Bournville and Birmingham

On March 27 my friend Sam from UNCG came to visit me at Keele. She is currently studying abroad in Toledo, Spain. She arrived late that night, then on Friday I just showed her around Keele and Stoke-on-Trent. She got to experience Primark for the first time! I think she agrees that it is a pretty amazing place.

On Saturday we took a train to Birmingham to explore, but more importantly, to go to Cadbury World. Yes, Cadbury Chocolate has its own World! The factory where the majority of their chocolate is made is just on the outskirts of Birmingham in a village called Bournville.

We took the train from the center of Birmingham to Bournville and it was the smallest train station ever! There was no building, just two platforms for the trains coming from either direction. As we left the train station we were a little confused about what direction we needed to go, but we noticed smallish purple signs with arrows pointing us in the right direction. We came up on the back of the factory and became really confused, but with enough wandering we found our way.

The factory was really neat! It was mostly self-guided and we got some free chocolate! It was need to see the packaging area. Shows like “How It’s Made” really intrigue me, so seeing it first hand was even better! They told us a lot of the local history and history of the company as well. I didn’t know all that about the chocolate company! I’m going to miss Cadbury being so cheap when I come home! It is much better than any Hershey’s bar.

 After Cadbury World, we went back into the city center of Birmingham. This is where the real adventure begins. Sam had a bus back to London from Birmingham for her flight back to Spain. We weren’t sure where the bus stop was, so we figured we would find that first before going exploring. We couldn’t find it. We wandered so far looking for it and for places to ask. And everybody kept pointing us back to Hill Street where we started. We decided to go to the big bus station to ask about that bus stop and again they pointed us back to where we were. But we hadn’t seen it, so we didn’t have much hope. But we figured we would head back that way and explore on the way.

There was a Starbucks in the bus station and since it was a really warm day (read: 65 degrees F) I decided I wanted an Iced Coffee. I don’t think that is a big thing here because it wasn’t on the menu and when I asked how much it was the man looked at me funny and was like, “We will give you ice free of charge if you really want it.” It was a really funny encounter, and I did eventually get my iced coffee! And it tasted wonderful.

Across the street were quite a few different Vintage Clothing stores. I could have spent a lot of money and time in them but we just wandered and I avoided spending any money. Well until I saw some shoes I couldn’t pass up that is. I LOVE my L.L. Bean duck boots and I really wanted some short ones as well. And can you believe it, there was a pair of short, vintage, L.L. Bean duck moccasins in my size and in almost perfect condition for cheaper than a brand new pair! You bet I bought those as quick as I could!

We continued exploring until we needed to try and find the bus stop again for the sake of time. We make it back to Hill Street and once again, we cannot find the stop! We go into a small store on Hill Street and asked the man at the till. And he told us to go up the hill of Hill street and PASS the intersection and the stop was just past that. Yeah, we didn’t pass the intersection. Oops.

 Not our brightest moment, but it was one of my favorite adventures I’ve had in England so far! If we hadn’t went to the big bus station we wouldn’t have ended up in those vintage shops and I wouldn’t have found my shoes and Sam wouldn’t have found her scarf.

It was really fun to have a friend come visit me! We had a great time and I can’t wait to see Sam again when we get back to Greensboro.