England through the eyes of a Frenchman - Birmingham

There is no place like home, back to Birmingham for one night.  It was a sunny busy Saturday in the City Centre much better conditions than Monsieur X’s first visit three years ago when the weather was terrible and there was a political party conference in the city so police and security checks everywhere – he was not impressed back then.

This time there was no security blocks and the new library was open.  It had only been open a few months and there were more tourists (including fellow Brummies) than bookworms. There was a bigger queue for the lift to the top outdoor garden area than the queue to take out a book. I could show the Monsieur X the main parts of Birmingham in one place, ‘there is Broad Street where all the drunks come out at night, there’s the Cube and the canal where there are good and pricey restaurants and bars, that’s the hall of remembrance, to the right is the ‘Crap building’- my office and behind it is the Rotunda and that’s where the Bullring is. Et Voilà Birmingham in a nutshell.

The Biggest Library in Europe

One of many view from the first outdoor level

 

We stayed in the Premier Inn Waterloo Road, very central surrounded by bars and shops and only 5 minutes’ walk from the train station. ‘This is ze best room all trip’ he said, for our room on the seventh floor of this converted office building.  It was massive room compared to the ones in Liverpool and Blackpool and I would also say spacious if I don’t have other hotel rooms to compare it to. The bed was so comfortable I could have stayed in it all night, but I was on tour guide duty and had to show my friend more of my city.

Premier Inn Waterloo Street

Sunday morning sunrise hotel room view

 

It was an unplanned Wetherspoons chain bar crawl. First the Briar Rose for a £5 beer and burger meal, then the Temple Street Social Club and the Trocadero (both non-Wetherspoons) for another drink before heading towards Broad Street. We stopped off at a bar in Paradise Forum, a good tip sit out Wetherspoons and listen to the music coming out of the Yardbirds bar next door.  Good music from one bar cheaper drinks from the other – bargain! We finished off the night with few more cheap gins at the Lloyds Bar on Broad Street before walking back to the hotel.

Two bars for the price of one

 

Birmingham: C’est Bon, but I think he was being polite.

‘How can you be bored here, there are lots of place to go and things to do’.