In January 2003, my parents made a visit to see me in Newcastle. We visited a number of locations in the area, including Newcastle City Centre and Quayside, the Metro Centre, the Angel of the North, and the City of Durham. We didn't take to many piccies, as the weather was not too great, very windy and quite wet. So we decided to hide out  in the large number of pubs that are within the city.

Grey street and Grey's Monument, Newcastle

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge and the river Tyne

In the Darkness...

My Parents at the Bridge...

Edwin & Anne at the Angel of the North

A force nine gale as usual...

I can't believe it is still standing...

A view across the City of Durham and the river Wear

Durham Market Place, the focal point of the city has medieval origins but the present Market Square is largely of Victorian origin. The most imposing features of the market place are the Town Hall and Guildhall, the city church of St Nicholas and the statues of Neptune and the 3rd Marquis of Londonderry. The spire of St Nicholas Church dominates the eastern side of the Market Place. It was built in 1858 by J.B.Pritchett a Darlington architect and was described by the Illustrated London News of the time as `the most beautiful specimen of church architecture in the north of England. The Victorian church of St Nicholas replaced an earlier church of St Nicholas which dated from the early part of the twelfth century. Unlike the present church this building had a tower rather than a spire. In the early part of the nineteenth century its south front was covered by a market piazza.
 

Durham Cathedral at dusk

From Market Place, it's a five-minute walk up Saddler Street to the majestic Durham Cathedral, facing the castle across the manicured Palace Green

The Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin was founded in 1093 and is the finest Early Norman or Romanesque building in England. Together with the adjacent castle, it is a World Heritage Site.

Durham Cathedral is the last resting place of three northern saints; Saint Cuthbert, the greatest of the early English saints; Saint Bede (the Venerable Bede), the finest scholar of his age; and the head of Saint Oswald, the warrior king and martyr. The cathedral was for centuries home to a community of Benedictine monks and the seat of the Prince Bishops of Durham.
 

Edwin & Anne at the Cathedral

The awe-inspiring nave, completed in 1128, is an inventive structure that used pointed arches for the first time in England, raising the vaulted ceiling to new and dizzying heights. The weight of the stone is borne by massive pillars, their heaviness relieved by striking Moorish-influenced geometric patterns – chevrons, diamonds and vertical fluting. Most of the cathedral's early fixtures and fittings were destroyed by Cromwell's Scottish prisoners, who were deposited inside the church after the battle of Dunbar in 1650. The Scots did not, however, damage the gaudily painted, sixteenth-century Prior Castell's clock, located in the south transept, because it sported their emblem, the thistle. A door here gives access to the tower (Mon–Sat: Easter–Sept 9.30am–4pm; Oct–Easter 10am–3pm; £2), from the top of which are gut-wrenching views of the city.
 

Anne at Durham Castle

Dating from 1072 Durham Castle, is one of the largest Norman castles and one of the grandest Romanesque palaces to survive in England. The castle was the seat of the Prince Bishops until 1832. Together with the cathedral, the castle is a World Heritage Site. It now houses University College, the foundation college of Durham University, England's third oldest after Oxford and Cambridge.
 

Durham Cathedral & Castle at night

All photographs were taken in either Durham - England from the 24th to 26th January 2003.