suchnone #372 Day 7 Shopping in Birmingham

I just realized that the summary of my trip is taking as long or longer than my actual trip. Another case of real life getting in the way.

I had some last minute Christmas shopping to do so PSP and I headed to the Bullring in Birmingham to check out the stores and see what we could find. Needles to say two days before Christmas the area was packed and within 10 minutes I was ready to go. But, we had things to shop for so we pressed on. We decided to hit Selfridges since he had to pick up some cherry flavored vodka for his wife for Christmas. You can sample any of the liquors they have there so after 8 or so shots we were feeling mighty good. I also looked at the whiskeys for a present for my friends near Manchester. I would come back later to get it. We wandered around the mall, stopping at a few bookstores and a tea shop so I could pick up tea for several of my friends back home. Then we made our way to the German Christmas Street fair. Booths lined the street all the way to the city hall. There was food, beer, crafts, music, a merry go round and tons and tons of people. I found a nice nativity scene for my parents but could not find a christmas ornament of any kind.







After shopping was done we made our way to the first of 3 pubs to spend the rest of the afternoon. The first one was getting ready to close so there was only 7 or so folks in there and I think they were regulars. They were singing 70s and 80s pop songs mixed in with irish folks songs( I think) and pretty much whatever came to their minds to sing. As they were leaving they all wished PSP and I a happy christmas and new year and shook our hands. I really liked the Turf in Oxford but there was something about this pub that really connected with me. So, catching the bus we headed back closer to Moseley for the second pub. A few pints later it was time to move on to the the pub near PSP's apartment. My memory is hazy, we may not have actually had a pint there that day but I am pretty sure we stopped in. We also stopped by the Drinksville to pick up more beer and some candy for after dinner. For dinner we went to a Nepali resturant just around the corner. I had tandori chicken which is similar to barbequed chicken in the states but with different spices as well as being soaked in yogurt. It was very tasty.

Birmingham pictures

Next Day 8 Christmas Eve, Christmas and Boxing Day