Glasgow, Scotland - 03/28/17

Glasgow Coat of Arms

" Here's the bird that never flew

  Here's the tree that never grew

  Here's the bell that never rang

  Here's the fish that never swam "

Motto: Let Glasgow Flourish by the preaching of Your word, and the praising of Your name.




We arrived in Glasgow on the third day in Scotland, saving the best for last, I suppose ?. As we know, Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland, followed by Edinburgh, and the third largest in the UK.
Glasgow was a very important city in the Industrial Revolution, becoming a center for chemicals, textiles and engineering, specially shipbuilding and marine engineering.
Glasgow's economy suffered greatly after the World Wars, which advanced industries in other parts of the world, such as Japan, the US, and West Germany. It's economy declined and industrialization decreased, leading to high unemployment, an overall decay in health and population decline.
The population of Glasgow peaked at 1.228.473 in 1993, having always been high. There are accusations claiming that the overcrowding in the city, and the city's economic influence was one of the reasons for the creation of the 'New Towns Act of 1946', which created several new towns in the UK, 5 being in Scotland (which we learned while in Livingston). The Act caused large-scale relocation and boundary changes, reducing the population of Glasgow to 599,650, but it still kept the highest density of any Scottish city. Glasgow was filled with slums at this point.

Interesting Facts:

• City of Glasgow Police in 1800, one of the first municipal police forces in the world.

• Glasgow became one of the first cities in Europe to reach a population of one million

• Glasgow is located on the banks of the River Clyde, in West Central Scotland. Its second most important river is the Kelvin river whose name was used in creating the title of Baron Kelvin for the Scot-Irish mathematical physicist and engineer William Thomson, who studied in Glasgow, and thereby ended up as the SI unit of temperature, the Kelvin.

• In 2005, due to health inequalities, Glasgow had the lowest life expectancy of any UK city at 72.9 years

• Glasgow is Scotland's main locus of Gaelic language use outside the Highlands and Islands

• Glasgow has the most extensive urban rail network in the UK outside of London with rail services travelling to a large part of the West of Scotland

• The world's first international football match was held in 1872 at the West of Scotland Cricket Club's Hamilton Crescent ground in the Partick area of the city. The match, between Scotland and England finished 0–0.

Last Stop in Scotland, unless we find another interesting place to go.



We arrive by George Square, the main square in Glasgow which almost all of our stops surround. One of the stops is Glasgow City Chambers, the headquarters of the city council since 1996 and built between 1882 and 1888.
Laid out in 1781 and named after King George III, George Square was part of the development of Glasgow's new town.
Similar to Edinburgh, Glasgow also planned a new town in the city with more rational grids.
For the first few years of it's settlement, George Square was little more than a muddy hollow used for slaughtering horses. By 1850 the surrounding area had become a market centre and the square was made into a private garden, until a mob successfully claimed the area.
The Square was used as a film location for the movie World War Z

 We decided to visit another arena, after being to O2 in London, to understand better what exactly they are. We learned that there is a very popular one here in Glasgow, called the SSE Hydro arena, which was opened in 2013.

The arena hosts a very wide range of events, from concerts to children's shows, indoors acrobatic events, sports, Olympic events, awards and wrestling matches such as WWE and UFC.

It was the 8th busiest arena in the world in 2016, selling 751.487 tickets.

The construction of the SSE arena took only two years to complete, from February 2011 to April 2013, which we think is very little time, congratulations for the Glasgow government and the company Lend Lease for the construction.

To get to Glasgow Science Center we went through Clyde Ark, a curved bridge opened in 2006 which crosses river Clyde at an angle. The bridge takes four lanes of traffic; two for public transport and two for private and commercial traffic, along with a pedestrian and cycle pass.



