Last night Lizz and I were watching a movie and we heard this noise in the distance and we went and looked out the window and there were fireworks! They were done to celebrate this huge arts festival the city hosted this weekend. They were amazing! Like combining Canada Day and July 4th all in one, SUCH a great way to end a night!
After yesterdays day of complete laziness Lizz and I were forced to actually accomplish something today...sigh. So we turned on the alarms for 9am... pressed snooze for an entire hour and were proud of ourselves to get out of bed by 10. Got some free breakfast from the hostel: toast (from the worlds slowest toaster....I also had to hold down the button the entire time...) and tea (I think I have already consumed a regular Canadians annual amount of tea in the past 4 days). We then went back and got our luggage as we were planning on dropping it off at our new friends place while we are up north at my fams. Getting the luggage may sound like a simple task. It was not. When we got here they helped us to carry it up...no help getting them down. The suit cases weigh at least 60 pounds each by now, and we had two huuuuge staircases to traverse. The steps are super shallow, your foot kinda perches on them. They are also as skinny as humanly possible ( Mom/Dad/Anna think of the squeezy stairs, no joke). So the method was to basically allow the suitcases to slide down the stairs and use your body to somewhat control them. I am so glad that no one saw!!
We then used our newly acquired skills to walk around the city toting our luggage without looking like complete tourists (Lizz likes it when I hide my camera so I don't look like a complete foreigner). We carefully executed our plan of attack without even the slightest of disaster. Then life threw us a curve ball. A realllllly big curve ball. I joke you not, our ENTIRE bus route was blocked and was a city cycle path. Literally thousands of people were wearing bright green vests and biking down the city streets. So we figured that it can't go on forever, or it must at least turn at some point and head down a different street. It did not. We walked along side those wonderful bike enthusiasts for an hour. Then (many would have made a different plan of attack from the start, however we liked ours so much that we figured it just had to be the best) we decided that perhaps, we should try another route. Out comes the trusty A-Z (AMAZINGLY detailed map of Birmingham which is now my constant companion) and we tried to map another route. However, as we have discovered more than once in the past few days, a map is rather useless if you don't know which way to hold it. Or where you are. Or where you want to go. To make things even more complicated we have found that street signs here are not prominently displayed high in the air at each intersection, instead they are on signs about 1.5 feet from the ground. Super easy to find and see from a distance...NOT. So we looked around and figured out where we were, tried to apply it to a map....and then asked a bike-a-thon worker where to go. Turns out the buses were running literally one street over from where we had been walking for the past hour. So after walking up a block we quickly found a bus stop and stopped to wait. While this hour long walk alongside the bikers was fun at times (there were random entertainers dressed in costume along the route) Lizz was limping along due to her injured ankle and my suitcase decided to give up on life. The outside of both wheels fell off. First they cracked down the center and then they just gave up all together. We were quite the pair!!
We then dropped off our suitcases and took the bus (another double decker!) back to the city center. We got a sandwich from a drug store and ate it sitting on some steps...possibly the best sandwich I have ever ate. It was also 2pm so that may have affected my awesomeness rating abilities. At the same drug store Lizz bought the same exact dry shampoo that I buy at a beauty supply store in Canada. The only difference is she got it for 99p (like 99 cents) and I paid $10.99, and that was on sale! Deal!!
Then we tackled the Bull Ring. It is literally a huge area of traffic-blocked streets (brick, really nice) with tons of shops, lots more than one floor. And there is street after street of this. HEAVEN. There were buskers, men selling helium balloons, ice cream etc, lots of nice planters etc. Really, really nice!! Our plan of attack was Birmingham postcards (check), douvet (check) and sheets (check). We went to this store called Primark...while it was insanely busy and a rather large disaster it was also ammmmazing! Our douvet and two pillows was 8 pounds, and sheets and douvet cover for 10 pounds! Lizz also got a watch for 1 pound! There was 3 floors, kinda like H & M back home, with looots to choose from. Primark is why people here can afford to be super trendy, you don't have to search through the racks in Winners an attempt to get something without spending your life savings. I am verrry proud to report that I only bought the necessities (not even what I think I NEED) and didn't even try rationalize why a new pair of flats was required for my life to function normally. A miracle!
We then schlepped back to the hostel with our purchases in tow. The expression on Lizz's face was that of a woman in childbirth (due to the ankle disaster) and I slowly accumulated almost all of her bags. She then heaved her poor body up the stairs, we ordered pizza and settled in for a night of relaxing. Glorious!
Things England taught me today:
1. When you think that leopard tights are a poor choice to pack you are wrong. They are a necessity. I wish I had mine now.
2. Luggage is not meant for off-roading. (The sidewalks here count as off-roading as they are made from many different materials, randomly patched and cars are also parked either half on the sidewalk, or fully on the sidewalk completely blocking it from pedestrian use).
3. Brits add an 'a' to McDonalds, so it is MacDonalds.
4. Americans like to make everything as big as possible. Brits like to dress as extreme as possible. All the time.
No comments:
Post a Comment