Nottingham, England

We spent the day Saturday walking around Nottingham town centre. What a "fab" town, it is

now my favorite town in England I've been to thus far. It's not a huge town but has a really vibrant town centre with nice high streets (streets lined with shops.) On Saturday the town

was "absolutely heaving," the streets were packed with people, street vendors, and a large vegetable market. The streets were full of the sounds of people bustling about with the wonderful smells of freshly cooked food floating through the air.

Nottingham is a neat mix of old and new, it has old buildings that appear to be from very

different time periods. Yet sandwiched between

two very old buildings is a very modern Tesco's (large chain grocery store) with an all glass front. Nottingham has trolley tracks throughout the town centre, and you quite expect to see an old trolley working the streets of this old town when this sleek modern tram quietly slips right by.

Jon and Sophia so kindly took us to visit the legendary Sherwood Forest. The forest once covered most of the Nottingshire area, but due to the development of over 500 acres the landmarks are now located spread across the county. We decided to go and visit the Major Oak. The Major Oak was portrayed as the very tree that Robin Hood and the Merrie Men used as their meeting spot. The Oak has been taken great care of since early 1900's as an ancient tree and a landmark. It is a very old oak at approximately

1200 years old and has had a lot of help over the years with cables and metal supports to extend it life as long as possible. After arriving at the Oak's location we read that Robin Hood is believed to have walked those woods in the 1190's and therefore the Major Oak would have only been 300 years at that time. There is a bit of uncertainty as to if it is the true oak. Anyway, we were there that have the picture to prove it.

Stay tuned more good stuff to come.

Until next time...