heading initially for Central Park for another, very hot, wander.
More tall buildings from Central Park.Bethesda Fountain from Bethesda Terrace.Bethesda Fountain.Terrapins?Loeb Boathouse.The San Remo apartment building, seen across The Lake.The Belvedere Castle.The English Garden.
We were heading for The American Natural History Museum which is situated on the western boundary of the park.
Museum of Natural History.
We had a timed entry, but even so it took quite a long while to get into the museum and then through the very crowded and noisy entrance hall.
Huge dinosaur skeleton – Tyrannosaurus Rex?
This is another one of the attractions available via the City Pass. We discovered that because we were using the City Pass, entry to the extra exhibits, which would normally cost extra, was included for free, so we booked times for the Planetarium, a film on the birds of the Prairie Wetlands, and a temporary exhibit on sharks.
Giant Sable Antelopes. I think.
The museum is enormous. We were there for many hours, but I suspect we barely scratched the surface.
Hup, two, three, four, Keep it up, two three four.
I think I took photographs of almost all of the dioramas in the Hall of African Wildlife, but calmed down a little after that.
African Wild Dogs.
The planetarium was great; perhaps a little too relaxing. Snore, me? No – that was someone else you heard.
Black Rhinoceros.
The film was fascinating. I hadn’t previously even heard of the Prairie Pothole wetlands.
The shark exhibition had some comfortable benches.
A stag at bay – in the North American Hall.
It was one of those modern exhibitions where the content is films and models and information boards, but there aren’t any actual exhibits.
Elsewhere, the museum was absolutely brimming-over with interesting stuff. For example, there were rooms upon rooms of artefacts from Indigenous American cultures, from across both continents.
Native American Garb.
It was amazing, if somewhat overwhelming. When I visit the British Museum, which, admittedly, I haven’t done for a very long time, I tend to wander about until I wash up somewhere which sparks my interest that day, then I have a really thorough look at that section. Then I leave.
But I suppose we weren’t sure when we might be back in the AMNH, if ever, so we greedily crammed in as much as we could. Even so, we must have missed huge swathes. I believe there’s a dinosaur hall, which we didn’t get to. We did tour an exhibition of macro photographs of endangered insects (obviously right up my street), but we didn’t find time for the nearby display about the Big Bang.
I took a lot of photographs, but have been for selective for this post. However, I do feel compelled to include this picture of Indonesian shadow-puppets…
Shadow-puppets.
So that I can mention the fact that TBH and I once holidayed in Indonesia…
Bhudda and TBH.
It was twenty years ago. Here’s TBH, at Borobudur, touching Buddha’s thumb, which reputedly brings good luck. We were treated to a shadow-puppet play whilst we were there, a part of the Mahabharata. It was good, so much so that TBH wanted a memento and decided to take some photos. It was dark in the room, so she switched on her flash, and then greeted the images with consternation when each showed….. the inevitable blank screen. Meanwhile, I was struggling to suppress a fit of giggles, not wanting to spoil the show for the other tourists present.
Masks.
There were so many fascinating things to see from myriad cultures from around the world, that I decided to confine my photos to representations of faces.
I felt some sympathy with these two characters…
Grumpy.Grumpier.
At the time, this fella put me in mind of Davros, leader of the Daleks. Now it makes me think of the short Bertolt Brecht poem, the Mask of Evil..
On my wall hangs a Japanese carving,
The mask of an evil demon, decorated with gold lacquer.
Sympathetically I observe
The swollen veins of the forehead, indicating
What a strain it is to be evil.
Later, the rest of the family went to the theatre to watch a production of the Musical version of Harry Potter. I'm much too grumpy for musicals. Or Harry Potter. With hindsight, I should have sought out the Blue Note or Birdland or something else more to my tastes. But I was well into Jonathon Franzen's 'Freedom' and was more than happy to have the hotel room to myself to relax with my book.
