Adventures in Derby
Like I've posted before, Derby is pronounced Dahr-bee with very little pronunciation of the 'R'.
The only way we could get out to Derby, which really wasn't a significant distance away, was by bus. We took the bus to the Mansfield bus station and another bus from Mansfield to Derby. Total trip was just under two hours. It was hot. Everyone stank with BO. I did not care for the journey.
When we finally got to Derby we were reasonably hungry, but decided to increase our hunger by heading in to the nearby market. It was very much like an indoor flea market except the stalls were nicer and the wares were marginally nicer and not dime store junk being sold. One such stall sold a huge variety of candy and a wall of fudge. Apparently 'orange' is a difficult word.
We had wanted to re-visit the stall because there really was far too much to look at, but we had run out of time, and more importantly, money.
Part of our deciding on Derby was the large buffet-style restaurant that catered to several types of cuisine including Italian, Mexican, Japanese, Chinese and many more. The restaurant was called Jimmy's World Grill and while the selection was decent, I was left wanting merely because there wasn't nearly enough food available for my SO to eat. I was hoping for more Italian fare besides a pizza bar and a couple dishes of pasta, neither of which he could eat. He was able to sustain himself on chips, pizza and other bits, I'd like to not have to pay £10.99 a piece for it.
The restaurant itself was very nice to look at. It was extremely large and very clean, but I did notice a somewhat sticky residue on some of the plates at the bar. The waiters also pushed drinks on us like crazy since, like with most restaurants, most of the profits come from the booze and soft drinks. At £2.79 each for Pepsi, I wasn't going to have more than one.
The decorations were pretty fun to look at. I was a bit miffed at the waitstaff, however. English was not their first language for any of them, and each looked genuinely 'meh' about working their. Smiles were not easily had at that venue and I can only think that management could be behind those glossed-over stares.
After lunch we wanted to walk off our food-babies so we went to the river gardens minus the gardens. Sure, there were a few flowers here and there but a distinct lack of 'gardens' were to be had. Instead we found teenage hooligans (yes, I've gotten to the point where I refer to people half my age as hooligans) were rough-housing and generally acting a nuisance. Funnily enough they all wore black, gothic clothing and acted like complete prats to one another.
As we walked he told me that he had been warned many years ago that walking in this particular area had always been a bit of a gamble due to the aforementioned crowd, amongst others. It was bright and sunny and mid-day on a Saturday and I doubted we would be accosted, however, I did not dare think that at any other time it wouldn't be a sordid place.
We didn't dawdle too long as the kids were loud and mostly out of control and no-one seemed bothered to tell them off. So we snapped a few pictures and walked off.
When we got back towards the city centre I kept noticing how non-crowded it was for a major city on a Saturday. It was completely not like Nottingham where you'd be run over if you stopped for a moment. Here there were more open spaces and you didn't feel claustrophobic or agoraphobic, which is what I have to watch out for. We generally wandered around in no certain direction and he would point out places occasionally where he used to wait for a bus, or shop, or use as a cut-through to get somewhere.
Apparently this waterfall is a somewhat newer installation and whereas I don't know what the significance of it is, it was very pretty to look at.
These heads were on the side of the waterfall and I'm sure you could use the QR codes to find out more about the people.
On our meanderings we came across the Derby Cathedral which was quite pretty and apparently dates back to the 14th century.
From there we wandered back towards the city centre so that we wouldn't be late for catching our bus back. On the way we came across this large and ornate Costa. Costa is the local coffee chain much like Starbucks is in America and Tim Horton's is in Canada. I've only just recently gotten anything from them, and while it wasn't coffee-related, it was decent.
From there we went back to the Intu Derby which was formerly a Westfield. The interior design had me strongly reminded of the Brandon town center all over. It was huge, three stories tall at some points, four including the car park below us, and had tons of stores, none of which we went shopping in except the very awesome toy store that had Risk (the board game) and The Works, a bookstore with loads of gifts and tons of very fantastic deals. It reminded me strongly of the old Borders stores.
All in all it was a decent day, points only being taken off for the excessively long and hot bus rides. I enjoyed Derby and I hope to visit again in the not too distant future! Until next time!