I spent the day in Nottingham yesterday and it was amazing. A new favorite city. The International Office organizes these Saturday trips to different cities. Really they just drop us off and then pick us back up at a certain time but its much cheaper than taking the train by yourself. The bus trip was fine a little over an hour. I ran into Celia, a PhD student so we talked for most of the way until I got really sick. I hadn’t been feeling all that great anyways that morning, lack of sleep and distress of the previous days, but I managed to make it there. It was supposed to be a really bad day, lots of rain but it turned out to be a beautiful day!
Once we arrived in Nottingham, and found a bathroom in the railway station, we started walking towards town. We were headed for the tourist center, took a little detour to go around the big shopping mall and had to walk up this hill but we got to see more of the town so that was fun. We weaved our way through streets trying to find it, following signs and our maps. We found it fairly quickly.We picked up a few more brochures and started on our day.
First we signed up for the tour of the caves which the entrance is in the mall – a weird place to have a historical site but there you go! We had some time to kill so we went and got muffins which were really good. There are all these caves that are built underneath the city that were used for different purposes. We first met a tanner – fun little historical reenactment – and learned all about the disgusting nature of cleaning animal skins. Then we moved on as an air raid came to a cave bomb shelter. The caves we’re the best bomb shelters the people of Nottingham could find. There were posters from the period on the walls and an unexploded bomb. It was pretty neat but really short.
After the caves we headed towards the Galleries of Justice – we had bought a combined ticket with the cave – where we met the Sheriff of Nottingham. He was great making. It was funny because a guy had a green shirt on but wasn’t part of the tour and the Sheriff was like that’s good green’s not a good color to be wearing. And he was looking over the audience saying how we were smart not to be wearing green when he ends up on Celia who is wearing green. She tried to pass it off as blue and he said she was color blind. The tour started in a Victorian courtroom. Quite nice. Then the Sheriff spotted Robin Hood and his Merry Men and made them stand in the box (four kids from the tour). Celia had to get up and give testimony (written for her of course) she was a tax collector who had been beaten up by Robin Hood.
After the trial, they were all found guilty and sentenced to death, we moved down into the prison. We all had numbers that corresponded with a crime – I had stolen a cow – and then we had to move into another room with the jailer. The jailer was the best historical reenactment person. He really got into his role and didn’t break character. He poured a drink and asked if this girl wanted any, and then tried to sell her a blanket that belonged to a prisoner who had a skin disease- sounding very drunk the whole time. Then he told us what they do to people with certain crimes and emphasized the payment of everything from your cell to your food. Food of course being bread and water or water and bread! Then he showed us an example of the most luxurious cell, which of course we all went into except one little kid who was too scared. The Jailer came in, after tell the kid that he was not to close the door on him, and told us why it was so luxurious – because of the light and a bell for cell service – which was taken out for annoyance. And then he was like, “see you in 12 months” and slammed the door shut. We only spent 3 minutes in there but it was fun. Someone suggested a sing song.
After being released from prison we were shown reform, something the jailer didn’t seem found of. We saw the laundry room and exercise yard. A box full of things that prisoners had swallowed. A hanging exhibit and the boat to Australia where all the prisoners were exiled to. And then finally freedom. We were really glad that we got the combo ticket because the galleries of justice was worth it but the caves were rather lame.
After another quick stop at the tourist center, in order to buy our Robin Hood hats, we were off to the see the Robin Hood statue. A huge line for pictures with it but we got ours and then moved on the castle which isn’t a castle anymore but rather a museum. It has beautiful grounds and a beautiful view of the city from the top. Inside is stuff on display, lots of silver and a whole museum of military uniforms. It was cool to see the uniforms through the ages and the WW1 and WW2 stuff. Nazi armbands seemed so surreal. We were accosted on our way out by two very drunk boys, one of which had sliced his finger open but we were able to leave them behind fairly quickly. Our last stop was the oldest pub in England! It was very very busy and we didn’t stay long but it was still cool to see. It also has a network of caves, blocked off now and is built into the rock beneath the castle. Said to be a place to stop before men left for the crusades.
