My first impression in England was quite boring. Arriving in the United Kingdom during pandemic, I had to spend 10 days in quarantine hotel. I was not allowed to leave the hotel except for small walk for about 15 minutes in the hotel car park. It was not a wonderful situation but it was not awful either. In spite of this, at least I was with my wife. That way I had someone to talk to. Another thing that made the quarantine less miserable was food. We brought many Indonesian food. So, to kill the time and wierd-tasted food which served by the hotel, we ate the food earlier. I mean, the food was supposed to consume once we arrived at our home. But "emergency" situation made us to change the plan.
After 10 days, we managed to leave the hotel and the first interesting place we visited was Birmingham City Centre and Bullring Market. The later is familiar since I watched several video about this market on youtube. What makes this market outstanding is the way people sell the goods which is mostly veggies and fruits. They, the sellers, offer the goods in such a way people from Asia selling their products. The market is crowded and loud. The sellers who are mainly immigrant in my view, yell and shout to catch visitors attention. Exactly they share the same passion and enthusiasm as the sellers in Indonesia. Regarding the prices, they are affordable and when it is approaching 5 PM, it is the time when the market closed, the prices go down. In the morning you can get a bowl of apple for 1 pound but late in the afternoon you can get three bowls of them for 2 pound. Next, the city centre. In the surrounding you can find big malls and many big stores, banks, restaurants, hotels and tourist destinations such as museum (Baskerville house), Gas Street Canal, Victoria Square and city library. In short, the city centre is a one stop destination where you can visit places in one day walking.
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| Gas Street Basin, The Canal Side, Birmingham |
I want to talk about Birmingham Arena separately. Why? Because the Birmingham Arena has close connection with Indonesia. As the venue of one of major badminton event, many Indonesian athletes have won the championships for numerous times. The last event, the all England 2021, that's how the championship officially named, our male-double athletes was undefeated and became the champion. The arena is right on the side of the canal. It's the opposite of sea world. If you take a bus from the city centre using bus number 23 or 24, you will see it on your left after 7/8 stops. On the other side of the arena, the one closer to the canal, Lego Land is waiting for you and your family to be explored. I had a chance to take a photograph on the site (see picture). The building is very active. Every now and then, music concerts, exhibitions or conferences are held.
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| Lego Land. Right behind the Birmingham Arena where the All England is annually held. |
I think that's it. In conclusion, there are many places to enjoy in this West Midland region. And the city centre is the best place to start as many interesting places are scattered around and accessible by foot in less than one day. Highly recommended. See you later.
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| Does anyone know Ozzy Ozbourne of Black Sabbath is from Birmingham? You can find the Black Sabbath Bridge built to honor the singer right on the Gas Street Canal. |
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