Allright, time for the rest of the story....
Saturday night, my hosts hosted this Burns' Supper/Party... very, very interesting! It's actually a celebration of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, but there are particular things to say, particular speeches to make, particular food to eat, particular hats to wear and of course, particular poems to recite! My hosts weren't Scots, and neither were all the guests and friends invited, but it was still all great fun!! Pix 1 is in the middle of the dinner, with the funny hats and with my hosts... It was a prim and proper 'English' dinner party at that, with candles and wine aplenty... :p but not prim as in serious and solemn... it was in fact a crackling evening, esp trying to recite the poems with the original Scottish accent... Would have no idea at all what the poems are all about if not for some explanation from my hosts... :p
Oh... and the haggis!! That's a must have for every Burns' Supper... it's basically a sheep's offal/innards wrapped in sheep's stomach... And to think that only Chinese eat weird stuff!! We don't actually eat the stomach, just the insides.... and it's all minced up and thoroughly marinated/salted anyway... and it tastes great with a splatter of whiskey!! :p
I think I could write much more about the whole evening, but I'll just make special mention about the Selkirk Grace and the not so usual fireworks!! Plus the end of dinner snooker game... Yes, my hosts have a full-sized snooker table at home!! :p Ha.. a very interesting night indeed....
A good night's sleep before going to church and exploring a little of Newcastle the next day. Followed my host to this small little Brethren Church, another distinctive experience... And Newcastle itself was great... I think like all major UK cities, there's always a mix of ancient and modern buildings... The Sage (Pix 2) is a very impressive and artistic music hall... Impressive from the outside, and impressive from the inside as well, i'm told... no time to go in though with the rest of the city waiting to be explored.... We had a good walk in the middle of Newcastle city, along the River Tyne....
But all good things had to end, and it was time to say goodbye to a very memorable weekend indeed... Final pix at the Millennium Bridge (Pix 3)... Hey, there's a Millennium Bridge in London as well!! But I think the one in Newcastle is way cooler!! Haha... it's actually known as the Blinking Eye, cos when ships wanted to pass under, the whole bridge can pivot up!
