A Couple of Days in Birmingham

Monday Afternoon 8^th and Tuesday 9^th May

Our Purchases

We went out for a walk in the afternoon and had a look in the Mailbox as it last time we were here it was all being done up, it is really nice very classy.  We had a look around and went into Harvey Nicks and somehow found the alcohol and a very fine selection of gins!

Our Gins - mine is blue!

We were just browsing and a sales assistant came over and she was very knowledgeable about all the gins.  There was one that was called Masons Yorkshire Tea Gin and she asked if we wanted to try some so we did and very nice it was too and tasted of tea.  There was another one which caught our eye and it was called Jam Jar gin and why … because it was in a jam jar so we tried that as well and that was good too.  We bought a couple of minatures to try and a couple of tonics and we even got a Harvey Nicks bag to put them in!  Kev also bought a tin of Birmingham lager!

And now it is pink!

The Gin Vault

We then made our way back to the boat but on the way, we passed The Gin Vault so of course we had to go in and see what it was all about.  They had a very large selection of gins about 100+ and a list telling you about each one.  It took us about 10 minutes to decide what to have, I had one called Sharish Blue Magic Gin which starts off as blue and changes to pale pink when tonic is added, it is from Portugal.  Kev chose Fifth Spire from Litchfield but unfortunately they didn’t have it as it is only made in small batches and is hard to get so he went for a gin from Wolverhampton called Crazy, perhaps that gin is more suited to me!

They were both really nice.  We then went back to the boat and just chilled out for the rest of the evening after a gin lesson with tasting at Harvey Nicks and gins at the Gin Vault, what a nice way to spend an afternoon!

Tuesday – We went for a walk up into the shops.  We saw Bully and then had a stroll around the Bullring shopping centre and to my delight they had a Hotel Chocolat so needless to say we went in there and got a few goodies.

Fruit & Veg Market

We also went to the fruit and veg market which is great.  The fruit and veg is in bowls for a £1 each so we got some lovely fresh stuff, that will keep us going for a while.

St Thomas Church

There was a cache not too far away so we went to see if we could find it.  

It took us to the Peace Garden which is near St. Thomas Church which was bombed in the war and only the tower is left. The garden is a public garden designated as a monument to peace and a memorial to all those killed in armed conflict.  It is a lovely place. We had to find some clues on the various plaques in the garden which would give us the coordinates to find the cache.  We found all the information then walked to where the cache was, but there was too many people about to be rooting round looking for it, so we didn't bother.

Peace Garden

We then went for lunch at Rodizio Rico, a Brazilian restaurant in the Cube.  

Our Passador!

It is a set price and you help yourself to the buffet bar which has a selection of hot and cold foods, including Vegetable Lasagne and Cauliflower Cheese and Brazilian side dishes.  

The Passadors then come to your table with endless Beef, Pork, Lamb and Chicken, some of it on trays and some on large skewers and they slice off as much as you want.  It is a fantastic place and we really enjoyed our lunch, we must have eaten at least a pound of meat each!

Lovely view from here

Rodizio Rico

Needless to say we waddled back to the boat and are just chilling out for the rest of the day.  We are on the move again tomorrow.