Hard-by where our boat trip docked at Pier 83, is the Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum at Pier 86. It’s another of the attractions available on the City Pass, and it made sense to combine a visit with our boat trip.
We had a pre-booked entry time, so we’d allowed ourselves some time to return to Hell’s Kitchen for a quesadilla lunch (very nice); passing people cooling off in a fountain on route (it was very hot)…
Playing in the fountain.
And also spotting this advertising board, which I appreciated…
“Safe, secure, protected, with minimal charges. Just like Prince Andrew.” Does that count as heckling? I’ll probably get charged with a breach of the peace now.
The museum is housed on the decks of USS Intrepid, a former aircraft carrier. How do I feel about a museum stuffed full of military hardware? Well, this is not something I generally admit to, but as a kid I was obsessed, for quite a long time, with an ambition to enlist in the army. I loved all things military and would have adored a museum brimful of war-mongering gear. Fortunately, of course, I eventually realised that being short-sighted, asthmatic, overweight, over-opinionated, cowardly and bolshie, in both senses, I would make a woeful soldier. But some of my youthful interest remains and I’m not averse to some sleek de-commissioned jets, choppers, subs etc.
All hands on deck.
Sadly, unlike the rest of the family, whilst I liked looking at all the exhibits, and took loads of photos, I didn’t pay much attention to the accompanying information boards, so I’ve very little idea what the various bits of kit in the photos actually are.
Urgent warning plane?Spotted Laternfly.
This on the other hand, is a Spotted Laternfly, a species which is native to China, but which has been spreading and has now arrived in the US, including New York. Apparently, it’s a bit of a nuisance. Nice to look at though, with very striking bright red underwings.
On the bridge.Planes and choppers.MiG planes.
I was quite surprised to see these two Russian built MiG planes in the museum, the like of which, I think I’m right in saying, were used against the US in the Korean War.
Space Shuttle Enterprise.
The most eagerly awaited exhibit, as far as I was concerned, was the Space Shuttle Enterprise, which is housed in a large structure on the Intrepid’s flight deck. Years ago, TBH and I visited the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral in Florida, so I’ve seen a shuttle before, but I was still thrilled. The rest of the exhibition with all sorts of related artefacts, models and information was very absorbing.
Concorde.
I never flew on Concorde, but I did once sit in the pilot’s seat during a visit to British Airways maintenance facility at Heathrow. That’s a completely different story, but if you know someone who can pull the right strings and arrange a visit, it’s an amazing experience.
M*A*S*H.
There was a large area of hands-on exhibits and the boys were in their element – they were keen to try, sit-in or on everything, so we were there for a while. We even played draughts in a mocked-up submarine mess room.
Space Cadets.You press the green thingummy, I’ll twiddle this knob.
We ended our visit with a tour of the former Nuclear submarine USS Growler.
USS Growler.
As expected, it was highly claustrophobic. I believe the crews could be away for months at a time, and submerged for several consecutive days. It must have been hard.
USS Growler interior pano.
All very fascinating, and our day wasn’t done yet.
Oh, and the title? It’s a song by The The, the only song I could think of that is unequivocally about flying a military plane, although I’ve often thought that R.E.M’s ‘Orange Crush’ might arguably also be on that theme.
A few less photos in this post compared to the last (mammoth) one. Not that there wasn’t just as much of interest to see at the World Museum in Liverpool, in particular in their Terracotta Warriors exhibition, but it was quite dark in the exhibition, and extremely busy, so I didn’t take many photos and of those I took most are quite blurred.
The exhibition, which covered a substantial period of Chinese history and several generations of royal tomb burials, was absolutely fascinating. I was particularly struck by this huge bronze bowl, which weighs 212kg and was buried on top of a pit filled with terracotta strongmen and acrobats – apparently the bowl would have been lifted by strongmen as part of a performance.