We got to Science Center without any problems, there were lots of people heading this way too.
Science Center in Glasgow is a five star visitor attraction, similar to Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, and it's composed of three main buildings; Science Mall, Glasgow Tower and an IMAX cinema. The Mall is composed of interactive science related experiences, a planetarium, an area dedicated to human health, cafeteria, gift shops and flexible rooms.
Glasgow Tower is right by the Science Mall and is quite an impressing view, more so when you realize that it is a world record holder for the largest rotating tower, with 127 meters (417 ft) and 360° of (computer controlled) freedom. The tower has a lift with a capacity for 6 guests plus 1 staff, or maximum of 12 people. Though the tower has had many engineering problems throughout it's history, including an incident where 5 people were trapped in the lifts to only be successfully rescued five hours later.
In the IMAX cinema building is, as suggested, Scotland's first IMAX cinema, opened in October 2000, two months prior to the two other buildings

We couldn't possible summarize all that we saw in this giant exhibition, the best we can do is show another person's experience: [Glasgow Science Center], [Fun at Glasgow Science Center]

Going through Bells Bridge, a rotating bridge, we cross river Clyde once again, this time to get to Mitchel Library in the Charing Cross district, 1.3 miles away.

 The library was opened in 1877 by a bequest from Stephen Mitchell, from Stephen Mitchell & Son tobacco manufacturer (later Imperial Tobacco Company).
The library currently contains a collection of 1.213.000 volumes, most of them reference material. An extension was built in 2005 containing lending material.
It might be too late but we started our language learning here, we tried to learn a bit of Icelandic and Portuguese in preparation for our next stops.
Aside from that, we got a quick read, this time A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, and made our overall research about the city.



We made another cultural visit, to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, less than a mile away from Mitchel Library. It is also one of Scotland's most popular attractions.
It is very refreshing to see that there are so many different things to see in the places we go, it makes it really worth it to travel so far.
The gallery was opened in 1901 for the Glasgow International Exhibition, held in the same year, and was intended as a place to hold concerts.
Today the museum houses over 8.000 exhibits and has received 2.23 million visitors in a year, being the most popular free-to-enter museum in the United Kingdom outside London.
Kelvingrove AG&M has one of the finest collections of arms and armour in the world, important European artworks and paintings, a great collection of Egyptian artifacts and tumbs, statues, early models of vehicles and objects from ancient human history, such as stone tools and primitive technology.



Our last stop is 4 miles away. We turned back and crossed Bells Bridge again to visit what we heard is "The best park in Europe" Pollok Country Park, a 146 hectare (360 acre) public park. Originally a private park and home to the Maxwell family for over 700 years. It was donated to Glasgow Corporation in 1966 by Mrs Anne Maxwell with the condition that it remained as a public park.
Being a country park, all the beauty is in the nature, the extensive botanical collection and gardening patterns within. We couldn't find any exercise or skill development equipment within the park, all there was to see was nature and perfect man made gardens and landscaping. We decided to spend some more time here and absorb it all, after all there is so much variety and plants from all parts of the world, we took some time to appreciate the details and the ecosystem living in the park.
After the experiences in the park we decided to move on to another city, this time in another country.

Livingston, Scotland - 03/26/17

We arrive in the post WW2 town of Livingston in West Lothian, Edinburgh, in the blink of an eye. Our last trip was of 103 miles, while travelling to Livingston was only a 15 mile walk. It's a strange sensation to think how many Livingstons there could have been on the way here, but we already accepted that we cannot visit them all.
Livingston town was designated in 1962 borrowing the name of a nearby village (currently Livingston village). This area was previously an important mining area for shale oil, and by 1870 over 3 million tons of shale were being mined around Livingston, but the mining drastically declined in the early 1900s, with the discovery of liquid oil reserves. The mining finally ceased in 1962, the same year of the creation of the town, due to the shale deposits running out. The 'bings'(accumulated wasted rock from mining) can still be found on much of the surrounding landscape of the town.
The creation of Livingston was part of a national program from UK Parliament called 'New Towns Act of 1946', which designated 4 other towns in Scotland: Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Glenrothes, and Irvine. And 26 towns overall in the United Kingdom.
During it's development, Livingston was being managed by a QUANGO organisation (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation) until 1997, when the town was transferred to West Lothian Council.
Being 30 miles(48 km) away from Glasgow and 15 (24 km) from Edinburgh, Livingston is the third largest town in Scotland. The town is comprised of 12 districts, Almond Valley being the center. The census in 2011 was of 50,826 inhabitants and had increased to 56,269 in 2011.
Interesting event:
In 1979, an employee of the Livingston Development Corporation claimed he was knocked unconscious after an alleged conflict with an UFO. Robert Taylor, who was in his sixties, was working as a Forester for LDC near Dechmont Law when the supposed incident took place. The incident was reported to the police, but nearly 40 years after taking place, the incident has never been resolved. It remains one of the UK's most notable claimed UFO sightings, being the only case of UFO sighting that was subject to a criminal investigation.

