Lancaster, England

Today I have been bedridden all day.  It's awful.  I seem to have come down with a stomach bug or food poisoning and I was not able to go to the Lake District.  I'm devastated because that was the place I was looking forward to going the most while in Northern Britain.  Oh well.

Yesterday a group of us decided to journey to Lancaster so we could tour a real castle!  Lancaster Castle is currently being used as a prison, but apparently they do not house any dangerous criminals.  Our guide told us a story about the last time prisoners decided to escape.  They found a ladder that had been lying around and used it to reach the top of the walls.  From there one fell and broke his leg, ending his adventure.  The second disappeared for three days before showing up and knocking on the door of the prison, asking to be let back in.  He had just wanted to visit his girlfriend!  

Anyways, the castle also has the oldest working Crown Courtroom.  This room is very beautiful and decorated with various shields.  There is another courtroom in the building that is much less beautiful.  This is where they hold most of the cases including murder trials.  In this room they still have the original branding mechanism that they used to punish people who had committed a crime.  They would brand a "M" on the person's left hand and when people were being accused of a crime they had to raise their hand to show whether or not they had committed a crime in the past.  This is where the phrase "our hands our clean" comes from.  Also, we had the opportunity to be locked in the dungeon!  It was pitch black with no windows and due to overpopulation they would crowd 8-10 people in a room that is 1/3 the size of my bedroom!  I was only locked in for 30 seconds, I can't imagine what it would be like to be in there for 6-8 months waiting for trial.  After trial if you were found guilty it was a possibility to be executed, and if not there was a time when England would merely ship their convicted felons to America!  Unfortunately we are not allowed to take pictures anywhere in the castle, but we got some great pictures on the outside!

The town of Lancaster is also very nice.  Once again there were a lot of stone buildings and cobblestone streets.  We wandered around for a while, looked in some shops, and ate some ice cream.  We also had lunch at the Sun Hotel and Bar, I honestly had one of the best sandwiches I've ever tasted.  I really hope that isn't what made me sick!  After we toured the castle and wandered around the town a little bit more we headed back to Ormskirk were we had dinner at O'este.  This is where I really began to feel sick and so I left quickly.  Since then I have been lying in bed feeling terrible.  I'm really hoping I'm feeling better, but it's been 24 hours and I only feel a little better.  

I miss everybody back home but I am loving England!!