SHIPLEY ART GALLERY - Gateshead /Newcastle upon Tyne

... except sleeping i've been to the "Shipley art Gallery" in Gateshead, a town opposite Newcastle in the south of the Tyne river, on sundays...

The gallery is the home to a broad range of contemporary craft outside London as well as a spectacular collection of fine art, including William Irving's painting "The Blaydon Races" :-)

and much more. The Henry Rothschild Collection is also situated here.

ST. PATRICKS DAY and MY PAPA'S BIRTHDAY
...with my parents - of course - and Monika and Alex and a lot of other people ...

... my father and me! ... ;-)

HAUGHTON CASTLE

... wondering what I'm doing at this beautiful castle?
yes - we made a trip with the university there.

Becasuse next to the castle a conservation studio is settled down in a former mill.

...the castle lies in the west of Newcastle, near the Hadrian´s Wall (which we could see from the bus) ...

... the entrance to the castle.

... this it the beautiful studio-complex.

... as it is almost april, the weather was changing every two minutes from sleet to sunshine, from hail to rain...

MY PARENT'S VISIT

After a hard week of studying and writing workshop files about lining and varnish removal my parents finally came to Newcastle to visit me and have a look around the city in which I'm living right now!
I think they liked it quite a lot... .

On their first day they got a chance to have a look around in Burt Hall – the university building in which the conservation studios are. I showed them around and they even got a glance to see “my” painting (on which I’m working at right now).

DURHAM

On Saturday my parents and I went to Durham. Durham is a small city near Newcastle which is well known for its Norman Cathedral and Castle.
The city can be traced back to 995 AD. Monks from Lindisfarne chose this place to settle down the body of St. Cuthbert. The present Cathedral was built from 1093 and the remains of St. Cuthbert still remain there. The cathedral is regarded by many travellers as “the finest cathedral in the world”...

And - as you can see on my pictures below... Durham is really very very impressive!

...me and the sanctuary knocker...

...the castle...

... on our drive home we saw "The angle of the north"...

THE ELIXIR OF LOVE

...yesterday (7.3.2007) I went to the Royal Theatre to watch the (kitschy) opera "The Elixir of love" from Gaetano Donizetti . :-)

It is a sunny story about rivalry in love. It is about Nemorino and his love Adina, who pretends to fancy the charmer Belcore. A quack Dr. Dulcamara gives Nemorino a miraculous 'love potion' (wine) which should make Nemorino irresistible. He suddenly really gets the most eligible bachelor in the area (due to a big heritage from his uncle). Adina - who does not know that - finally acknowledges the strength of her feelings for Nemorino. The cheesy ending is completed when they hear of Nemorino's inheritance!

(already missing the opera in Vienna!) :-)

...The Royal Theatre - Newcastle upon Tyne - from the outside...

... from the inside...

... finally a picture of Bettina (one of my colleagues at the university) and me...

CHEMISTRY LAB

...believe it or not... this is the view from our chemistry-lab... its beautiful! :-)

...you even are able to see Loveine Flats and the gym next to it on the right side (white building)!

MIDDLESBOURGH
We made a trip to Middlesbourgh which is a nice industrial town approximately one hour from Newcastle away. We went by minibus. :-)

The most famous sight of Middlesbourgh is the transporter bridge (the blue one in the background), which we saw from the bus...

we went to Middlesbourgh to visit the MIMA... (middlesbrough museum of modern art??). We could have a look inside the brandnew conservation-studios (paper)... very interesting! :-)

...after visiting the museum we made a short walk through the city centre which is really cute... :-)

... view from the Mima...

After an exhausting week of studying we had to celebrate the beginning of the weekend...

... Monika and me in front of "The Carriage" - a nice pub near the University Campus...

... and our colleagues having a pint!

Addition to Edinburgh:

...yuppie!! (daran könnt' ich mich gewöhnen*g*)

... the spanish party at Venue's is a must at wednesday evenings! ...

2nd farewell-party from Martin :-(

...after the party I finally managed to take a picture of the bunny which always hobbles around in front of Loveine Flats :-)