June 2009
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Our trip to England was very nice. It began with a plane delay leaving Tampa that seriously threatened us missing our flight out of Philadelphia to Birmingham. It’s an interested but longer story, but let’s just say that the power of prayer was proven again and we did catch our flight.
We were met at the airport by Robert who drove us to his very nice home. Robert and Natalie let Bonnie and I use the back bedroom, which was very comfortable. As we arrived, Natalie was working hard to get Benjamin nursed, but the visiting midwives were concerned about his loss of weight. We got to attend two Canvas events: the end-of-year picnic for graduating seniors and the end-of-year banquet for all the students. At the second event, end-of-year banquet, we had the privilege of helping prepare the food for over 50 people. Both were great, and we enjoyed each very much. Robert and Natalie’s campus mission work has really been great. We did get to give them some time to themselves by visiting the University of Birmingham, the Cadbury Chocolate factory (we learned that chocolate is good for digestion, so we made sure we didn’t have any problems with our digestion)and downtown Birmingham. All very nice. The university is very nice. School was out so we’ll have to get the full tour on the next trip. The campus building look like something out of a Harry Potter Movie. Many of the row houses around the university have been modified to make student rooms. The rooms rent for 50-60 pounds per week. Most houses take at least four students; the one shown being renovated (by taking out the second floor with its high ceilings and creating a three story housing unit) will take seven students. At 50 pounds per student per week, that's 1,400 pounds a month! An unremodeled row house sells for about 145,000 pounds. The Cadbury Chocolate Factory tour was well done, and enjoyable. Not much of a walk from Rob & Nat's home. The train from Selly Oaks (near Robert’s home on the outskirts of Birmingham) to downtown Birmingham is less than 15 minutes and only three stops. The fare was reasonable. Met a man on the train who gave us some hints on what to see. The downtown area was very nice. Spent some time at the Town Hall, which goes back to 1834 (175th anniversary this year). Interesting exhibits.
On Thursday Benjamin was admitted back into the hospital for observation. He was there for two nights while doctors checked him out. Thankfully he was fine. While Robert, Natalie, and Benjamin were experiencing English medical care, Bonnie and I took a day trip to visit Warwick Castle. It was easy - train to downtown Birmingham then another train to Warwick. The walk from the train station to the castle took about 15 minutes. Which is amazing that I walked that distance considering if two stores are 100 yards apart, I drive to the second store.
In the by-the-way category, Warwick Castle is now a 100% commercial property, owned by the same people that do the Madame Toussauds museums (no wonder the mannequins were so lifelike). The Warwicks sold out a number of years ago and emigrated to Australia ... or so we heard. Also note that Warwick Castle is on the Avon River.
Mom and I returned by to Birmingham and were met by Robert and taken to the Birmingham Children's Hospital. Rob & Nat & Benjamin have a private room there. After a bit Robert and I went out and bought some Indian food and brought it back to the room, where we divided it up and heated it in the hospital's next door common room that had a microwave. Good. Later Robert drove us home. He picked up some things and returned to the hospital for the night. Bonnie and I did some shopping. Visited the local discount shopping store and the local park. We loved a sign on a wall that prohibited graffiti – on a wall that was filled with graffiti. We also liked signs prohibiting alcohol. Always good for a university town. It was always nice to run into some of the students involved with the Canvas House, as we traveled around town. On Saturday while waiting for Benjamin to be released from the hospital, Bonnie and I revisited Birmingham and had a canal boat ride and some samplings from an international food festival that was being held in the downtown area. Late in the afternoon Benjamin was finally released from the hospital, and we celebrated with a night of fish and chips. Excellent. Robert took us to the plane very early the next day. We were missing Benjamin already. |
The Birmingham canal area is very nice. Didn't realize there are operational canals. So you can get narrated tours of the local canal system - 3.5 pounds per person for a 30 minute tour. There are also canal boats for lunch and dinner cruises. You can also rent a whole boat yourself (sleeps five easily) for ten nights for 1,700 pounds. You have to operate boat and manipulate the locks yourself. The canal area is also a place that has lots of fine restaurants and shops. Very nicely built up.
Warwick Castle is how castles should be shown. They used wax mannequins to display people in the various rooms as they told the story of the castle's history. The rooms were all set up with the furniture of the period. They also had interesting displays: a falcon show and a trebuchet demonstration. (Look it up)
We also had a Stratford-upon-Avon day. Avon is the River; Stratford is the birthplace of William Shakespeare. A big tourist town. Not sure but something like 1.5 million visitors a year. It turns out that Shakespeare, unlike some European composers who didn't become famous until after they died, went to London and became famous and rich. He returned to his home town, bought one of the most expensive homes there, and lived in it for something like 15 years until his death. People were visiting his birth place and his home while he was still alive. Now there is a Shakespeare Center and it is run by a trust or something like that. There are continuous tours with people in period costumes providing information on Shakespeare's life and times. To get there we took our now familiar ride into Birmingham city and changed trains by walking from the Birmingham New station to the Birmingham Moor Street station, about a five minute walk. The trains from Selly Oak (the outskirts where Robert and Natalie live) into Birmingham city seems to run every ten minutes. The trains going out from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon run about every 50 minutes. It turned out we had about 40 minutes to kill in Birmingham so we walked through one of the large and modern malls and then through the Chinese Quarter of the city. There were something like 13 stops from Birmingham to Stratford-upon-Avon, and the train hit them all (going back also). The train, unlike the one to Warwick that hit 80 mph) probably never go beyond 50 mph. Our Stratford-upon-Avon visit concluded with a visit to Shakespeare's tomb and a walk along the Avon River.