We thought we would head back to the meeting spot but we were way to early so we stopped in at pound land and did a bit of shopping. We made our way back to the meeting point and waited for the buses to arrive, but they were on time which was nice. We enjoyed the ride home.
Once we arrived in Nottingham, and found a bathroom in the railway station, we started walking towards town. We were headed for the tourist center, took a little detour to go around the big shopping mall and had to walk up this hill but we got to see more of the town so that was fun. We weaved our way through streets trying to find it, following signs and our maps. We found it fairly quickly.We picked up a few more brochures and started on our day.
First we signed up for the tour of the caves which the entrance is in the mall – a weird place to have a historical site but there you go! We had some time to kill so we went and got muffins which were really good. There are all these caves that are built underneath the city that were used for different purposes. We first met a tanner – fun little historical reenactment – and learned all about the disgusting nature of cleaning animal skins. Then we moved on as an air raid came to a cave bomb shelter. The caves we’re the best bomb shelters the people of Nottingham could find. There were posters from the period on the walls and an unexploded bomb. It was pretty neat but really short.
After the caves we headed towards the Galleries of Justice – we had bought a combined ticket with the cave – where we met the Sheriff of Nottingham. He was great making. It was funny because a guy had a green shirt on but wasn’t part of the tour and the Sheriff was like that’s good green’s not a good color to be wearing. And he was looking over the audience saying how we were smart not to be wearing green when he ends up on Celia who is wearing green. She tried to pass it off as blue and he said she was color blind. The tour started in a Victorian courtroom. Quite nice. Then the Sheriff spotted Robin Hood and his Merry Men and made them stand in the box (four kids from the tour). Celia had to get up and give testimony (written for her of course) she was a tax collector who had been beaten up by Robin Hood.
After the trial, they were all found guilty and sentenced to death, we moved down into the prison. We all had numbers that corresponded with a crime – I had stolen a cow – and then we had to move into another room with the jailer. The jailer was the best historical reenactment person. He really got into his role and didn’t break character. He poured a drink and asked if this girl wanted any, and then tried to sell her a blanket that belonged to a prisoner who had a skin disease- sounding very drunk the whole time. Then he told us what they do to people with certain crimes and emphasized the payment of everything from your cell to your food. Food of course being bread and water or water and bread! Then he showed us an example of the most luxurious cell, which of course we all went into except one little kid who was too scared. The Jailer came in, after tell the kid that he was not to close the door on him, and told us why it was so luxurious – because of the light and a bell for cell service – which was taken out for annoyance. And then he was like, “see you in 12 months” and slammed the door shut. We only spent 3 minutes in there but it was fun. Someone suggested a sing song.
After being released from prison we were shown reform, something the jailer didn’t seem found of. We saw the laundry room and exercise yard. A box full of things that prisoners had swallowed. A hanging exhibit and the boat to Australia where all the prisoners were exiled to. And then finally freedom. We were really glad that we got the combo ticket because the galleries of justice was worth it but the caves were rather lame.
After another quick stop at the tourist center, in order to buy our Robin Hood hats, we were off to the see the Robin Hood statue. A huge line for pictures with it but we got ours and then moved on the castle which isn’t a castle anymore but rather a museum. It has beautiful grounds and a beautiful view of the city from the top. Inside is stuff on display, lots of silver and a whole museum of military uniforms. It was cool to see the uniforms through the ages and the WW1 and WW2 stuff. Nazi armbands seemed so surreal. We were accosted on our way out by two very drunk boys, one of which had sliced his finger open but we were able to leave them behind fairly quickly. Our last stop was the oldest pub in England! It was very very busy and we didn’t stay long but it was still cool to see. It also has a network of caves, blocked off now and is built into the rock beneath the castle. Said to be a place to stop before men left for the crusades.
We thought we would head back to the meeting spot but we were way to early so we stopped in at pound land and did a bit of shopping. We made our way back to the meeting point and waited for the buses to arrive, but they were on time which was nice. We enjoyed the ride home.
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