We’ve been to the World Museum before, in fact this was Little S’s fourth visit, since we recommended the Egyptology section of the museum to the local primary school. On this occasion, we were joined by family fried X-Ray who’d expressed an interest in seeing the exhibition way back at the start of the year when we booked the tickets. The World Museum is always a great place to visit and we did the full tour again, including a planetarium show. We were hoping to have time to visit Liverpool’s Central Library again too, and/or the Walker Art Museum, but didn’t, partly due to the all too familiar incompetence of Northern Rail (I’ll spare you the details).
We’ve been intending to check out the Dock Museum in Barrow for quite some time and, last week, finally got around to it.
It’s a small museum, but it has model boats, which are pretty irresistible,
…and The Furness Hoard, found locally in 2011 and including Viking, Saxon and Arab coins plus fragments of arm-rings and bracelets, not dissimilar in fact from The Silverdale Hoard.
Having examined the area’s Viking treasures, you may want to dress the part…
There are also axe-heads and arrowheads of Langdale stone which were apparently brought to the Barrow area for finishing and polishing.
A big surprise for me, and a great discovery, was this furniture by the late Tim Stead.
I’ve not been aware of his work before, but shall be looking out for it in the future. He was one of the artists who built the Millennium Clock, now housed by the National Museum of Scotland, and definitely added to my ‘too see’ list.
Whilst the boys hared around the playground in the museum grounds, I took a quick look at the docks themselves.
Our trip to the museum was intended to be a precursor to a trip to the Wildlife Trust reserve at the southern end of Walney Island, somewhere I’ve long wanted to visit, much like Foulney Island in fact. But, having had my sutures removed early that morning, I now discovered that everything was not quite going to plan, and we spent the next three hours, or thereabouts, sitting around in A&E at Barrow Infirmary waiting to see what was to be done. Not much, it eventually transpired. Patience is the order of the day apparently. Ho-hum.
The idea that we should visit The World Museum was a top-tip from a friend, who regularly takes primary school classes there and was extolling the virtues of the museum before we embarked on our trip. The weather was wild and windy, so it was good to get inside, and what treasures were in store! In the high entrance foyer you’re greeted by an enormous totem pole and a pterodactyl – which sort of gives you of an idea of what will follow.
There’s an aquarium and all sorts of other natural history stuff. B and I watched an extraordinary film of the mating dance of the beautiful peacock jumping spider from Australia. I’d never heard of them before, but after we came home found an article in the paper which said that 59 species of these tiny arachnids have been discovered to date. Fortunately the biologist who filmed the spiders, Jurgen Otto, has made the footage available on youtube.
We were all particularly taken by the ‘discovery room’ on that floor where there were lots of hands-on activities including an elephant’s tooth – the heft of which has really stuck with the kids – several large skulls and some microscopes for visitors to use. A very enthusiastic and knowledgeable member of the museum staff really brought the exhibits to life.
The next floor has lots of archaeological goodies, Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Anglo-Saxon.
This is a bust of the Roman general, Caesar and stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius, which I’ve included here for no better reason than that I’ve often tried to convince the kids that Marcus and Aurelius are my Christian names. They don’t believe me, but lots of my students have over the years.
Anglo-Saxon museum-goers.
The fourth floor has a planetarium and we managed to see three of the four shows available that day. Really, even though we were in the museum from shortly after opening time at ten until they kicked us out at five, there wasn’t nearly enough time to fit everything in.
The third floor holds various appealing items from around the world. And another discovery room – the kids found that there were games available there and were soon settling down to play Nine Men’s Morris, Fox and Geese and, my favourite, Mancala. Oh, and, in S’s case, to try some more costumes on…
..I think that’s Guatemalan national dress, but don’t hold me to that.
I was more keen to get around and see the exhibits.
..but it was all a bit of a rush.
I can easily see us heading back there at some point in the future. And little S, whose class have just begun a project on the Ancient Egyptians, has already recommended the museum to his teacher, so he may be back there somewhat sooner than the rest of us.
Beating The Bounds 