Left: Ben grabbed a quick snap of me, Micah and himself (Waldo isn’t pictured here) as we were about to board our little prop plane from Scotland to England. We were all a bit bleary-eyed after hours and hours of long flights, but also ridiculously excited. Right: Nottingham made sure we knew we had arrived.

Our view from the conference room rooftop deck. Nottingham mornings treated us to mist, soft light, and lots of green.

I left Missoula at around 5 am Saturday morning and arrived to England around 11 am Sunday morning. The afternoon we arrived, we decided to stretch our legs (which was much appreciated after being cooped up on the airplane), and take a tour of Nottingham University, which was full of lush, mossy landscapes.

Andrew, Stu, and Sonia were all super happy to be together, out on that rooftop deck!

This was the lovely conference room where we spent most of our days working, sharing ideas, and planning for great things for our team. The light was pretty sweet. :)

Monday night, the majority of us all took to the town and hit up George’s Great British Kitchen for some dinner. Brandon and Amy couldn’t resist these fun little caricatures in the entryway.

George’s Great British Kitchen was a super cool space. As we waited for a table that could accommodate all of us, Andrew and Micah chatted, and Brandon and Waldo cheesed for the camera.

If you can’t tell, we all really like being together. Left: Amy and Brandon. Right: Brandon, Waldo and Dave.

Such a fun place. And that bar, tho!

What did I tell you? The bar was just so pretty.

When in England, one *must* get fish and chips. And mushy peas. (Yes, that’s the actual description of the peas you get with fish and chips.)

Left: While we were waiting for our table, I decided to wander around a little bit and found a cool balcony no one else was using – perfect for a bird’s eye view of the place. Right: the dessert (pudding) menu. (They were so, SO good!)

Just a few of the puddings they served – can you guess which is which? (I have now also become completely smitten with Bakewell tarts. Yum!)

Ambiance, baby. Ambiance.

Sonia and Dave were most pleased with their puddings.

Ben was surprised with a giant mountain of candy floss (cotton candy) with his pudding. As it turns out, Andrew is a big fan of candy floss, so he helped Ben make that disappear.

These little caricatures were just too good. Waldo couldn’t resist their charms either.

Boys and their beards. LOL!

Tuesday afternoon we took a little excursion to Warwick Castle. Dave and Brandon spiffed themselves up for Dave’s selfie-stick camera.

Lily worked it for the camera before we made our way to the castle grounds.

Hey yo! That’s one heckuva castle! Per the castle’s website (that feels a little weird to say, ha!), “the records of a walled-building in Warwick can be traced back to the Saxon fortification which Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great, used to defend against the invading Danes. The first castle to appear on the site was a wooden motte and bailey constructed in 1068 at the command of William the Conqueror.” 1068, you guys! TEN SIXTY EIGHT!

Dave exercised his selfie stick magic to grab a shot of the entire team together.

I mean, who doesn’t want a selfie with a castle, right?! Waldo, Amy, Brandon and Ben smiled for Ben’s camera.

The castle entryway! And very large clock!

Such a cool place! These are the inner grounds.

One of the rooms inside was full of all sorts of weaponry and armor. Pretty darn impressive.

People who live in castles are definitely not minimalists.

An eagle carving adorned one of the fireplaces.

I sort of loved this ceiling. And, hey, I was there too! Courtesy of a giant mirror.

This hallway was full of more armor and a HUGE cauldron, which I, for some reason, didn’t photograph. At right, I caught Andrew in a photo before he could dash away from me. And hey! There I am again, courtesy of yet another GIANT MIRROR.

The castle also boasted quite a lot of intricate stained glass. And wooden carvings that I found to be just spectacular.

I mean, look at this guy! Incredible!

Can you fall in love with a stairway? Because I certainly did. Next time I’m in the market for a castle, I’m going to make sure this kind of a stairway is added to mine. Just beautiful.

Gah! Look at that stairway and stained glass! (And that teal/blue color!)

We climbed higher to get a view of the surrounding country.

