Jully 12, Shrewsbury:

Sign of age that cannot be ignored:  Instead of dragging my suitcase a mile + change from the "hotel" to the train station, I ordered a taxi. Much better than the schlep since that involves those crazy underpasses. Before leaving, I took a walk.

This is the famous clock in Chester

I totally love this whole bollard thing, maybe because I just love the word bollard:

Chester has quite a number of bollards that rise up from the street.  You would not want to crash into a rising bollard, no, you would not!

Not only did I take a taxi to the train station, I took an elevator to get to the platform:

My strategy: get to the station early and go to information to make sure you have the right track and all, and a good thing I did that today because my ticket said track 3 but no, it was track 3B, which was in an entirely different place, would you believe. 

In Shrewsbury, I did schlelp with the luggage because it was only a ten minute or so walk. I will not recount the pain in the ass stuff I had to go through to be able to leave the luggage at the hotel or the less than clear instructions for self check-in or the issues of connecting to the wi fi, which really matters since there is no signal here, which means you cannot open the link to get the instructions, or how not much fun it is to get your stuff up three long flights of stairs, but the shower is good, there is a frig in the room, and if you like super loud music there is that playing non stop somewhere outside.

I walked around a bit and my impression of Shrewsbury is most favorable, a good thing, since I will be back here two more times, Shrewsbury being the hug of the Shropshire Way.

The Severn:

I visited an art gallery where a lovely Leger lady was hanging:

And this incredibly sensitive bronze by Jacob Epstein of his wife:

King Lear by Phillip Sutton:

And some bright geraniums by I don't know who:

I booked a Shrewsbury Prison Tour for which I was all excited, you know, one of those Trip Advisor Specials!  I was disappointed.  What I learned, which when you get right down to it, anyone would have thought of, is that small prisons are better than large prisons. But I cannot imagine what it must be like to be confined to a cell

And they didn't even have toilets for the longest time.  However, according to the guide, who had been a former guard, theprisoners ate like kings because the prison system grew their own food. Believe it or not.

Back to the cells, you can click on these descriptions of life in Shrewsbury Prison at various times:

You could go through the prison without going on a tour.  I think just by reading the blurbs, you would get at least as much out of it if not more.

Enterprising prisoners using toothbrushes to secret away razor blades.

Naughty tourist in the pillory:

Tomorrow I start the second phase of the walking tour:  The Shropshire Way.  I have had more than enough recreating, and am so ready to hit the trail.  It has been very hot these past few days, so maybe not walking almost 15 miles a day has not been so terrible.