SOLO EUROPE IV: DAYS 14-15 [NEWCASTLE & THE BEAMISH MUSEUM]

i left the next morning for newcastle upon tyne, otherwise called newcastle. some people would find it strange a history nerd like me would stop in newcastle, but i wanted to take a day trip to the beamish museum nearby. my stay in newcastle was interesting, but more on that later. i knew the city was known as a part city for young people.

i got this pretty view & seagulls eating vomit :)

the one museum i wanted to stop at was the discovery museum. though a bit outdated & considered a children's museum, i really enjoyed my visit. particularly i liked the history sectionthat talked the the different historical periods of the city - from the romans, normans, anglo-saxons, medieval, georgian, & beyond. it was also nice that it was free. it was definitely worth my time.

the discovery museum

an exhibit talking about the air aids of newcastle with a reconstructed bombed out mid-century living room.

you can try on the "newcastle coat" - a barrel used as public embarrassment for drunkards

i then walked to the grainger market (c. 1835) for dinner - i had a pulled pork & bread crumbs mac & cheese.

a war memorial

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the next morning i stopped at a starbies for caffeine & a bacon roll. then i walked to the bus station for the hour or so bus ride to stanley for the beamish museum. the museum was the first open air museum in england that is also a living history museum. the purpose is to show how people lived in northern england in both the 1800s & 1900s. there are different neighborhoods that reflect different time periods. there is a 1913 edwardian town, the late 1800s pit (mining) village, a 1940s farm, & a 1950s town. i really enjoyed by visit, but unless you buy the tour book there is not much information displayed. i would have bought the book, but it was too big & heavy to fly back with.

the museum has a working trolley that takes you to different sections (it is very large & hard visit everything in one day)

miner's cottages (each showed a different time period). they were lived in during the 1860s to the 1970s!

behind the miner's cottages.

pumpkins!

this section talked about the land girls that worked the farms when the men were off to war in the 1940s

a lovely land girl i had a convo with (she told me about the bluetooth speakers behind the radio!)

a land girls bedroom

the train depot

the edwardian village - my favorite section.

lovely handmade crafts.

they sell old fashioned fish & chips (cooked in beef grease & wrapped in "newspaper") - i also had an elderflower lemonade

police homes from the 1950s

a bedroom from the 1950s

more of the edwardian town

the bakery (they bake on site)

an edwardian sweet shop (where you can actually buy old fashioned candy)

the printer's shop. the gift shop also sold souvenir ink prints made on site.

the solicitor's office

the piano teacher's house was so pretty

they had a newsstand selling merch. i got a coaster that says"the floggings will continued until morale improves"(an idiom that is not taken literally)

i booked one of the last photo sessions of the day.

i love taking old timey photos whenever i go on my trips (for my last europe visit in 2023 i took photos in salzburg, austria). i luckily got one of last reservations for the day. the workers were so friendly. sometimes it can be weird taking photos alone. i think sometimes workers find it strange if you are by yourself, which can make uncomfortable. they were great. i just get awkward since i hate the process of taking photos (i feel so vain) but i love having them as a memory.

my edwardian photograph - i feel like was from anne with an e.

on the way back, the bus ride was busy with school children. also someone was literally bleeding on the street while others were trying to help. it had looked like an older person had slipped & hit their head. there were not many places open to eat, so i just stopped at a greggs. for being a cheap food place, i was surprised how much food with produce they had. my tummy was happy with the fiber.

my greggs dinner.

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i should have known from the time i checked in that this hostel would be different. it did not have the best ratings, but it also did not have bad reviews. solid average. from the reviews i saw there was no negative talk about safety. i do not mind if there is not a communal culture, i just want to be safe & have my basic needs met. this hostel was also advertised as a backpackers hostel (it was in the name). i knew the reputation of newcastle as a party city, so i was expecting to see maybe clubbers staying. when i checked in, i had to sign a waiver about vulgar language & property damage. i found this strange. normally this is in the terms & agreement of the accommodation, not a separate waiver you sign. also i was told all the female rooms were full & a new male room would turn into a female room. i guess this meant i was in a male wing of the hostel, but i never saw anyone in my wing go in or out of the rooms. 

the weirdest thing was i never saw a woman walking the halls for being told all the female rooms were full. i only saw middle aged men, which was confusing. not only was it weird to not see women, but i thought the men i would see would be college students in the city there to party. i only saw 30 or 40 something years old that seemed to be staying by themselves. some were drunk, but i did not have issues with anyone. no one tried to interact with me. i tried to stay away from the communal areas, but the rooms did not have internet (which was also kind of weird). during my entire stay i did not meet anyone i would describe as a backpacker. my strangest experience though was my last night. i was told i would have the room to myself unless there was an "emergency." this was such a weird word choice. i did end up having another woman assigned to my room. i do not know the reason, but i feel confident in saying she was not a backpacker. she was middle aged, did not speak english, & only had a plastic grocery bag of belongings. i think she was either a migrant, homeless, or needed to be removed from a dangerous living situation. i really do think the hostel was being used as a shelter. i later talked to a hostel owner in belfast & she said some hostels in the uk are also being used as shelters for the money. up to this point, i had stayed in hostels in 5 other countries (including "poorer" countries) & i have never experienced anything like this. like i said, nothing bad happened. my stay was just super unconventional. 

the room was pretty nice. it was clean & quite spacious with nice lockers. the hallway & communal rooms were super smelly which was confusing because they were empty & clean. this place did not have carpet so i was not sure where the smell was coming from (smelt like sweat & cigarettes). 

at least the rooms were nice & it was close to the train station