Links:

Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Taylor_incident)

Youtube -  [Robert Taylor UFO Encounter]

        [The Livingston UFO Attack of 1979]

Second stop in Scotland, Livingston.

This time we visited a skating facility, just out of curiosity, the dream facility would be one full of bars and equipment for calisthenics and fitness overall. 

While walking in the city we saw the improbable happen, a skater overtaking a cyclist in broad daylight, then we followed him here in Livingston Skatepark.

Opened in 1981, a critical period for skateboarding, due to depreciation and closing of important facilities, it became an exemple of a free, unsupervised facility which achieved international status.

Some of us decided to give skating a try once they're back home. -but home ? where is home?

Now with a new thought stuck in our heads we went to the nearest shopping center, to research skateboard prices.

We arrived at the 'The Centre' mall in Livingston, built by the QUANGO Livingston Development Corporation in the 1970s in three phases, each one expanding on a specific aspect of the mall, such as modernization, new buildings, and the creation of different zones, giving the illusion of being outside, while still indoors.

 The Centre is built like a small town, divided into five different zones: Elements Square, Wintergarden, The Avenue, Almondvale Walk and Almondvale Place.

We got lost there for a while, but luckily we didn't lose many miles.

Livingston has Zoos, many leisure and sport centers, parks, but we couldn't find anymore special visitor attractions, so we stuck with the scenery and the people. It probably has to do with the age of the town, it is probably the youngest we visited so far. 

When getting into conversations with the natives they kept asking us what we thought of Livingston, it seemed like they were afraid to hear that it was the "cheating town of Scotland". We have heard rumors about that, but we sincerely think that that is a misunderstanding, we can't hold on to preconceptions such as this one, and in our experience there was nothing out of the ordinary, so we might as well take that from this city. But there is an explanation for that

Edinburgh, Scotland - 03/28/17

Flag of Scotland

Our trip continues in Scotland, here we will explore three major cities in the country and then leave for swim across the ocean- a new land.

We arrive directly in the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh (pronounced without the the 'gh'), the second most populous city in the country. Edinburgh & South East Scotland City region had 1,339,380 inhabitants in 2014 while the city of Edinburg had 464.990.
Additionally, the city is very economically successful, having the strongest economy outside London and the highest percentage of professionals in the UK. Today it's economy is based in Financial Services, scientific research, higher education and tourism.
Unemployment is low, at 3.6%. The city is also the second most visited city in the United Kingdom, after London.

Old Town and New Town

Much to our surprise, we discovered that Edinburgh is divided in two towns, Old Town and New Town. While Old Town maintains the original character of the early residences in the city, Tenements, which are multi-occupancy buildings, New Town was began in 1766 with a new view, and as a solution to the overcrowding in the city, implementing ordered grids and better city planning.

Most of the visitors come for the Festivals which take place annually in the city, attracting over 4.4 mi people and generating a high profit for the city's economy.

Some of the festivals are; Edinburgh International Festival, Hogmanay, Fringe Festival, Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Edinburgh International Book Festival. 

Interesting Facts:

• Rockstar North, Game Developer, is based in Edinburg.

• Edinburgh Airport is Scotland's biggest and busiest airport, serving as a gateway to the country. Edinburgh Waverley Station is the second-busiest railway station in Scotland, after Glasgow, and UK's second biggest in number of platforms.

• Edinburgh Zoo was the first zoo in the world to house and to breed penguins. It is also the only zoo in England to house koalas and giant pandas. 

• Queen Elizabeth spends one week in residence at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh at the beginning of each summer, where she carries out a range of official agreements and cerimonies. 

Notable People born in Edinburg:

• Creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was born in Edinburg (1859-1930)

• James Clerk Maxwell, founder of the modern theory of electromagnetism, was born in Edinburg and educated at Edinburgh Academy and University.

• Telephone Pioneer Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), was born in Edinburg.

• James Braidwood (1800–1861), founder of firefighting, was born in Edinburgh.

Time to show our hidden appreciation for Celtic music and the uplifting sound of Bagpipes, to remember that they may take away our lives, but they'll never take our freedom! We arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland within 2 days.

