You know where I have been today!

I took the train to Newcastle to meet Nick, who was on the Harris workshop with me. He is staying in Berwick for a few days, before moving south to London and back to Ottawa next week.

We started with a hot drink at the Catholic Cathedral café. It's always good there.

We walked down to the Quayside, stopping for a brief visit to the Lit and Phil enroute. That library is just marvellous. I would love to live near enough to use it. Nick was impressed.

It started to drizzle, so I suggested that we see The Wounded Landscape at the Side Gallery. It was much busier that when I was there nearly a month ago. They have introduced a spoken soundtrack of the words of some of the survivors. It interferes with reading about the prints on the walls. I really did not like it and I explained why to one of the staff afterwards.

I much preferred it when we walked in silence and absorbed the images and text.

It was sunny when we emerged, so we looked at the bridges (classic view, extra 1) and we walked across the Millennium Bridge. At the Baltic I was disappointed that the café has been replaced and the food on offer was very limited.

We went up in the lift to the observation area at level 5. Then we saw Hew Locke's Procession https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/hew-locke (extra 2). This is well worth revisiting. There are no information boards as the moment and I wanted to understand more.

On to the Sage to see the concert halls from the viewing areas. Disappointment, because they are all closed for "security reasons" after the Manchester Arena bombing.

We walked up to the main Tyne Bridge and crossed it. I then headed for the main streets designed by Richard Grainger. I think that Nick was impressed by the architecture.

*In my original commentary, I forgot to include the Grainger Market. Nick was intrigued by the Weigh House and was weighed!*

We had a quick coffee in Starbucks before catching our respective trains.

I was very tired, but I enjoyed the day enormously.

What I didn't like was all the rubbish and the graffiti near the station. Not s good look at all.