May 29, 2025
We had planned to visit Warwick Castle today, but we all were so tired Adam suggested walking down to the Longbridge Station and hoping a train to Birmingham City Centre. This is basically a big train station on New Street within a huge inside and outdoor mall called the Bullring. You can Google how it got its name. It isn’t a nice story, so I’ll leave that off. Adam made us a reservation for a late lunch at a Kitty Cafe and while we had time to kill, the kids shopped and I sweated and got knocked about and tailgated by every young person in this part of England. I have heard every accent and dialect and people watched until I am not surprised by anything I see anymore. There were so many cultures in this small area. Adam says immigration is often encouraged in the UK and even incentives are granted for those relocating. Lots of cabs and buses and Ubers. Lots of coffee and tea shops. Lots of shops we have in the U.S. and some we didn’t recognize. Lots of people in general. I took some pictures and got sidetracked looking at buildings and interesting (to me) things as I followed along. We grabbed some lunch at the Kitty Cafe inside Grand Central Birmingham Centre and really enjoyed watching all the cute cats scooting about playing and visiting with the customers like feline politicians. I forget to take pictures of the food we are eating, but we had a really nice lunch of toasty sandwiches and pizza quesadillas. The cafe charges an entry fee that goes toward cat care and it was well worth the visit. When we got ready to scan in our return ticket back to Longbridge, we heard the message about a tree that had fallen and taken down the whole train line. It had been windy the whole day. Since we weren’t sure how long the delay would be, we went out to the bus stops to try that as an option. It was extremely crowded with people trying to get on a bus and people trying to get home from work. We opted for an Uber back to the hotel. We then went to a Morrison’s where I had to buy another piece of luggage in order to pack up all the spoils of shopping we had been doing. We went over to visit with Adam’s parents for a bit and grabbed some dinner before he dropped us at the hotel for the night.