Just as we arrived at the city, our eyes caught an enormous structure standing out in between all the buildings, we followed the path towards it in awe, admiring the city's setting.

We arrive at Edinburgh Castle, as we discovered, it was built on top of a 700 million year old extinct volcano called Castle Rock. It was the most attacked castle in the world, confirming our preconceptions about Scotland in the middle ages. The castle also has a Memorial Museum since 1927, in honor of the Scottish soldiers, servers, fighters of the two World Wars and more recent conflicts. The memorial has over 200.000 names. 

The castle dates from the 12th century, and has been used as royal residence for many generations, though there is evidence that Castle rock has been inhabited for at least 2865 years.

The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Festival, which is a performance military parade in large scale and complexity, happens in the castle during the month of August, at the same time as Fringe Festival, the world's largest arts festival, and attracts over 217.000 people annually. The first official MilitaryTattoo was held in 1950.

As we were heading to the castle we heard a loud bang, but weren't sure of what it was, as time went by we forgot about it. Now that we are here in the castle we learned about the One O'clock Gun, which is the firing of a cannon gun from the castle that is used as a time signal in the city. 

We wonder how many rounds have been fired already and where they are ending up...

Our culture visits begin in Surgeons Hall, a medical museum opened in 1832.
Surgeon Hall is focused in Anatomy, pathology and surgery, displaying many specimens and surgical instruments and equipment, extremely helpful for trainees. But in the current time, the museum is emphasizing in making the collections more interesting for the lay public.
The museum has over 6 distinct collections, and is connected to many important people such as Conan Doyle, and occasionally makes special exhibitions such as: breast cancer care, and exhibitions dedicated to specific compounds and physicians.
We saw three displays there, in one we could learn plenty about diseases and it seemed that sexually transmitted diseases were the focus, we had close contact to and completed our understanding of the HIV virus in the Pathology museum. Then we learned more about the history of Surgery itself on the History of Surgery Museum and finally we learned about the techniques and technologies used in surgery, saw artefacts, engravings, models and paintings with dental themes in the Techniques and technologies and dental collection

Our next next cultural visit will be the Museum of Childhood, the first museum of it's kind.



We came hoping to remember our childhoods and maybe bring some nostalgia. Turns out most of us are still living their childhoods.
We discovered an immense collection of toys of many generations, rides such as bicycles and tricycles, illustrations of childplay, miniature trains and railways, costumes and all kinds of toy vehicles, but we left without the feeling of nostalgia.

Less than a mile away is Dynamic Earth, an interactive educational experience with very elaborate exhibitions teaching about the entire history of planet Earth.
Just as we get in we get lost in the time travel experience, standing for literally hours in awe, watching as each step takes place to form the planet, then we proceeded to the next experiences, each one polished and elaborate, with real demonstrations of glaciers and volcanoes, real rain, demonstrations of life on earth including mechatronik animals and making science interesting in each topic, and much more (like a 360° dome planetarium, for instance).
After all, it was the child-like enthusiasm and excitement brought by such a passionate exhibition and our engagement with the topic that brought us nostalgia and memories of our childhoods. This is why we are doing this! - The party gains a buff to constitution



We walked 5 miles feeling the planet and noticing the small things, reaching Edinburgh Zoo without even noticing.
Here we continue our discovery of the diversity of live on earth and the evolution of all things. Also thinking of how selfish we human beings are, to lock away these beings, sometimes only for our own amusement, for one can't own another's life. But at the same time we recognize the importance of research and the respect most museums have for the animals.
Edinburgh Zoo is an open museum, as in, most of the animals are free to roam a given area, the pathways in said areas are the way to observe the animals in their habitat. The Zoo is 82 acres in size (33 m²/0.12² mi), 104 years old and is currently Edinburgh's second most popular paid attraction, after the Castle.
Though many controversies arose about the museum in these 104 years, it remains a decent housing, conducting behavioral research and breeding programmes for sustainability and maintaining a substantial and rare number of animals of all kinds, also having the greatest tree collection in the area.

Our new mindset drove us to a nearby Islamic centre, Edinburgh Central Mosque, instead of the conventional church or cathedral visit, in this case St Giles' Cathedral.

Prior the construction of the mosque there was no temple large enough to fulfill the needs of the Muslims in the city center. The project was funded by King Fahd of Saudi Arabia who donated of 90% of the total cost and opened by his son, Abdul Aziz Bin Fahd, the patron of the project, on July 1998.

