My 26th Birthday Road Trip!

Hello!!!! Well, it's happened -December 29th has come again, and I'm now officially another year older! And what a great way to spend it - road tripping with mates in medieval north east England!

Me, Gav, Jo and Andy hired a car and drove from London and visited York (which I think was the most beautiful - and had the hottest chicks), Durham, Newcastle (where we stayed and partied for my birthday), and Leeds.

Had a FANTASTIC time! These guys made my birthday shine - through the hoard of rain we were blessed with! haha..

I should warn you - this blog entry is a bit of a history lesson again! Happy reading!

Enjoy! xx



YORK:




The sturdy Ford! haha... our beast on wheels! Very comfy - the front seats were heated lol..





Welcome to York!



Standing at one of the entrances to the great 'Walled' City.



(Clicking to enlarge this helps). Something I've noticed - a lot of places you see over here, historic buildings etc, can be found RIGHT next to shopping centres and McDonalds haha... This is a medieval church and opposite is H&M - Europe's Just Jeans etc..





Clifford's Tower. This was the 'keep' for Castle of York. In 1190, approximately 150 Jews sought protection here from a mob incited by Richard I. They chose to end their lives here by each others hands, rather than to renounce their faith. The Castle and keep were built with the intention of protecting its Jewish community.





Couple of nice snaps of the church. The architecture is mind boggling!





How could a trip to York be complete without sampling their finest Yorkshire Puddings?! (Which btw, were bloody tasty!)



Another nice little snap of an entrance through the wall. (Had to stand in front of traffic for this one! haha..)


DURHAM:








First impressions of the castle and river.







Shots of the Cathedral. We went inside too, but we weren't allowed to take photos.





We tried going inside the Castle, but it was all locked up! It's used as a university now for students, and was closed for xmas break. Like my 'Rat's View' snap? It's all we saw up close from under the door lol...







Snaps from on top of the Cathedral Tower; The Castle/University, The Cathedral roof, and the distant town houses (best viewed by enlarging - it looks cool!)



Couldn't resist..... ;-)


NEWCASTLE:






Mine and Andy's room at the Beewick hotel. I'd just randomly chosen the 1st bed I saw as we walked in, which left Andy obviously with the only other bed - which happened to be directly opposite the clear-view glass shower! lol.... He decided to shower in shared hall facilities for some reason haha...





Part of the castle building now built on to and part of what looked like a group of flats.



The Castle Keep, built in 1168. The original castle was on this site too, 1st founded in 1080 before fires destroyed it. It had been built by William the Conqueror's eldest son Robert Curthose, and is how the city of Newcastle got its name.



View from the Keep roof; the mimic of Sydney Harbour Bridge (Right) and the Millenium Bridge (left).



Got a nice lady to take this!



Shots from inside the Keep; trapped in the holding cell..



Quiet 'reflection' time on a medieval toilet!



Living the high life!





Driving out of Newcastle into Gateshead, you can see this statue, one of the 12 icons of England, the 'Angel of the North'. Its wings are 54metres wide. Its significance is merely a 'welcome' sign to the county of Tyneside.


CHESTER, HADRIAN'S WALL:





A preserved part of the wall - we didn't find this - I had to pinch the photo from another site!





Standing on remains of the Roman built wall, at an old Fort in Chester. The wall was built by the orders of Emperor Hadrian in the attempts to keep the Picts (old Scottish people) from entering onto English soil. Its construction began in AD122 and was finally abandoned in AD400 after 3 attacks from the Picts. Its remaining segments stretch for 80 Roman Miles (117km), and was 3metres thick, and 5metres high.



Remanents of the barracks.





Taking time out in the Roman Hot Bath!


NEWCASTLE; MY BIRTHDAY NIGHT OUT!!!!!!!!







It started with a drink.....or 2 or 3...... We went to T.G.I.F for dinner, a chain restaurant here (Thank God It's Friday). As you can see, we're already half cut and the night has just began!



The guys kept hassling our waitress to get me a birthday candle lol... so she did! They made me a little choc fudge birthday cake with a candle - it was VERY tasty! :-) Thanks guys!



Make a wish!



Sooooo drunk!



Steady on Tiger...!



This'll make me feel better! Now, on to the clubs!


LEEDS:





Visiting the Leeds Football Stadium (took us the good part of an hour to find it - non-existant signs!)



After stopping for lunch, we 'high-tailed' out of Leeds - its really just an old industrial city - nuf said!


Ciao! xx