Birmingham, Part 1

August 6-7


Ozzy the Bull greets us when we arrive at the train station in Birmingham. Ozzy, for Ozzy Osbourne-- Black Sabbath hails from Birmingham. It's an impressive sculpture that moves from time to time.

 
Our apartment is not too far from the train station, and our walk takes us along the canals that we will motor through soon. Very fun to see food canal boats. Somehow we manage to resist Kelly's ice cream boat. 

Yay! We meet up with Kevin and Diana! We will have a couple of days in Birmingham before we get on our narrowboat. 

After an early pub dinner, we walk around a bit. Birmingham has quite the mix of old and new buildings side by side.  

We return to the same neighborhood the next morning for an exhibit on the Pre-Raphaelites. It's a wonderful exhibit--sufficiently rich with information and dazzling art and also small enough in scale to take it in. 

Dazzling colors and fascinating stories.  

After lunch, we walk into the Birmingham cathedral, situated, we learn, at the high point of the city. 

The stained glass windows were created by two of the artists we learned about at the miseum. The patron who paid for them didn't want oxen in the same space as the baby Jesus--they are too boorish. 

Judgment day. 

On our way back home along the canal. We are often seeing the mix of wildflowers and graffiti. I wonder what it will look like as we cruise further from the city? 



Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 9, 2024 at 8:30 AM

    Black Sabbath bulls, boorish oxen, and goblets full of hearts and poison. Birmingham does not disappoint. -- Ame

    ReplyDelete

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