Thanks, Ben, for documenting that I was on this trip, too! As it turns out, the people of yesteryear were quite a bit shorter. I could not stand up straight in this doorway.

Ben also could not stand up straight in the doorway. Right: He makes his way up one of the few non-winding staircases.

At the top of one of the castle turrets, we had this great view of the inner courtyard.

I will wedge myself into tiny crevices for the shot. (Thanks to Ben for the photo.)

A view of the surrounding neighborhoods. I wonder what castle frontage costs?

Left: From atop one of the turrets we caught Andrew and Amy down on a walkway below. Right: I just loved these skinny little windows we’d come across as we made our way up and down the incredibly narrow, incredibly spiral staircases in the castle turrets.

The local cathedral isn’t too shabby either.

I am obsessed, OBSESSED, with these little black and white houses all along the cobblestone streets. Check out their backyard gardens! Love!

Thank you, red convertible, for parking here. My color-loving, graphic-loving self was beyond giddy.

Left: Sonia caught the light in the castle entryway. Right: it was a rainy, damp day. Which made the stone pathways even prettier.

We couldn’t resist some castle gift shop shenanigans. Dave decided to let his inner Viking show. (Dave, you just crack me up in the BEST way possible!)

As we left the castle grounds, a bunch of female peacocks decided to dash across the road. So I dashed right after them and found that they had perched atop this colorful brick wall in the last of the golden, evening light. Be still my bird-loving, color-loving heart, light-loving heart!

Left: You probably can’t tell from this image, but these old black and white buildings were extremely crooked. :) Right: The peacock shows me her best self and puts up with my cooing.

We popped into the Tudor House Inn for some drinks in their pub. According to their website, “the Tudor House Inn is an authentic oak-beamed 15th century building and one of the most recognised and well-known medieval buildings in the town.” Nifty!

That is one heckuva fireplace (this is inside the inn).

Ben grabbed another snap of part of the group as we sat down to beers in the medieval inn.

Ben’s intent on his beer. The bar was lined with an assortment of coins from all sorts of places.

Waldo demonstrates the way to drink a Strongbow cider. Dave was impressed!

Sonia loved her beer too!

After grabbing drinks inside the Tudor House Inn, we went right next door to have dinner (along with more Strongbow cider – it brings me back to my London days when I lived there in my early 20s! – good memories!). Stu was quite pleased with his burger.

On my last day in Nottingham, Stu took the remaining four of us (Waldo, Ben, Micah and me) to Wollaton Hall (where apparently part of the Batman movies were filmed – though I wouldn’t know as I’ve never seen a Batman movie). The old trees on the grounds were just beautiful and huge!

Can you believe that this is the BACK side of Wollaton Hall?

The carved cameos all over the building were pretty amazing. And the statues on the grounds were lovely, too. (This statue had THE longest toes I’ve ever seen!)

Little carved gargoyles protected all the windows and entrances – I particularly loved this little dude. Look at his eyebrows and nose wrinkle!!!

Waldo, Ben, Stu and Micah – the boy band of Wollaton Hall. Haha!

Alas, we had to say our goodbyes Friday evening, so Stu grabbed one last snapshot of him with the remaining four of us still in Nottingham. From left: Micah, Waldo, Stu, Ben and me. So we bid Stu, “Toodle Pip!” and were on our way to the airport to make our way to Scotland.

Left: The East Midlands airport was decorated with painted tiles local schoolchildren had made. I liked this guy a lot. Right: Back to our prop plane!

The four of us had a 10 hour layover in Scotland, however. So, despite getting there around 11:30/midnight, I knew I didn’t just want to go to sleep. It was Friday night in Edinburgh! So I talked Waldo and Micah into hitting up an old pub in downtown Edinburgh to grab some authentic Scottish whisky with me.

Which we did – quite joyously!

And then we decided to wander around town to see bits and pieces of the castle in the dark, random cemeteries, and ancient gravestones. (And, while doing all of this, be serenaded by drunken Scotsmen wearing kilts, which I found to be particularly fantastic.)