The mosque has an outdoor restaurant, a library and separate wudu rooms for males and females, besides the main prayer hall and a multi-purpose hall.

The Islam Festival is held here during the entire month of August in the multi-purpose hall. The mosque's restaurant has been awarded the Best Festival Food in Edinburgh by the 'The Scotsman' newspaper in 2007.

There are many nationalities and religions in this group, we will explore that further.



Edinburgh is the greenest city in the UK, followed by Glasgow, also in Scotland. By chance, we walked through Meadows park on our way to Livingston, being satisfied with what Edinburgh has to offer, certainly an unforgettable experience.
The Meadows Park is a large public park consisted mostly of open grasslands and tree-lined paths, it also has many facilities and support many activities such as tennis, croquet and golf and has wheelchair access.
We couldn't find any bagpipe players around, so we quickly left, without showing our appreciation for Scottish music.
Also no one seems to know the real size of the park, but our running experience says it is around 3-5 km²/  1.9 square miles, pretty big. 

Our next stop is the 55 year old town Livingston.

Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne & Wear, England - 03/20/17

 We have the chance to meet another very important city, a top 5 visitor attraction, and cited many times as England's best looking city. We visit the historic city of Newcastle Upon Tyne, in North England.

Newcastle is a very notorious city, holding important titles by the public opinion and oficial awards, such as having the finest streets in England, n.1 Nightlife as tourist attraction (according to Rough Guide To Britain) in Great Britain and 7th in the world.

The city of Newcastle Upon Tyne is marked in history for it's innovation. Mosley street in the city, was the first public street in the world to be lit up by the incandescent bulb and Newcastle was also one of the first cities to be lit up by electric lighting.

Innovations in Newcastle and surrounding areas included the development of safety lamps, Stephenson's Rocket (An early locomotive which became a template for all later ones), Lord Armstrong's artillery, Be-Ro flour company, Joseph Swan's electric light bulbs, and Charles Parsons' invention of the steam turbine, which led to the revolution of marine propulsion and the production of cheap electricity. The city also had the first road/rail bridge in the world, with the opening of Robert Stephenson's High Level Bridge in 1849.
Despite the popularity of the city and the economic development achieved, the health estimates in Newcastle are lower than the English average; with over 16.670 children living in poverty and high children obesity rate, live expectancy 14 to 11 years lower than the English average and bad Healthy Eating and Smoking rates. Newcastle is also claimed to be the loudest town in the UK.

Relevant people and artists from Newclastle:

• The Bands: The Animals, Skyclad and Maxïmo Park
• Musician and former lead singer of The Police, Sting, grew up in the Newcastle Area
• Rowan Aktinson, known for Mr.Bean, studied in Newcastle.

Important event: The Great Fire of Gateshead & Newcastle

Interesting Fact:
Adam Savage attended to Maker Faire 2016 in Centre for Life in Newcastle 

Google Research's Projects at Maker Faire (On Tested Youtube channel)

After our swimming competition in the Aquatic Center in Sunderland, we continued our journey and reached the historic city of Newcastle Upon Tyne in 2 days.

We arrive in Newcastle by the Grainger Town area, the historic heart of the city. This area incorporates classical streets by Richard Graigner and some of the finest streets and buildings in the city, such as; the Grainger Market, Theatre Royal, Grey Street, Grainger Street and Clayton Street. Most of them built by Grainger.

 As with Durham, the city center is designated a conservation area, and was one of the first in England.

On Grey street in Graigner Town we see the Grey Monument, in yet another square, and the Theatre Royal, the building on the right, opened on 20 February 1837.

 The Monument was erected to acclaim Earl Grey for the passing of the Great Reform Act of 1832. It consists of a statue of Lord Grey atop a 130-foot-high (40 m) column.

Walking by Graigner Street we have a glimpse of Eldon Square Shopping Center, which was built over Old Eldon Square in the 1960s, a public green space with a war memorial where the Rememberance Day commemoration was held in the city. What is left of the old square is new landscaping and access to the shopping.

Eldon Shopping Center is one of the largest city center shopping complexes in the UK, it also has the largest John Lewis stores in the UK. Opened in Newcastle in 1838 John Lewis (formerly, Bainbridge) is often cited as the world's first department store.

