My Mum's Birthday Week, November 2014

The third week in November is also the week my mum's birthday falls on.

I booked the week off work as I never know if she wants to do something or go somewhere. It turns out she did, her and my dad have gone on a cruise to the Canary Islands :). I was pleased I had the week off work though as we they got picked up at some motorway services at 5 in the morning, and we dropped them off. The services are normally about 30 to 40 minutes away by car, but their were road works on the main route and the road was closed so we went the long way round. We left just after 3 in the morning and got there about 4. We stopped to have a coffee with them, to make sure they were settled. My mum's a worrier so I was pleased when it all went smoothly for them, and they texted me that night to let me know they were safely on the boat.

The highlight of my week was going into the nearby city of Newcastle with my dad on Monday. I had bought a Groupon (a deal site) voucher for two for the price of one entry into Newcastle Castle Keep. We got the metro through to Newcastle, it's a smaller version of the London Underground, and visited the keep first.

I really enjoyed the keep, although it was a bit tiring. It's quite small but there are a lot of stairs. The best part is the view of Newcastle from the top, the keep is close to the river so we could see several of the bridges, and across the city to Grey's Monument and St James (Home to Newcastle United).

A Model Of the Keep

The Great Hall

The Keep

 The view across to Gateshead

The Tyne Bridge

The High level (right) and Swing Bridge

Grey's Monument

St James

The Gateshead Millenium Bridge

The railway station

After visiting the keep we took some photos from the High Level Bridge, and then visited the beautiful St Nicholas Cathedral, which also has a great cafe and a lovely chaplain.

The Altar

The stone masons

The Mayor's Tomb

St Nicholas Cathedral

Finally we had a look at the christmas market, which confusingly I think is only there until the end of November, and the department store Fenwick's Christmas window, which is Alice in Wonderland this year. It was a great day out.

The rest of my week off seemed to pass in a blur of catching up with my favourite writing site Bubblews, doing surveys and tidying the house.