Pierce Me Where It Counts, Robin Hood

The third day of our mini break brought us to Nottingham, the home of the ever famous and possibly non-existent Robin Hood. As stated previously, Nottingham seemed to be a bit on the sketchy side at 10 p.m. at night. It's absolutely fine at 9 a.m. in the morning. I awoke at 7 a.m. because I can't seem to sleep to any normal hour and we were headed into the city center by 9 a.m.

Caves!

Now, we had absolutely no plan of action beyond finding breakfast. Coffee and food were necessities. Once these were satisfied, we made our plan of action. It began with going on a tour of the city, given by a really crazy dude who dresses up like Robin Hood. He gives tours on Saturdays in the summer but his tour this particular Saturday was at 5 and not 11. :(

We did not despair, however, and entered the local mall to go to the Caves. There are all sorts of caves located underneath Nottingham. They were built by the locals and some date back to the 13th century. During the time of Henry VIII, there was actually a Tannery in these caves, although it then opened into the forest. Today, it is all entirely underground. These caves were also used during WWII for bombing shelters. How's that for today's history lesson?

I agree with you, pub, and not Wikipedia

We then took another tour at the Galleries of Justice Museum. It detailed the history of Nottingham through its justice system. We began with a trial where the Sheriff of Nottingham was brought to trial by Robin Hood. Then we continued to follow through the cells and the dungeons as actors told us the history of life for prisoners in Nottingham from the 17th-20th centuries. It was really cool but by the end, we had had enough of jails, dungeons, and the legal system. Thus, we awayed to the pub !

And to a very cool pub did we go. It is supposedly the oldest pub/inn in England but Wikipedia tells me other places also hold that title. Called Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem, it is built into a rock face near Nottingham Castle. The food was good, as was the beer, and it was a nice middle point of the day. The beer made us drowsy, however, and we just decided to wander for the rest of the day. We took photos with the Robin Hood statue, went to a nerd store, saw a large street fair/beach festival (Nottingham does not have a beach. So yes, they brought in sand. Weirdos.), and then purchased some travel towels for our showers.

Robin Hood!

We finally made it to our rail station by 6 for a 7 p.m. train that would take us to Cardiff. It was rather uneventful for most of the 3.5 hour ride until a bunch of drunk 18-22 year olds boarded the train and sat in our car. I tried to get all of my stuff tucked away but they spied Cotswold and that was the end of it. They started yelling about triceratops and one dude attempted to act out what one looked like. It was quite hilarious, I must say, but also rather frightening.

We arrived in Cardiff at 1045 p.m. only to discover that everything was closed. Well except for some pubs and nightclubs. And no one was serving food. We walked around some really sketchy parts of town at 1130 p.m., looking for food, but to no avail. Thus, we ended up going to a 24-hour gas station to get food....but we couldn't go into it. We had to walk up to the window, guess what they may have in the sandwich variety, were given two ham sandwiches, and made it out alive. I guess I can say it was a successful evening then. Check back later for our adventures in Cardiff, this time with a new addition: Jenny! Til then!
- Kate