Since we luckily were so close to it, we also visited the famous Grainger Market in Grey Street. The entrance is a little deceptive, it is much bigger on the inside.

When the market was opened in 1835 it was considered to be 'the most beautiful in the world' and it is still one of the largest market halls in England. Counterintuitively, Grainger Market has the smallest Marks and Spencer's store, one of the original stores opened in 1895

From the Market we headed west to see the Chinatown everyone was mentioning, it turns out it is one of the only five Chinatowns in England, with the other four being in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. We had the chance to visit them all already! But we heard of it too late, only in London did we hear in time but we thought there were much more chinatowns in England. Anyway, here is for all the lost opportunities.

The Chinatown is also in Grainger Town. The first Chinese restaurant in Newcastle was opened in 1949, but only in 1988 was it recognized as a Chinatown. Today it has many restaurants, food shops and cafés.

 Back to our normal route we went to Millennium Bridge, one of the 7 bridges in Newcastle. 

Millennium Bridge is an award winning cycle/pedestrian tilt bridge connecting Newcaslte to Gateshead. It was opened on November 2000 and has operated reliably ever since. 

The bridge tilts allowing ships to pass below it, during this process it closes to the public.

 The schedule of the tilting is displayed both on the bridge itself and on a website.

 All our stops are right next to each other, interesting city planning. 

We will visit two museums, starting with Life Science Centre and then proceed to Discovery Museum, less than a mile away.

The "Centre for Life" as it's also called, was opened by the Queen in 2000 and provides many science themed attractions and experiences, such as a Theatre, a Planetarium and a 4D motion ride, as well as an ice rink.

There are also many science themed events, for children and adults, and  it sporadically hosts events such as the Maker Faire. The center is also a research station

After a scienceful visit in Life Science Museum we went to our last stop in Newcastle, the Discovery Museum, opened in 1934 but under the name Municipal Museum.

In the early history of the Museum, the objects were housed in a pavilion, but in 1978 it could no longer meet the museums needs, so it was re-located. It only reopened as Discovery Museum in 1993, focusing in Local History.

We learned that the Inventor of the Steam Turbine, Charles Parsons, built the first steam turbine-powered steamship in 1894, called Turbinia, and that it is now preserved at Discovery Museum here in Newcastle. Turbinia was the fastest ship at the time.

And this ends our trip in Newcastle. See how close the stops were?

Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England - 03/17/17

Sunderland is a city at the center of Sunderland borough in Tyne and Wear (both rivers that run through the borough). The Sunderland Borough was only created in 1974, as it was previously a municipal borough in County Durham. Though Sunderland was only made a city in 1992 after winning a competition to celebrate the queen's 40th year on the throne.

The city grew as a port, trading coal and salt, and most importantly as a ship builder and glassmaker, being hailed as "The Largest Shipbuilding Town in the World" along with being known for it's glass all around Britain in the 18 century. Sunderland has been making ships from at least 1346 onwards and by the 18th century it was one of England's top shipbuilding towns. More recently, Sunderland has seen growth as a commercial centre for the automotive industry, science & technology and the service sector, and the shipyards were transformed into a mix of residential, commercial and leisure buildings as for the coal mining; the last mine closed in 1994, all glass makers were similarly closed in the city by 2007.

The city is cut in half by River Wear, and it's connected with two bridges, Queen Alexandra Bridge and Wearmouth Bridge.


Interesting facts:

• Lewis Carroll, known for the book of Alice in Wonderland, was born in Sunderland. In addition to being a writer, Lewis was also; a mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and a photographer

• Sunderland built the ship Torrens, in which writer Joseph Conrad sailed.

• Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics was born in Sunderland

We arrive in Sunderland, our penultimate stop in England, can you guess where we'll be heading to already ?

It's a shame that we aren't in visiting these towns in Christmas, because there is a lot of illumination art and events we are missing everywhere!

This is Mowbray park, one of the 25 parks in Sunderland at Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ikCZGd8vD8

We take a visit to Ryhope Engines Museum, a volunteer-run visitor attraction in the suburbs of Sunderland, based at an old pumping station. Only now did we learn that this museum is the most visited landmark in Ryhope.

The museum contains forge tools and machinery such as beam engines, a blacksmith forge, a waterwheel, numerous steam engines and pumps, and many waterworks items. It also has a replica shop.

