London, Day 5: Birmingham

I spent much of Saturday visiting some friends in Birmingham. My former youth pastor and his wife had moved to England awhile back, and we decided to meet up for lunch. They graciously paid for my food, and we had a wonderful time catching up on everything. They showed me a bit around downtown Birmingham. We were downtown, where there were a large number of shops, a cathedral or two, an open-air food market, and a ton of people. Much of the area was closed off to cars, so there were wide streets to walk along. The city appears to be a bit more modern than the parts of London I've seen. It was interesting to look at the city, but I don't think I'd bother going back to visit again.

I traveled to Birmingham by train. It was pretty simple. I bought tickets online, took the tube to the station, got on the train, and that was that. I did have a little difficulty getting to the station. Parts of the tube were shut down due to engineering work, so I had to take the long way around. I actually missed the train that I had intended to take. Fortunately, trains run to Birmingham from London about every five minutes, since Birmingham is also a major city. And most of the tickets available are flexible--you take whatever train is convenient on that day. In fact, the return trip could be taken any time within a month. I guess this wouldn't work so well in the U.S. with our infrequent trains, but it was convenient, and something I wish we had available. I was also suprised that no one really checked my tickets. It looked like they were doing a few random checks, but I still have my return ticket because no one took it. In short, I love British mass transportation.

One of the interesting things about the train was getting to see the English countryside (something which is not exactly readily available in the middle of Kensington). Strangely enough, it looked a lot like Oregon. In fact, I was reminded of a train trip up the Willamette Valley that I took last year. How odd, that I should find something so familiar so far from home.