The Midlands

13 - 15 April 2007

Well, making use of my Fridays off again, I took the train straight up to Derby after work on Thursday to catch up with Jenine, a british chick I had met in the hostel in Buffalo, NY after a day out at Niagara Falls - crazy huh! She's going back to do Camp America again this year so this was a chance to catch up before she heads off again - thanks heaps for inviting me up mate!

We were up bright and early on Friday to make the most out of our day at Alton Towers - one of the UK's most famous theme parks, and had a great day. The Theme Park itself is really cool. built on the site of a huge Gothic House (of the same name as the park, pictured above). Because it was a couple of weeks after Easter there were still a couple of Easter/chocolate things around and managed to catch the bunny acrobatic show (they were actually pretty good!) and scored a couple of free creme eggs throughout the day - woohoo!



















Not only was the park itself beautiful, with huge gardens in the middle and gondolas running between the main areas, but there were also some pretty awesome rides there too! Going with just one other person meant we had the option of going in the single rider line, where you pretty much get to walk past everybody in the queue and fill in the spare 1-2 seats that there always are in each car, it was awesome and meant we got to ride all of the big 4 rides twice each in one day! Oblivion (left) is the worlds first vertical drop roller coaster, Nemisis (right) is Europe's first inverted roller coaster, Air is the worlds first flying roller coaster (where riders are suspended horizontally facing down) and Rita-Queen of Speed shoots you out from 0 to 100kmph in 2.5 seconds! Extreme!!
Of course there were also a few of the normal carnival games, I tried to win a huge orange fish (completely impractical whilst on a world trip but would be fun to have!) with a hoop shooting game but at £2 a go I only had one, but the guy let me take a picture with the fish anyway! There was also a chocolate fountain, too bad the glass was there or it would have been mine! Managed to go on a couple of water rides too - and actually got pretty wet on the River Rapids one and the log flume was inside bathtubs!










We were pretty tired out after a whole day of extreme rides but the bus was 5 minutes late getting us back to the station so we had to wait an hour at Uttoxeter station for the next train back to Derby - dont think Ive ever waited 55mins for a train in my life, hence climbing the pole to take a photo next to the station sign, and oh, we found a Wellington St in Derby on the way home : )










Had a bit of a lie-in on Saturday and headed off to Nottingham for the day, it was only an hour train ride from Derby but my third Midland county in as many days! Pretty city with a canal running through the middle and a vibrant shopping area. We checked out the caves (discovered when they were putting in foundations for a new shopping centre) where people used to live (and tanners worked from 1500-1640 in the worlds only underground tannery) and later they were used as bomb shelters. Was pretty cool just wandering through a new random city and of course had to take the token picture with Robin Hood!










It just so happened that on Saturday in Nottingham there was a show called Juggle Monkey put on by the British Juggling Convention, it was a showcase of juggling and circus talents from across the world all gathered in Nottingham the same day we were there - crazy huh! Unfortunately we couldnt make it to the show as we had BBQ plans at a friend of Jenine's but the vibe around town was totally buzzing and we even managed to catch the start of a huge parade as we entered Nottingham Castle, it was amazing! Once all the people had cleared we had a chance to look around the castle, the grounds were beautiful and for £2 we got entry to the castle and the Museum of Nottingham life which was pretty cool too. I think we picked the perfect day to go to Nottinham as it had such a cool feel to it especially with the festival going on that day - talk about lucky!










Sunday was spent chilling around Derby, did some shopping for some much needed new sneakers and took time to sit and smell (or take photos of) the flowers. It was gorgeous weather and a great end to the weekend, just like a Sunday should be, relaxed and sitting out in the sun, was back in London by 8pm and back in at work on Monday, although I can't really complain, its just a four day week before Im off again on Friday to Prestatyn in North Wales for a Ceroc Weekender - gotta love the lifestyle!!