By late on Thursday afternoon we were in Birmingham, UK, in England's West Midlands region, once a major manufacturing center in the 18th century. All I knew, as we landed, was we were pronouncing the city's name incorrectly. It is not pronounced as we do Bir-ming-ham, Alabama here in the states, but rather Bir-ming-um; kinda all squished together in that last syllable.
Since we had three days before beginning our stay as housesitters in England, this city was ours to explore for a couple of days. I'd booked us a darling Airbnb apartment within walking distance of the city center. It was described as "Coach House with Luxe Living in leafy Edgbaston" how could I pass up that label??? And, it was perfect for us in a very British plaids & wool style. A wonderful home owner had us all settled in with a great directory of pubs nearby so off we went for a. lovely dinner just a block away.
I'd also chosen the apartment because of t's proximity to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens just 2 blocks away, so we set off to see it on a crisp and somewhat foggy morning. Still in its winter sleep, we did enjoy seeing a garden just waiting for spring warmth to bring it to life. It was beautiful.
Saturday morning we walked into the city to visit our first National Trust property, the Birmingham Back to Backs. This was a restored 19th century courtyard of working people's houses; tiny, crowded
and shared dwellings that have been saved as a historic part of the city and so interesting. Knowing we would be in the UK for the next ten weeks, we also purchased our National Trust annual pass. The best money we spent as we began our travels in the country.
Afterwards we hiked across the central part of the city to attend a free jazz concert. We passed so many historic buildings, though the city was under a large construction project making it hard to get around.
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