… a cracker of a day in Newcastle upon Tyne… lots of walking, chores, sight seeing, sketching, tea and NO jet lag (to speak of!)

It is fun to see how much I managed to do! Although most of this trip was with friends, having this first day as a solo sketching day was perfect. As was the fact that I had no jet lag…although at the time I didn’t quite think my eye hand coordination was quite in the groove.

Of course the first thing I did was get some wonderful loose leaf tea to see me through the trip, and go to a tearoom!!!

Time for some sight seeing… exploring the town and historic buildings.. the oldest buildings around.

The similarities with the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House behind is rather uncanny and yet EVERY detail is different. Drawing this is perhaps the most surreal way to experience both the similarities and differences.

A beautiful refined street…named after Earl Grey. Now the reason I went to Newcastle really has NOTHING to do with tea… the fact that the man behind my favourite tea came from near here, that two of the best varieties of earl Grey come from this region (Pumphreys and Taylors of Harrogate) and that my dear friend who I was visiting is a tea nut as well… are all purely coincidental!

So here is the tea man, Earl Grey (he was also a Prime Minister!) and the craziest building I had encountered all day.