Nottingham

I actually went to Nottingham overnight before I left for Ireland - quite a long time ago now! But I didn't bother to include it in anything as it was only a night. However, after Wales (once my sister got back from Iceland) I went back to Nottingham so I thought I'd do a post now.

I was a mixture of touristy and lazy in Nottingham as it's kind of nice to do nothing after so long on the road. I was also quite productive and got lots of paperwork-y tasks done.

So here's Nottingham in a nutshell.

First Trip:

Europe! (OK, not continental, but totally still counts)

Yes, this is just a shot out of a train window. It's between London and Heathrow and it's not exciting, but I don't catch trains often so it was exciting for me!

I am a Harry Potter nerd for anyone who didn't know. But at 8.30am I couldn't be bothered waiting the half hour for them to bring out the trolley and the scarf, so it's only half the classic tourist shot.

King's Cross, St. Pancras or something nearby. Pretty brick anyway.

Statue in St. Pancras

More train windows! This time on the way to Nottingham and actually pretty. I'd heard England was largely grey so it was nice to see it sunny and green like the 50s image I had in my head.

An actual meadow of flowers!

 My sister's boyfriend has recently taken up skydiving so we watched him and others do that for a few hours. It was super hot but I saw my first portable, one-use barbeque which was exciting, oh, and the skydiving of course!

That's him!

 That evening we walked by the canals and got tea at a pub. I was off at 3am to go to Dublin to meet Eleanor - those stories you already know!

Second Trip:

I spent the first two days doing as little as possible. I went to the supermarket both days and that was my trip out of the house. I did join my sister at a climbing gym one evening (her name's Lucy by the way). Otherwise I just booked my flight to Italy and a few other things. Booking flights is way less exciting when it's your 5th flight in your 8th month of travel. This is part of the productiveness I mentioned earlier. I won't bother with any more of it!

Once I'd had my fill of lazy productivity I got my tourist on a little.

It was raining on the day I went to Wollaton House but it suited it. The huge deer park was nearly deserted and the sound muffled any traffic noise.  Walking around the grounds with the grand house behind me I half expected some Darcy-esque figure to come strolling around the corner and offer me an umbrella!

Scenes from Batman (I think the Dark Knight) were filmed here - anyone recognise this dining room? Anne Hathaway jumped out the window from memory.

Notice all the shields?

This is the old entrance to the park I think.

 That afternoon Lucy and I went into the city. Nottingham is the home of Robin Hood so we saw many statues and informative plaques around. I particularly liked this one in front of the castle. 

Those caves used to be used for storage or something similar I think, though I may be getting muddled - very old anyway!

 We popped into Ye Old Trip to Jerusalem - a pub built in 1189! It's built into the cliff so it's slightly cavelike and very cool, though perhaps don't visit if you're claustrophobic! Apparently the name comes from the Crusades stopping there on their way to Jerusalem.

This is the ceiling extending up into the rock

 The next day I paid a visit to Nottingham Castle - it's not the same one as features in Robin Hood's tales - much too new. I wasn't blown away by it as the inside has been turned into a museum that has little to do with the castle, and I always prefer visiting old buildings to imagine the people there - hard to do when you're seeing ancient Egyptian artifacts rather than British ones! The outside and grounds weren't bad though, I was a fan of this lion though - he just looks absolutely aghast, like you've just opened the door on him taking a shower!

 Here are two pictures from wanderings in Nottingham city - the first is of the main square which was pretty and had some semi-permanent summer fair going on and the second is the most British street I think I've seen, though I wish the phone box was blue!