Advertisement
Published: March 31st 2024
Edit Blog Post
Cathedral Church of St Philip
Just a few minutes from Birmingham New Street Station. In late June 2023, I was going to go to Adhisthana for ten days of volunteering during a big event once again. After my very unpleasant experiences with the German train company, I had decided to travel by plane again. The closest airport to Adhisthana is Birmingham. Things on the outbound journey did not go smoothly. I arrived in Birmingham on time, but my train to Colwall was cancelled, and I had to catch a train that left an hour later and that did not take me any further than Worcester, from where I had to catch a bus, meaning I arrived in the middle of the night, 1.5 hours after my planned time of arrival. Anyway, I got a full reimbursement from West Midlands Trains.
For the return journey, I had booked the 7 pm flight from Birmingham. Since there was always the risk of cancelled trains or strikes, I caught an early train from Colwall to Birmingham and arrived there before 2 pm, which gave me some time to explore the city Birmingham. I left my suitcase at the train station and headed out of the station.
Just a few metres uphill from the station is the
Old Joint Stock Theatre & Pub
Just across the road from Cathedral Church of St Philip. baroque style Cathedral Church of Saint Philip. It was consecrated in 1715 and is the seat of the bishop of Birmingham. Just across the road is the Old Joint Stock Theatre & Pub. Originally built as a library, there is now a restaurant on its ground floor. The name comes from its use by Birmingham Joint Stock Bank. I walked past houses in different styles down to Victoria Square. On one side there is Birmingham City Council and on another there is Town Hall, both in Victorian style. I sat down on the square for a bit to have my lunch and watch all the people passing by – people speaking all kinds of languages, from different countries, wearing different styles of clothing.
After my lunch break, I continued my walk. Behind Town Hall, there is Chamberlain Square. In the middle of the square, there is the Chamberlain Memorial, a fountain built in 1880 to commemorate the public service of Joseph Chamberlain, who was a businessman, councillor, mayor, and MP.
I continued to Centenary Square. There is Baskerville House, a former civic building, and a statue of King Edward VII in front of it. Not far away is
Hall of Memory, built in the 1920s and commemorating the 12,320 Birmingham citizens who died in World War I. The spectacular building at the square, however, is the Library of Birmingham, right next to Baskerville House. The idea had been to erect a world class civic building, and the architect designing it was chosen through a design competition. The ground floor has glass walls, and the floors above are decorated with steel rings in different colours, giving the building a delicate and at the same time massive appearance. The building opened in 2013. Next to the library, there is the Rep, or Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Opposite the Rep, there is a bronze statue of Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and William Murdoch, who all made significant contributions to the field of mechanical engineering. The statue is also called “The Golden Boys”.
The square was busy and full of people since there was an event happening, obviously from a Hindu community. There was someone giving a speech, with a big audience seated on benches. There were also various stalls for food and drink. A young man, obviously a member of the community that was running the event, talked to me about
Birmingham City Council II
View from Victoria Square towards Chamberlain Square. Krishna and wanted to give me books on yoga and meditation, even after I had told him that I was Buddhist and had my own practices. But he had this sparkle in his eye, like a someone who really had found meaning in his life. We had quite a nice conversation although his path is completely different from mine. He invited me to go and get something to eat for myself from one of the stalls, informing me that the food was free. But I had eaten my lunch, and I was perfectly happy to just continue my walk.
I crossed one of the many canals running through the city. And the bridge was called “Black Sabbath Bridge”, with pictures of the band members installed on a bench on one side of the bridge. I walked along some of the canals for a bit. The area is rather nice. There are cafés, restaurants, and bars as well as shops on different levels along the canals. I made a big loop and arrived back at Victoria Square. From there, I made my way back to New Street Station and continued to the airport.
The rest of the journey was
Chamberlain Square
... with Chamberlain Memorial in its middle, a fountain commemorating the statesman Joseph Chamberlain. not so pleasant. While walking around Birmingham, I had already received a message that my flight (which was supposed to depart at 7.15 pm) would be delayed by an hour, but that check-in times would remain unchanged. I was at the airport on time, but check-in did not open; it was not even indicated which counters we would be checking in at. The crowd of people waiting around got bigger and bigger and everyone was puzzled. Eventually, check-in opened half an hour late, and then dropping my bag and going through an extremely crowded security control took almost 1.5 hours. Phew. My flight ended up being delayed by two hours (due to a storm in Düsseldorf), and I did not land in Düsseldorf until 11.15 pm local time. However, the ground staff in Düsseldorf was really quick at delivering the luggage (which is unusual, very often it takes ages until the luggage arrives at this airport). I was grateful for this and also for the fact that there was a train that I could catch straight away. In spite of all this, I was not home until 1.15 in the morning. But I had enjoyed my few hours in Birmingham
Town Hall
View from Chamberlain Square. and must confess that the city is nicer than I had imagined it to be.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.513s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 29; qc: 143; dbt: 0.3639s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.5mb