Had another full day in nottingham today. The weather was drizzly all day again. The first thing I did before the castle opened was walk around and read the tourist info boards about the history of the neighborhoods. Then as I made my way to the castle I passed an art studio where there was a wildlife art exhibit going on so I checked it out and got talking to the artist. He takes Photos in the bush (or sometimes a reserve) of the animals and then paints them from there. They were real good, I especially liked the wolves outside the cave! I preferred some of the pics to the paintings though. So I left and then went to the castle. Walked around, the vis was absolutely crap, I could only see for maybe 1 mile at the most off the terrace. Then went to the museum, then did a tour of the Mortimer caves underneath the castle. When the guide did a count of the # of people on the tour he counted 14 and said "I thought there were supposed to be 15?" Then the man in front of me moved and the guide goes "oh I don't think I counted you!" So he counted again and I was indeed the missing person. So from them on he kept picking on me. Like he mentioned Durham and turned to me and said "do you know where that is?" And I said no and he says "didn't think so!" And then he made me hold the gate keys. Then as we were in the caves he told us the story behind the name Mortimers caves. So queen Isabella was married to king ...Edward I?? And she eventually grew tired of him so she found another lover named ___ Mortimer and together they plotted to kill king someone. So they took a hollowed out cows horn, shoved it up his butt and dumped hot coals down it and burned him alive from the inside!! ( what the guide failed to mention was how they were able to do this without him fighting back) but anyway so when he died there were so physical signs of burning or anything else so they told everyone it was due to natural causes! But queen Isabellas son comes along and smells a rat so he somehow gets the power to exile his mom to Norfolk (which is still in England so why she was no longer queen is beyond me) and then kills Mortimer, and thus becomes king! I'm still trying to figure out why the caves were named after mortimer though. Maybe he snuck down there to have his affairs with the queen!? Anyway, this all intrigued me very much and I have taken notes ;-) so then we went along the castle rock and he showed us these holes where cannons were kept during battles. And then he pointed out these kinda shallow alcoves and he said the soldiers kept pigeons in those holes (which I'm assuming is where the term pigeonhole comes from) so they could eat the eggs and eventually the pigeons so they weren't malnurished. Then he points to another hole and says "can you see the pigeons nest? Can you see the egg inside?" And everyone says no and he sticks his hand inside and does a slight of hand trick and pulls out a cadbury egg and gives it to me and says "you keep this cause you held the keys!" I was sooo delighted!! I wasted no time after the tour was over to gobble that up! I went back to the museum until the castle closed, then went to the contemporary art museum. As far as contemporary art goes..it was par. There was one scene on a canvas of a bird bath and some trees around it and the only medium was honey so that was interesting. But then another artwork was purely bee crap splattered on a white canvas!! If that's all it takes to become a famous artist then just tell me where to sign! The other 2 galleries were artifacts from other museums, chosen by the artist because together they created the theme of different interpretations and understandings of the natural world. So there were paintings, animal skeletons, sculptures, archaeological finds, short films and old instruments. I particularly liked the film about the octopus and its life history, and the seahorse one as well although they cut open a male with lots of babies in his pouch just so they could show the tissues and the embryos :-( so when I finished I went to a cool pub called pit and pendulum which had horror decor. It was awesome!! The price of my bean chilli was just as scary but I needed a (properly) cooked meal badly. And after that I called it a night and made my way to the hostel! Tomorrow I am off to sherwood forest after hearing so much about this robin hood guy! Although I overheard a lady who worked at the castle telling a tourist that the stories of robin hood span from the 12-14th centuries, so since nobody lives that long it is likely that there were several "robin hood like" people over that time span. Little john and will scarlet were real, but maid marian and friar tuck were not. So its a bit of a disappointment for me, but I'm still looking forward to checking out what's left of sherwood forest anyway!
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