A weekend in Birmingham

Birmingham Library

This was a brief visit to Birmingham for a wedding (a friend of my son's) on the Saturday. Having only been to Birmingham once before there were still things I wanted to see. Last time we met up with my cousin and spent several hours at the Museum and Art Gallery where I devoured the Pre-Raphaelite paintings.

I have to say that the centre of the city is still very much a building site and finding my way around was a bit hit and miss at first, but the people of the city are very helpful and friendly. One lady came to my rescue and did what I do with maps....she turned mine upside down. This is very much a woman thing. I don't understand why we have to do this but it works, so don't you guys out there ridicule it. With this kind lady's help I found my way towards the canal, first stopping off at library. Last time I made it there we only had time for a drink in the cafe. This time I ventured right in. Boy! what a library. Up I went to the roof terrace where there are places to sit and nice planting. The views across the barren building site certainly hit you.

Then it was on to the canal. I was impressed with the waterside and all the inlets and bridges.The day was hot and sunny, ideal for walking, but after a little way I was thirsty, so on my way back I stopped off at a pub with a large outside seating area and bought myself a nice refreshing shandy.

The wedding wasn't until 3pm on the Saturday so there was time in the morning to go out and explore again. Leaving my son in bed I headed towards the Cathedral to swoon over the Edward Burne Jones stained glass windows. However, everyone was busy preparing for two ordinations that day. They still invited me in but I felt outnumbered by the clergy, ladies in fine dresses and hats and others milling around with pitchers of iced water looking rather stressed. The altar was already being decked out with vessels for communion and I felt uncomfortable about entering the sacred space. So my photos were rather quickly snapped and I didn't get as close up and personal as I would have liked. There's always another time.

Afterwards I headed towards the canal again, crossing over the busy road on the footbridge and before reaching the canal I found another lovely church called St Paul's with a pretty garden and churchyard. I spent some time in here and then followed the path to the canal. This was a different part, quieter. As I walked I realised I was going further out of Birmingham and in the end I turned back while avoiding the spooky bridge where the tunnel rather freaked me out. It was cavernous and dark and I really didn't want to walk through it again. I came off the path and went back into the city via the roads, got lost in the Bullring (I just couldn't find the same place we'd come out the night before after dinner). I ended up in Grand Central (another shopping mall) and studied the map in frustration until a nice Asian guy asked if I needed help (you look like you need help, he said). Oh I did! He directed me back to the right exit close to the hotel.

Then it was time for lunch, showering and dressing for the wedding. We got a cab after decided that a walk through the city on the hottest day of the year to try and find the bus stop in our best togs was too much. Beside the fare was the same as the bus. A no brainer. The church was really old and quaint and after the service headed over to Soho House, a museum, just over the road. The bride and groom had photos taken inside the house but the reception was in a different building behind the gift shop and cafe. We also had the gardens to escape to.

Sunday morning we caught the train home. As usual I'd managed to pack a lot into two nights away!