castle

House Sit in Loughborough, England

After traveling on our own in Ireland, we took a flight to the central part of England and settled into another house sit. This time we had just one dog. We enjoyed walking him around the neighborhood and meeting locals. We were able to leave him alone for a few hours per day and explore some of central England.

Our first stop was Leicester, birthplace of King Richard III. As an American, one of the surprising things we run into frequently in Europe is places or objects that are many centuries old. This is less common in the US and even less so in the western US where I have spent most of my years.

This hall was used as the town hall for over 300 years. The wood paneling and carvings date from the year 1637!
A torture device on display at the town hall compound

Next we visited Nottingham, of Robin Hood fame. Most of the original castle was demolished long ago, but some walls remain along with a later-built mansion that now serves as a museum. Unfortunately for us, the museum had closed a month earlier for a multi-year renovation.

Robin Hood
Nottingham Castle

Back near our house sit in Loughborough we came across this sign on an apartment for rent. What is the difference between “Coming soon” and “Coming soon-ish”?

“coming soon-ish”

Prague

Prague surprised me. I didn’t know much about Prague, and I wouldn’t have included it in our itinerary, except that Maricela’s sister had spent a semester there during her college years and often spoke highly of it. So we included a two-day stop there, and we’re glad we did. There is so much history and beauty here!

Everywhere you turn, the architecture is beautiful in Prague

Soon after we arrived, we did what we generally do upon arriving in another country, find an ATM and withdraw some local funds. Prague is a big city so we had no trouble finding an ATM. I requested the equivalent of about $300 US, and the machine asked if I wanted to select what denomination bills or if I wanted to take the default denominations determined by the machine. I didn’t think much of it and selected the default. Unfortunately, it dispensed one large bill worth nearly $300! Our next stop was to find a place to eat. Before being seated, we asked at a restaurant if they would have change for our $300 bill, and they did, so our problem was solved.

We signed up for a walking tour that we found on the Experiences section of the AirBnB site and the guide did an amazing job. Read the captions on the following photos for a few random facts shared during our tour.

Originally, this statue was named, “Statue of liberty”. It was renamed by the communists as “Statue of a woman holding a torch while riding a lion”, a name so long and meaningless that it is assumed people will ignore it.
The designer of this tower failed to depict any poor people. As a result, he was given the death penalty. Another designer, of a nearby church, faced a different fate – his creation was so magnificent, the authorities blinded him so that he couldn’t create a similar, competing masterpiece for another locale.
The towers on this church are known as the Adam and Eve towers. Eve is the slightly larger one on the right. The church was completed in 1251 AD.
Just to the right of the center of the photo is a statue of stylized flames. It was made to remember a man who set himself on fire and ran around the square to protest the rise of communism. His family didn’t want to memorialize him so much as they wanted to remember his ideas.
Prague castle is said to be the largest in the world. It took 1100 years to build, from 820 to 1929, and was built in many different styles.