Newcastle, England 4/19/10

Arrived in Stranraer, Scotland yesterday from Belfast and spent the night there at a nice B&B called the Thistle Inn. Small town with a peaceful atmosphere, though I could see how the locals could get bored of it. Ended up in the bar next door run by the B&B with Francesca and Valerie. Got into a bit of karaoke and scored free drinks from the local police who came by to celebrate after a charity football match for someone’s daughter who has cystic fibrosis. The bartender was particularly nice and funny (wasn’t actually the bartender either). He performed Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire and gave us free drinks as well. A Scotish beer I tried was McLachlan’s. A drink mix that the cops (who actually weren’t supposed to be drinking after 5, but they are the law) introduced us to was a Scotch soda called Irn-Bru mixed with vodka. One of the cops drank Budweiser, which prompted me to inquire as to why. He answered that it was the poor man’s Carlsberg. I already enjoy Scotland; the people are hilarious and remind me of Craig Ferguson.

Woke up at 6 am to prepare for the start of our day’s train rides. The “bartender” was even up to see us off (although because we left early we couldn’t get the breakfast). Nicy guy. Luckily we made all our connections from Stranraer to Ayr Station, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and finally Newcastle. Scenary was beautiful. It was here that I found my green fields with sheep and cows. I laughed when I saw a golf course; reminded me of Robin Williams’ tirade about Scotland. I’ll have to come back someday. While walking from one station to Queen Station in Glasgow I didn’t notice any Glasgow smiles on the passersby.

After arriving at our hostel we immediately went to confirm out 16 hour ferry to Amsterdam for tomorrow since we hadn’t been sent confirmation emails and the phone lines were busy. Luckily we are confirmed. I will be much relieved when back in Salzburg; highly stressful each day making some connection or another. Good thing we’re doing this as our 2nd Ryanair flight to Berlin was canceled as Ryanair extended their Monday ban (originally took out our flight to Munich) to Wednesday.

Got lunch after the ferry business. Pizza Hut is a fancy restaurant here, somewhat comparable to CPK. Afterwards I decided to sightsee along the River Tyne. I saw the St. Nicholas Cathedral, Castle Keep and Black Gate before crossing the High Level Bridge. From there I saw the Swing Bridge, and Historic Tyne Bridge. Cool new structures on the river include The Sage Gateshead (a bubble-looking building) and the Millennium Bridge which rotates so sometimes you can’t cross it.