Visiting Birmingham: Chocolate Enamored

“During University, my favorite parts of philosophy classes circulated around food.” – Old Sean

A Rotation Throughout Birmingham

After moving away from Manchester, I stopped in Birmingham, hoping to view one last city before returning to London.

Birmingham is… well, a bit gritty. There’s an amazing amount of brick buildings lining streets and impressive graffiti tucked into alleys. However, the city’s scenic canal system is pseudo-legendary. Birmingham has more than 35 miles of canals, stretching out to major waterways and other cities.

This canal system, which defines a goodly portion of the urban space, was developed as an ambitious project during the Industrial Revolution, allowing Birmingham to mine, process and transport heavy goods such as coal and iron.

I spent a lot of time moving through Birmingham. The canals and streets are slightly challenging to walk around. But the outer potion of Birmingham is covered in green parks, small lakes and impressive nature nooks.

Canal Hopper

While visiting Birmingham, I had several tourist sites to visit first. I rotated into the southwest part of town, visiting the National SEA LIFE Centre Birmingham. This was mostly to center myself, as I feel very relaxed in the alien settings of a not-too-busy aquarium.

Afterwards, I passed by Birmingham’s surprisingly packed LEGOLAND shop while heading to the free-entry Ikon Gallery.

Afterwards, I wanted to find somewhere quieter to escape the main city. I gradually made my way south using busses until I reached Cannon Hill Park.

The large greenspace was surprisingly active. There were swan-shaped boats on the water, gated-off mini-golf courses, some perfectly happy ducks, an odd wavy artwork-sculpture, a children’s train moving around the walking paths and numerous little playgrounds.

I eventually walked over to the Tally-Ho Grounds (mostly because I wanted to shout the name) before heading to the Winterbourne House & Garden, a suprisingly quaint combination of shady gardens and antique-oriented estate rooms.

Chocolate Addict

For many years, chocolate has been a problem of mine I don’t seek to solve.

This year is no exception.

I made a special point of visiting Cadbury World.

While traveling Europe, especially the United Kingdom, it’s almost impossible to walk through any convenience store without being assailed by a delectable glut of purple wrappers showing off Cadbury Chocolates.

Cadbury World offers self-guided tours thorugh interactive displays touching on chocolate making and the history of Cadbury as a company.

It was a nice little visit, though it’s clearly aimed more at children.

However, since my visit culminated in several choclate bars, I’m not likely to complain.

After my swift little tour, I stopped at Bournville Park, kicking my feet while sitting on a bench, enjoying my choclate.

Art Tour

By this point, much of the day had slipped away from me. I decided to catch a bus back into the center of Birmingham. The ride took roughly half-an-hour, but by the time I returned, I still had a chance to wander around.

I decided to entertain myself by visiting a pair of art museums nearby. The first place I visited was the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, a wonderful, quiet portrait gallery. With still a little further time to spare, I spent the rest of my day in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, greeted by a gilded image of Lucifer with wings spread.

Departure to London

Sadly, after this, I had no more time for visiting Birmingham. The city, however enjoyable, was just a convenient entertainment stop on the way back to London.

I hefted my backpack and wandered into the train station area. I looped wide to visit the famous Bronze Bull of Birmingham, better known as “The Bull” by Laurence Broderick. Finally, with my energy running low, I walked into the Birmingham New Street transportation hub to await my ride to London.

While waiting, I enjoyed a great Indian meal inside the giant, reflective train station while seated on top of a rope bench at Mowgli’s.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back in London. Soon, I’ll be returning to mainland Europe, following a southernly route through France, Spain, Portugal and eventually Italy.

So off I go.

Until then,

Best regards and excellent trails,

Old Sean

Written July 22th, 2018

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