Birmingham - Its not as bad as you've heard

Seriously, you should have heard all the snide comments, sniggers and 'Why are you going to Birmingham?' comments that I received before I went there, so I wasn't expecting anything special. But really its not that bad at all. We were staying in the city that is under going an urban revival with bars and cafes surrounding the canals! (Yes that is correct, canals! Apparently Birmingham has more canals than Venice - and they smell less)

That aside, we went to Birmingham to catch up with some friends and swap photos from our recent ski trip. We also found time to go and watch our first real life soccer (sorry football) game between Aston Villa (home) and Bolton. And to be fair it wasn't that bad, thought it wasn't probably the best introduction to the highest echalons of the sport. But it was quite amazing at how silent 30 odd thousand people can be when they are scored against. For the record the game finished at 1-1 (Bolton scored an own goal). That night we hit the town and had a very satisfying time. I would do it again - but there are other places to go first!