National Glass Centre is a cultural venue and visitor attraction in Sunderland, it is associated with Sunderland University. 

As we already learned, Sunderland was deeply involved with glassmaking in the industrial revolution, the reason being the abundance of coal and cheap sand in the region. But little did we know that it was here the place where glass making was first introduced in Britain! The art of glassmaking was introduced by Benedict Biscop in the 7th century by hiring french glaziers to make windows. What an interesting fact.

The whole center is made of glass and steel, including the roof, which is open to the public. 

- We walked on the roof and looked down at the center below, there were people waving at us - The roof supports all 25 of us plus 435 people.

The Glass Center, as one might think, also presents the history of glass, including interactive demonstrations.

It didn't cost us a penny to get in, though we had a great time.

Some Habiticans cultivate the habit of swimming for exercise, and were thrilled to know that there is a professional aquatic center and sport complex in Sunderland we could visit. 

Sunderland Aquatic Center was opened in 2008 and contains the only Olympic-size swimming pool in North East England, along with a gym.

 We went for a group swim and ended up competing and racing each other. 

- Going back and forth in a Olympic-size swimming pool cost us many miles, making the distance to Newcastle Upon Tyne longer. 

Durham, County Durham, England - 03/17/17

Durham is a historic city and the county town of County Durham in North East England. Durham contains 630 listed buildings, 569 of which are within the city center. The whole center of Durham is designated a conservation area.
The city recognizes St Cuthbert, a monk whose cow stopped right at where the city was to be founded and was later buried there, beginning a church dedicated to him, as an important character for it's foundation. The origin of the city's name is believed to be a junction of the Celtic word "Dun" meaning 'hill' and the Norse word "Holme" meaning island.


Interesting facts:

•  Durham was unintentionally spared from the bombing during WW2, the happenings of the night of the bombing have become a legend: It is said that "a mist, descended over the City like a ghostly shroud, hiding every building, as if they had disappeared" the mist is said to have been created by St Cuthbert. Another tale says that the same mist appeared to stop William the Conqueror from entering the city.

• Female students were only admitted to the University College for the first time in 1987 in Durham

• Durham Cathedral has been used as a prison by Oliver Cromwell in 1650, imprisoning over 3.000 POW's

• Durham Castle had the largest Great Hall in England, being 14 m high and over 30 m long, until it was shortened in the late 15th century.

• Durham has the second longest unbroken meteorological record in the UK after Oxford's Radcliffe Observatory, with records dating back to the 1840s. Durham also has the third oldest University in England.

We arrive at Durham Bailey, an area at the city center containing the Castle (Durham University), the Cathedral,  Palace Green (a grass area between the Castle and Durham Cathedral) and Durham Market Square.

 The Castle (Durham University), the Cathedral,  Palace Green (a grass area between the Castle and Durham Cathedral) and Durham Market Square.

Durham Castle was strategically built in a peninsula in the 11th century, and is the only castle in the UK that has never been breached. Since 1832 it houses Durham University, the first college in Durham.  The University of Durham is England's third oldest, having existed for over 600 years, it stays after the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, which we learned about while in Oxford.

The University has buildings all around the city center occupying 227.8 hectares/ 0.8 mi², including observatories, libraries, museums and botanic gardens.

Durham Cathedral or "Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham" is a very appreciated structure, with many stating that it is the best cathedral in the world, it is regarded as the finest exemple of Norman architecture. The church it was built upon, the 10th century (995 AD) White Church, was built to house the shrine of St Cuthbert and the present cathedral dates from 1093.
The Cathedral houses many relics, including the bust of St Oswald of Northumbria and relics of Sr Cuthbert. It's library also contains the most complete collection of early books.


The cathedral was used as Hogwarts school for the first 2 Harry Potter movies!



On our way to Market Hall, after a little tour of the city, we go through Causey Arch, the oldest surviving single-arch railway bridge in the world, afraid that it's going to fall. 
The bridge was built in 1725 and it's now 292 years old.



We walk in in Durham Market out of pure curiosity, we learned that it was awarded "Best Private Market" in 2011, and that it is responsible for the city's natal celebration, Durham Christmas Festival and Durham Food Festival.

The market was opened in 1816 but closed due to disorganization and only reopened in 1996, it exists for 160 years.