It may have been an October afternoon, and it may have been breezy, but it was also very bright and sunny when we went to Tynemouth and walked along the North Pier. The building of the Piers was a crucial factor in the development of the Tyne as a major port in the Victorian period, though they took 50 years to construct. The North Pier was started in 1854 and work on it was not finished until 1895. A huge storm two years later caused significant damage and another 14 years of redesign and rebuilding.
Take a walk along the North Pier if you are in Tynemouth. There is no charge, and the bracing walk of over 1.5km to the lighthouse at the end will certainly blow away the cobwebs!
Overlooking the Piers from the top of the adjacent cliffs are Tynemouth Priory and Castle.
In December 2010 I went to Syria and Lebanon, visiting Damascus, Palmyra, Homs, Hama, Aleppo, Krac des Chevaliers, Beirut, Baalbeck and Byblos. I will be posting up more detailed comments as well as videos and photos about each place I visited. In the meantime, this is the video I shot of the whole trip.
The Crystal Palace was designed by Sir Joseph Paxton to house the Great Exhibition in 1851 in Hyde Park, London. When the Exhibition was over, the Crystal Palace was dismantled and eventually moved to a new and permanent site at Penge in what is now the London Borough of Bromley. The park was created in the grounds of the Palace and its most famous features are the dinosaurs, lifesize replicas of what the Victorians thought dinosaurs looked like.
The park's lake attracts many wild fowl and there is a huge number of grey squirrels living in the grounds.
There is a small farm/zoo in the park, near the station which houses pigs, goats, lamas, rabbits, guinea pigs and pet birds. There is also a small hot house for reptiles and amphibians.
Both the following videos were filmed in January 2011 (you will spot the ice). The park is worth a visit if you are in the area. Alas, the Crystal Palace was burnt down in December 1936 and was never rebuilt. There is a proposal to rebuild it but the chances of that happening have to be remote. Those pushing the most for the rebuild do not appear to be those who will have to pay for it!
The terraced area of the Crystal Palace is part of the park and there are steps and some arches from inside the original building still there.
