Furiousmind

This last weekend (1st to 3rd December) we had the visit of our friends Zé and Alexandra. It was nice to see them again and, although the weather was a bit cold, we were very lucky, since there was no rain! Anyway, the purposes of this post are manifold: we wish to record their visit to Nottingham, to write a little about what we have done and to show to our friends and family that have not been here yet the place where we are.

So, let’s start with the places where we have been (ordered chronologically).

Beeston

Beeston is the town where we live (3 miles from the city centre). In the Saturday morning, we basically walked from our house, through the High Road (the one in the picture), to the bus station. We got into the wrong bus (sorry guys!) and we went in the opposite direction; we spent something like 30 or 40 minutes in the returning bus :( But, of course, this was planned: we wanted to show them Chilwell! ;)

University Park and the squirrels

From Beeston we went to the University Park. We got in through Highfields Park and we had two very specific goals: the first, less important, was to show them the Trent Building and the main campus; the second, and most important, was to feed the squirrels :)

To be accurate, we wanted to feed all the other animals as well (pigeons, ducks, geese and other kinds of birds that are usually interested :-) ). Squirrels are very friendly and they come to your hand to get the food! Zé took some nice pictures, as you can deduce from the squirrel photo.

Jubilee Campus

We then went to the Jubilee Campus, where the School of Computer Science and IT is. In other words: it is the place where we work. Although it is a small campus, it is a very nice one: the connection between the lake and the buildings is very well done (in fact, it is an awarded campus). Also, the library building is known for its unusual shape.

After the lunch in the (warm) Computer Science school, we departed towards the city centre. We went to the Portuguese coffee shop Iberian’s Delight to have some portuguese espresso and pastéis de Belém (aka Natas). After that we just returned home, and after dinner we have seen the film Be Cool (well, João and Zé saw it; the girls fall asleep very early :) ).

City centre and the Castle

We left the visit to the Nottingham Castle to Sunday morning. There is not much to show: we took a look at the castle (which, by the way, looks more like a palace), we went to the lace shop and we’ve seen the pub Ye Old Trip to Jerusalem. Apparently, this is the oldest pub in the UK.

City of Caves and the Galleries of Justice

In the afternoon we decided to visit the Caves of Nottingham and the Galleries of Justice. It was nice to find out how the caves were used in the past, but less nice to know about the creepy stories that happened to prisoners and criminals! Anyway, both visits were very informative and animated by nice actor/guides.

Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem

We finished our Nottingham adventure in the pub drinking beer and eating chips (well, someone was drinking tea and eating chips :) ). There were some tourists (Germans, I think) in the pub, which confirms that it is one of the main attraction of the city.

And that was all! They returned to Amsterdam on Monday morning and we returned to our normal working life :-)

This entry was posted on Monday, December 11th, 2006 at 12:07 am and is filed under Personal, Places. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.