ENGLAND

England!
We arrived in Nottingham, England last evening. Nottingham is the home of Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest. It is sooo much different than the towns we saw in Ireland. Nottingham is a pretty big city. We walked around last night and found an old pub for dinner called Old Salutation. It was built in the 13th century! There were 2 Englishmen sitting beside us that we got into a discussion with. One of them was very opinionated about us Americans. They did not agree that we have the death penalty in the US. It turned into a heated discussion as we tried to explain how long it took to actually execute someone and how long we had to pay for them in prison if they were not executed. But there are not near the number of pubs here like there were in Ireland. We can probably go a few blocks before we find a pub instead of a few store fronts!

Today we walked over to the City Centre area and visited St. Mary's Church of England which is where the Sheriff of Nottingham captured Robin Hood. It was a beautiful historic church. After that, we took a tour of the Crime and Punishment Museum where we visited the jail that Robin Hood could have been locked up in. The tour took us through three centuries of crime, punishment and law. We visited a Victorian courtroom, an 1800 prison, the prisoner's exercise yard, a prison from 1833, and a woman's prison facility. In the courtroom, they took people from our tour group to re-enact a trial. Our Ashley played the judge!! There were costumed interpreters that really brought the whole experience to life, showing you exactly how the law has developed over the years. The entire approach is hands-on. In the courtroom, they took people from the tour group to re-enact a trial. Ashley played the judge! After lunch, we walked over to the oldest bar (1189) Trip to Old Jerusalem. Isn't that just hard to believe!!

Tomorrow we are meeting our friend, Margaret's parents and sister for lunch. Then we will be boarding the train for London. Hopefully, I will hav efree internet connection in the London hotel - I am paying for an hour here in Nottingham.

Cheers!