England through the eyes of a Frenchman - London Part 1 (Camden Town & Tower Bridge area)

A Sunday morning and we were woken up by a red Birmingham’s sunrise (broken curtain rail), which eased the hangover pain. I had pre-booked our train tickets weeks before at £8 each one way with London Midland and the train was on time and there were no delays during the journey.  With the French train services being so perfect  I was so happy this particular train lived up to Monsieur X’s French standards.
 

I love London and it’s been a long time since I’ve done the touristy places.  Usually it’s go straight to the concert/ sporting event/ theatre and then come straight back home. This time I could take in the sites. Sunday afternoon we went to Camden Town (I’ve never been there before and Monsieur X visited Camden 20 years ago), it was so busy and hot, we couldn’t move. For him it brought back memories for me it gave me a headache and couldn’t wait to get the tube out of there. I’m sure a colder day there would have been less people and I could have had a good look around the stalls. For lunch it was another Wetherspoon's, the Ice Wharf and Sunday dinner roast and a drink for £10 - Bargain!

Camden Town: C’est Bon - 'ah oui the market is a lot bigger than in 1988.'

After escaping the market and the hassle of Camden tube station and our particular line to the hotel being closed. We checked into our hotel The Ibis Budget Whitechapel hotel, the room was basic; there was no separate bathroom just a door to the toilet.  The shower was next to the basic bed (with a door) and the sink next to the shower.  The photos on the Internet don’t do this hotel any favours, before we arrived I thought we would be sleeping in a box with everything cramped together and we would bump our head of the sink when we got out of bed, but there was enough room for two people and the shower and sink wasn’t too close to the bed. Not bad for £55 a night in central London (plus £5 each for buffet breakfast).

Now Tower Bridge is my favourite building in London, no particular reason I just like the walk over it and around that part of the Thames and the Tower of London. I have good memories during the 2012 Olympics watching the games on a large TV screen outside the City Hall while waiting most of an evening for Tower Bridge’s lights to change colour (they didn’t until we walked away).  I knew our hotel was close to the Bridge but wasn’t sure of the route and didn’t want to look an idiot following my maps app, so I guessed if we headed toward the Gherkin there should be signs for Tower Bridge along the way.

 

 

That plan didn’t matter this French photographer was very impressed with these glass office blocks especially the Gherkin, so when we walked down another side street and could see the Tower of London and Tower Bridge at dusk he sais ‘Bon bon excellente, merci’. I took that as an approval.

A stroll around the Thames ‘block’- past the Tower, across the Bridge, past City Hall, have a few drinks in The Horniman bar and steak and chips for late dinner/supper at Cote then across London Bridge and pass the Monument before finding our way back the hotel. Somehow it seemed to be easier to our hotel after a few drinks.

 

Tower Bridge: C’est Tres Bon… (for me -not so beautiful without the Olympics rings).

 

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’.