Birmingham (UK)

Birmingham is one of the examples of our less successful city visits. It started before we even arrived in - people kept asking, "Birmingham? Why? No one goes to Birmingham!"



Maybe we've been spoiled by the other beautiful big cities we've visited (Koln, Antwerp, Madrid, Seville) or maybe the logistics just jaded our view. There's nothing inherently wrong with the city, it just wasn't anything special either.

This past weekend was a Bank Holiday weekend and it seemed Birmingham was the only campground available. So, here we are.

Next was the discovery that the bus only runs once an hour until 1pm, then not again until 5pm and, don't miss the 6:55 out of Birmingham - if you do, you're in town until 11pm. The bus also doesn't run on Sundays or Bank Holidays (in this case, Monday) - two of our planned 4 days in town. The campground is just rural enough to not be able to purchase the family ticket for the day (£8 inclusive of all transit in the area) so instead have to pay £8 RT.

Due to the holiday, rental car agencies were booked.

We set out on our bikes Friday to go to the grocery store and found it quite a haul. While nice to be outside, riding with Sophia and no gears on the bike proved to be a challenge on the rolling hills. The "mile" to Sainsburys was understated- there's no way we would be biking the 14 miles in to Birmingham proper.

We ventured in to Birmingham on the bus Saturday. It's a very large, overwhelming city. We followed the crowd and the promise of tents, right into the Birmingham Gay Pride event. Sadly, not much more than drinking going on. Wandering on, we found the Rag Market, a little of everything a person could want, under one roof. It was a little remnicent of the Mercado in Barcelona. Across the street is the Bull Ring, advertising more than 160 stores.
St. Martin's Church, a few steps down from the shopping district.


The Bull Ring curves around - this is the view from the top of the stairs.


One wing of the "Bull Ring" shopping complex.




Looking down the center of the "Bull Ring"

All in all, we didn't get an overwhelmingly comfy feeling in the city. There's nothing wrong with Birmingham, but it just didn't seem like a place you would want to be after dark. And, unless shopping or with a guide, the central section wasn't that conducive to sightseeing. The best part of the day was that a bistro was located just across the sidewalk from the bus stop - our traditional 30-minute wait in a bus stop was much improved by beverages and snacks.



Wish every bus stop had a bistro near by. (blue bar is where our bus stop was located)


Sunday, the weather set in. We had been watching the forecasts and we knew a major storm front was on its way. Initially, it looked like Birmingham might be right on the edge - so I was hopeful that we wouldn't be hit too hard. Saturday the wind started; early Sunday morning, the rain joined the party and literally didn't stop for at least 12 hours. We spent a lovely day inside, watching the low dips in the parking lot fill with water and the wind gusts blowing the rain sideways across the tarmac.

Monday we found the train station (about 1-mile away and easy to get to on bikes, if you take the correct exit off the roundabout) and made it in to Birmingham again. We have a new level of empathy for our friends Matt and Gretchen (who bike across continents for fun). As we made it to the main road, the wind gusts started again and along with it, came the rain. Ick. Sadly, the Wythall station was closed and the on board sales allow only for individual transactions - we couldn't buy the family pass (£8 inclusive of all trains, trams and buses for the day) and we couldn't buy joint train-admission packages.

My initial goal had been to visit the Black Country Museum. Upon further reading of the brochure, I found the train stop was a mile away from the Museum. You guessed it, the wind and rain had started again. So we made the call to exit in Birmingham and wander the Bull Ring (a very large shopping center). Soon bored, we wandered off to the IMAX theater and took in Speed Racer. The movie was great fun - the kids loved the IMAX screen. Noted - it was a bit more violent and explosive than anything our kids have seen to date - but we all had a ball!

Birmingham has plenty to keep you busy - providing you have a plan, transportation and the weather holds out. The city itself is not all that beautiful - it's a rather industrial presence with some older buildings intermingled. They look quite out of place in some instances (take the contemporary Bull Ring that sits overlooking the church).



Ideas for future visits:

• Cadbury World - The story of chocolate. I remain dubious, but a local assures me it's quite a fun day out.
• Black Country Museum - A Living Museum, recommended by our friends Phil & Des.
• Various walking trails - including Tolkein trails
• ThinkTank (basically a science museum - but it looked really cool & interactive for the kids - be sure to look into a package deal from the train station to save you money)
• National SEA LIFE Center
• West Midlands Safari Park (didn't think they would appreciate the motorhome rolling through - but who knows?)

We're headed next to the Drayton Manor theme park - which includes an all new Thomas the Tank Engine Land, a zoo, and amusement park. They have a caravan park on their grounds - though as we are too large to park on grass in such soggy weather, they are allowing us to use the coach parking lot. It should be loads of fun and the girls are looking forward to having 1 or 2 "kid" days!





Ciao for now!