Had a lovely night away with the Memsahib this week. Birmingham? An odd choice I hear you say, well no, actually a very good choice. It's a city that is very easy to get around (the trams are brilliant!) full of friendly people , the buildings, both old and new are very interesting and speak volumes of how well modern architecture can be used, there's also lots to see & do here.
Bad start though, the journey up to Birmingham was complete arse thanks to both the M1 & M6 having hold ups.
Got to the hotel, The Hampton by Hilton which was very nice, booked through Gary's family rate, freshened up and jumped on a tram (stopped just behind our hotel) into central Birmingham. Had a walk around and went to what must be the Real Ale Mecca of the area The Wellington on Bennetts Hill. Twenty seven regular hand pump beers! On entering we found not only that we were the youngest customers in there but part from a bar maid Tara was the only girl!
Beers I sampled were: Citra from Oakham Brewery,4.2% and to be honest very light in colour but very fresh and citrusy, next was Pig on the wall, a beer from Black Country Ales and 4.3%, a mid coloured beer full of roasted malt tastes and finally Fireside, also a Black Country Ales beer and at 5% the strongest of the selection I tried, this was more an amber colour with a nice bitter finish. Tara drank Bacardi & Coke, not beer. From here we made our way to 'Ask,' the pizza restaurant where we knew that not only did Tara have more choice but a whole menu to chose from! This is something of a rarity.
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| Italian Twinkle in Ask. |
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| Peroni also in Ask. |
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| Memsahib sending photo via WhatsApp to the boys. |
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| Side of Birmingham Town Hall |
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| Birmingham Town Hall |
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| Birmingham by night! |
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| Victorian urinal, Vyse St, Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. |
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| Jewellery Museum. |
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| Jewellery Museum. |
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| Us in The Wellington. |
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| Us in Ask. |
With a Peroni for me and an 'Italian twinkle' for Tara which is Prosecco with elderflower cordial, vodka and a twist of lemon we tucked into our pizzas which were really good and after off we went toward The Rep theatre to see 'Pride and Prejudice.'
Sadly this was a real let down, the main reason was the appalling sound quality, it's quite a big auditorium & we were about half way back, good view but struggled to hear clearly. It's a very wordy play so you need to hear it all! We elected to bail out of this at the interval and retired to the hotel via a walk around some of the main buildings in Birmingham and the tram. Nightcap at the hotel and bed.
Well fed on a buffet style breakfast next morning we were off to the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter & what a great find it was. Another short tram ride and a walk along a street which boasts a Victorian urinal no less, to find the museum. There's a couple of galleries to view but the main museum is via a guided tour through the old jewellery factory of Smith and Pepper. A factory which just shut its doors in the early 1980's and was touched little since, Birmingham Council renovated the interiors to how they were when the factory closed so you have pretty well a time machine of the whole business which was started in the 1880's. Fascinating! There is a few small quirky museums in Birmingham, there're probably worth a visit as well.
That was about it for our trip. Got back to the car and headed home, a great trip!
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