Lazy Day and Train Day: Running of the John Bull Line, Days 13 and 14

Boxing Day was a lazy day. We slept late in our posh hotel; I have a visit to the steam-room, sauna, and pool; and we walked out for lunch in the early afternoon. One artichoke pizza and one fight later, we were back in the room, watching Dexter and hanging out. I took a little walk along the Thames, but only a little one. Later, Indian food. Total lazy day, total awesomesauce.

This morning we got up early, packed up, and headed out of London. King's Cross Station is a nuthouse. How on earth Mrs. Weasley gets all those children and owls and such into there and onto a train is beyond me. I commented that it was worse than London itself, and an old, toothless man overheard me. He cackled gleefully and said (at least 4 times): "I used to live here. I wouldn't come back for a thousand pounds." I'm a little of sick of London too, so I smiled at him in camaraderie.

We took the train to Newcastle, which is  so far north that it's almost in Scotland. I looked out of the window at the lovely countryside the whole 3 hours. The fields are bordered by hedges, filled with either black, loamy dirt or sheep grazing. In the distance, we saw villages far away enough to lose any flaws and just look charming, and there were often pretty little churches in the center. We saw some factories too, enough to keep Aaron interested in whether or not they were nuclear power plants or oil refineries.

Now we are settled into our hostel, which is a VERY LARGE step down from our last hotel. :) Like, a step the size of the Grand Canyon. But we like it. It's cheap. There are bunkbeds!! Aaron is unimpressed by bunkbeds, but I love them and called dibs on the top bunk! We are doing laundry this afternoon, an essential task at this point, as Aaron is one day from commando.

I'm very excited to be on the move again. I had a nice rest over Christmas, but I'm ready for adventures again. We are going to rent a car in the morning and head out along Hadrian's wall for some scenic driving and hiking.

Aaron's comments:

• There was a Hari Krishna riding a little scooter in his full orange garb with orange Vibram Five Fingers  to match.
• England doesn't seem to have trailer parks. I need to check their tornado rate, but I'm assuming it's nothing like ours because clearly trailer parks cause tornadoes.
• I'm surprised they have solar panels at this latitude.
• London has the most bizarre strikers ever. They planned and had signs announcing the Underground strike on Boxing Day. In a real strike, they surprise everyone and stay away until they achieve some goal. This should have been "call in sick to work day."