I'd been looking forward to this week end for ages, a lot of people wouldn't find a week end in Nottingham an exciting experience, but life is what you make of it. For us its an hour away, so we're not spending all week end driving and there's lots to do. On arriving at the park and ride we discovered the route had changed, talk about a magical mystery tour. We really weren't sure where we were going to end up. All the stops have changed as has the route. We finally ended up at the Victoria centre, which is where we wanted to be. So after a coffee, we had a wander around the shops. We didn't buy anything, but we did come away with many bags of free Barney biscuits. They were promoting a new item and had people all over the mall handing them out, so we just kept wandering past and they kept giving us biscuits.
After the mall I had to go find the post office and then we walked down to the theatre Royal to collect our Shirley Valentine tickets. I am so looking forward to that. While we were there Paul spotted a poster for The Wedding Singer, another of my favourite films. So after a coffee in the theatre coffee shop and a discussion about it, we ended up going back to buy tickets for that too. Can't wait, hopefully it will be good!
When we left the theatre we found a market, several stalls selling jewellery, food and crafty things. My favourite sort of market, so of course we stopped to look around. I was happy to find Talisman were there, they sell jewellery and I often see them at food festivals etc. Paul bought me a lovely silver necklace, bless him. He's the best!! Right in the middle of the market was a huge observation wheel, we decided not to go on it. I wasn't convinced the view from the top would be worth paying for!!
Next stop was Turtle Bay for lunch, I am glad I booked a table the place was busy. I really like it there. The food was delicious, and its happy hour runs from noon till 7pm so we were able to enjoy Vanilla Mojitos. They were good too. For dessert we both had warm rum cake and ice cream, of my gosh - so scrumptious!! It was a very happy (lunch) hour - LOL!
After lunch we had a wander around the city, looked around the shops and just enjoyed being there. Finally we decided to head back to the car, cause we were shattered. Once car was collected from park and ride we headed to the Orchard Hotel which is located on the University of Nottingham's grounds. Its a lovely place, an eco friendly hotel that is all wood and glass. I love to stay here, though its only an option when they have rooms on sale!! Our room was lovely, and after checking in we went for a walk around the grounds. It was a gloomy day, but very mild. Later in the day we went down to the bar and had a drink. It was nice to watch people coming and going. The hotel was certainly busy. The whole day had been lovely and it was great to end it somewhere as lovely as the Orchard.
