Sitting on my easyjet flight back to Birmingham, England i was trying to decide if i have a favourite place, everyones favourite question to ask me. To be honest, i don't really have 1 favourite place so far, each place has had its own personality, its own magical element where no matter how long or detailed my blog is, can't be expressed. I would love to go back to beautiful Budapest (pronounced Budapesh) and its history and charming surroundings. It has a compeltely different feel at night where the city takes on a completely different personality with its illuminations of historic buildings along the Danube. The lead up to Christmas is just amazing in Europe. It gives you a feeling you just cant describe. They certainly know how to do christmas decorations and i suppose it helps with the cold weather/snow to make it feel even more magical. Seville, Spain is another on my list with its young, vibrant, equisite and charming people, buildings and food. Eating tapas and seeing flamenco gave this city a certain feel. Anyways, enough with the reflection, onto the blog.
I arrived into Birmingham Airport to see Claire standing there with open arms. I met Claire at a work karaoke evening through her boyfriend Dan whom i worked with at Movieworld. I'd noticed she was a good singer so i asked her to join my choir (Dan and Claire were both in Australia for 8 months on a working holiday). We arrived at Claire's parents house in Rowley Regis, had some lunch and relaxed, which might have involved watching the Disney movie Tangled (So good!) and just chilling, waiting for Dan to come home from work. I met Claire's parents and their cat 'Noah'aka Freak who loves coming in to your bed to get warm at night. A lovely family who couldnt do enough to make sure i was happy and comfortable.
New Years Eve, Claire and i got to work baking cupcakes, muffins and cookies for 7 hours. This was to be snacks for our little New Years party we were having at the house which was only Claires parents, Dan, Claire and myself, but we wanted to make it special. It hit midnight and we watched the fireworks from Big Ben live on the tellie before running upstairs to watch the local fireworks from all over the city going off, as well as a few chinese lanterns. We were all in bed by 12:45am and had a nice sleep in. New Years Day, Dan and I went to Dudley Zoo, unfortunately Claire wasn't feeling too well so she couldn't make it. Expecting a few people there, we were so shocked to find that it was basically empty, only seeing 3 other groups the whole time we were there! This was an experience and a half. The weather started off fine and because of the quiet day, the animals were taking quite an interest in us. We walked up to a Chimpanzee enclosure and one was playing with a milk crate, as soon as he saw us he threw the crate away and came and sat up against the window looking at us. It was such a surreal experience, Dan and i made the most of it and sat down on the ledge with him for a little. It was like this the whole day, with us getting close ups of monkeys, snow leopards and many more animals. This zoo was built around a castle which is now in ruins but you can climb a little bit of it and over look the city. Such a cool idea! It's not everyday you can do this! It started raining quite heavy about half way through, no umbrellas so we got a little wet but it kind of made the experience more memorable.
Claire and i decided to visit Dan at work in Solihull. A half hour adventure to a shopping Centre (thank god it was inside, it was raining and windy!) We popped into him and then went and had a hot chocolate and cupcake at a tea room which was lovely.
Stratford upon Avon was next on the list of the cultural experiences Dan and Claire had planned for me. It was just Dan and I today, Claire decided to relax at home. Dan and I headed straight for a witch and wizard shop which was quite Harry Potter themed, this is where i had my first experience of drinking butterbeer (Harry Potter fans will know this) It was delicious and i was certainly in my element! We then went to Shakespeare’s birthplace and house in which he grew up in. You can pay for entrance which included a walkthrough with different videos explaining things he achieved which was interesting and then you go into his house where people are dressed up and give explanations of different things. It wasn’t all about Shakespear with a detailed explanation of the saying ‘good night, sleep tight’ which comes from the 1900’s. I only studied Romeo and Juliet in school and never realised the quotes and impact that Shakespear had on the world that still continues today. Dan and I wandered around this beautiful little town which I highly recommend everyone to visit if you are over this way. Food is always on my mind so we stopped by a small pub/café which had the most amazing looking pies and scones. This scone was huge! I had a beef and red wine pie which was delicious and a scone of course! Yes, it is no doubt why I am putting on weight! Haha. The weather looked horrible but luckily it held off for us!
The final night I was at Claire’s parent house we went out to a cavery. We fed our faces with beef, lamb and turkey with massive fresh yorkshire pudding . The kindness of people has really come to light this trip and I can’t thank Claire’s parents enough for allowing me to stay with them and for looking after me.
Dan, Claire and I had decided to do a roadtrip down to Kent, more specifically Canterbury and Ramsgate. Dan had work during the day and Claire and I made the most of this and caught the train into central Birmingham to the Marriot where we had a spa day. We vegged out in the pool, spa and steam room and both had a swedish massage as it was buy one get one free! Relaxed, we caught another train to Dan and hopped in his car. A 3 ½ hour journey which wasn’t too painful to our travelodge accomodation just outside of Canterbury. We just hit the sack as soon as we got to the hotel.
Our time in Birmingham saw us visiting Dan’s family who are all so lovely and basically accepted me into the family as if I was one of them straight away. All of us went to Wetherspoons for dinner and I enjoyed every minute of it. We also spent a day in Canterbury going into the Cathedral where you see gravestones from the 1800’s. This kind of history just boggles your mind when you come from Australia. This day we also went to a Pantomime. This experience is probably the one thing that will clearly stick out as being a highlight of this part of my trip. The panto was Cinderella and featured a few stars from England including a Eastenders star. Two ugly sisters who were men dressed up in drag. I don’t just mean any drag, I mean like Priscilla type drag with outragious outfits and glitter lips. It is so difficult to explain the way this is done but it is the audience participation that makes this show so memorable and the jokes that go over kids heads. Dan even got a shout out during the show because he is friends with Ian, one of the guys who played an ugly sister. We had a drink with him after the show before he had to rush off to the night performance. If you come to England in December/ January you must go to a panto. They are in different towns and quite common. These 4 nights were jam packed but so much fun and I’ve met some lovely people.
Another chapter over in this adventure. I am now onto Iceland for 4 nights before going to the family I am staying with in London for 2 months where I shall continue to attempt to find a job. Wish me luck!
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