Second Day in the Second City

Monday, 19th March 2007

Birmingham is called the second city of England (the first being London).

I was flipping through a booklet called "Exploring Birmingham" and 2 things stood out in the Birmingham Attractions section -- "Aston Villa Stadium Tours" and Cadbury World" chocolate factory tour.

No prizes for guessing which one I chose :-)

So just like yesterday, I took the train from New Street to Witton.

As I made my way to Villa Park, noticed this signpost pointing the way to "Aston Villa F.C."

Must be meant for the away fans.




Upon my arrival at Villa Park, was disappointed to learn that the stadium tours only takes place on Wednesdays and Fridays!

So much for the accuracy of that "Exploring Birmingham" booklet :-(

Since I was already there already, I decided to make the best of the situation, so I took several pictures of the stadium surroundings (including the one on the left).



While walking back to Witton station, I saw that Villa Chippy (the one with the long queue yesterday) just opened for business. On their menu was what they call a "Villa Special" (which is mini fish and chips with a side order of sausage/fishcake and peas/curry sauce).

Since it was already lunch-time, I decided to get one of that.

Continuing my journey back to Witton station, I saw a car parked nearby with melted snow on its boot.

It must have been the remains from the blizzard evening (which I will talk about later on in this blog entry).

Taking the train back to the City Centre, decided to do a bit of shopping, and managed to find some interesting stuff for the kids.

After shopping, I felt exhausted and decided to head back to the hotel, rather than visit the Cadbury factory.

Coming back to the car in the photo above, while waiting to catch the train back to the City Centre after the game yesterday, it started to snow very, very heavily, as you can see in the video below.



The last time I saw actual snow was when we were on our honeymoon in 1993. We took a 4-day tour called Gems of Britain. While in Edinburgh, we saw little tiny flakes of snow falling. But nothing like this blizzard.

Oh ya. During that same tour, the guide explained to us the difference between a town and a city. It is not based on the size of the place, but based on the existence (or otherwise) of a cathedral (Anglican church). He gave us the example of a district in the northeast of England called Durham. Even though its area is much smaller than most towns, yet it is called a city because there is a cathedral there, presided by the Bishop of Durham.

Flying off to Munich tomorrow. Till then, TTFN.

Shalom
Malcolm