I woke up on Wednesday morning feeling generally well rested. The
next step was to head to the train station (Cambridge North, a ten
to fifteen minute walk), and catch a train north to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne,
our next destination.
It took about 3 hours to get to the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne station (I will
shift to the shortened, more widely used, and less pretentious town name
of merely Newcastle, but not quite yet) and then probably 30-45 minutes
to find the office for Alamo car rentals.
We knew it was near the station. We walked around the area, stopped
in a nice hotel a block away and asked them to look it up. Then went
back to the station. Asked someone there. No one really knew about it.
But eventually they pointed us to a car rental place in the outside
corner of the station. I figured at the least, they would know the
name of their competitior where I had a reservation. As it turns out,
in England they spell some words differently than in the US. Alamo is
spelled Enterprise. As is Budget. Fuckers. That explained why, when I
had called Alamo to make the reservation, they didn't actually KNOW they
had a location in the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne train station. The all-seeing
Google had assured me such a place did exist, and apparently that was
able to convince them or their computer to allow that.
Anyway, the people were actually quite nice and since they do handle
rentals from all three companies, they had my reservation. It cost
an extra £10/day to add Stephanie as a driver, but I figured
it'd be worth it. Despite her objections, and based on the advice
from several other friends, I had rented a car with an automatic
transmission. I had asked for a small car, but wound up being given
a Vauxhall sedan. I asked them if we could leave the car there
(with our bags locked in it) for a few hours while we got lunch
and explored a little of the town by the riverfront area and not have
to deal with navigation and parking and such. They were completely
accomodating and said it wouldn't be a problem.
So we walked around a bit, had lunch at a pub-ish place. And then walked
along the water in the Quayside area. (Note: in the US, it would be
pronounced kway-side; in England key-side.) We were near the area of
where the remains of the new castle of Newcastle is, saw some art and
sculptures and such, before we headed off. It was pretty cold, like
in the mid 40sF/5-8C, overcast, with a bit of wind. I was glad I had
taken my gloves with me.
Part 9: Backyard
Blacksmith Workshop Part 10: Bagby Airfield Part 11: Byland Abbey Part 12: National Railway
Museum Part 13: Cambridge (Part
2) Part 14: Cambridge
Botanical Gardens Part 15: The Departure
Part 9: Backyard
Blacksmith Workshop Part 10: Bagby Airfield Part 11: Byland Abbey Part 12: National Railway
Museum Part 13: Cambridge (Part
2) Part 14: Cambridge
Botanical Gardens Part 15: The Departure