Birmingham, England (July 17, 2025)
Keep going another two plus hours north from Benson and you’ll find yourself in Birmingham, England. I was going by train so I got off at Birmingham New Street station which is quite a large stop. So how do you meet up with two friends in what is otherwise a packed station? On my What’sApp I simply get this picture:
“You will find us here right outside of the station exit.”
And sure enough, Moon Li and her husband Adrien were right there under this mechanical bull monument to Ozzy Osbourne. I had no idea, but the connection runs deep to Black Sabboth and Ozzy Osborne in Birmingham. Just scroll through the street paintings below to see what I’m talking about:
As I was on a train for several hours and Moon Li was showing me around Birmingham, she asked if I was hungry and ready to eat. Of course! She asked if I liked Dim Sum. Uh, YES PLEASE! And we headed on over to the Asian district (a.k.a. Birmingham Chinatown). This is where all the Asian shopping centers as well as the best Asian restaurants live inside of Birmingham. Damn it’s great to be guided by a local when you’re in a new city. Woo Hoo!
I have always loved the visual picture language of Chinese characters
This is the restaurant selected by Moon Li and it was fabulous!
Before we entered, Moon asked me how adventurous an eater I was. I had explained that I was a full omnivore and that when I was in China for my first visit, I had ordered pig’s ear salad and snake soup. I was willing to try anything once. I was okay with spicy, but preferred not to be in pain for the rest of the day. If the pain was likely to subside by the time we left the restaurant (or within an hour of doing so, then bring it on).
The Dim Sum feast and more kept coming. Centered is chicken feet. Loved it!
I didn’t ask and just ate everything. When I noticed the cartilage in the red dish in front of me, I did clarify so that I didn’t swallow the parts I wasn’t supposed to. Yes, it was, indeed chicken feet, but they were smaller than she was expecting. One of the big exports from the US is chicken feet. I didn’t know that. It’s the sauce that makes the difference anyway. You put enough seasoning on anything and it can taste delicious — as did my chicken feet.
The rest of the dim sum was what you might expect. Shrimp dumpling, beef noodles, stir fried rice, bok choy, and so many other amazing dishes. I had a very light breakfast headed for the train that morning, so this hit the spot.
Ginseng after drink for good health and an internal body cleanse.
Before leaving this part of Birmingham, we popped into one of the Asian stores and Moon recommended a Ginseng drink that Adrien was convinced would taste terrible. You could see the Ginseng root was included so it looked more like Chinese medicine than an after lunch beverage, but if you know me you know that I’m the adventurous type so this intrigued me. Chinese market or not, I didn’t think this had a high probability of making me sick (or worse), so down the hatch, but since it tasted much, much better than I expected, I offered a sip to both Moon and Adrien and they agreed THEY though it tasted much better than THEY expected too.
WAIT. I see a mandatory Goofy Picture Possibility. Got it! Thanks!
In a giant town like Birmingham, there’s so much to see an do. I jumped in front of this historically significant bull to take a goofy picture. I linked to the real reason the bull was chosen as a symbol for Birmingham if you care to explore the farming and slaughter house reason instead. Some come to learn all the historical significance, others (like me) are more here for the fun, friendship and shared global community.
The bull has gone from symbol to fundraiser throughout the city …
What’s cool, however, is that symbol of Birmingham has continued to grow and expand especially as a means to generate awareness and fundraising for important causes and putting out important community messages. I particularly liked these ones and felt compelled to capture and pass long here.
“Take more chances” is a powerful message for people walking by. Think about all the chances we don’t take in our lives. Even if that’s the only message you see, it’s powerful. But turn around and you see a second message …
Hell yes. “When you get a chance to sit it out our dance …. DANCE!”
And with that, I was passed the Lee Ann Womack ear worm, “I hope you dance.” Amazing, right. How words that are not even the actual lyrics of the song can pass along the same message and plant the song in my head. It totally worked. I was humming the song as I was walking. Powerful. Perfect. Love it. Had there been actual music playing, I would have danced and Moon would have filmed.
Now Birmingham has some beautiful architecture like any self-respecting British city. See below for a few examples:
But who knew the LIBRARY would be the most fascinating building that warranted the most time to spend in. I’m not kidding. I love me a good library to be sure, but this is different. The books here are secondary to the full library experience in Birmingham. First, check out the building itself:
Would you have guessed that THIS is the Birmingham library?
Insert Dr. Evil’s “Riiiiiiiiight.” Looks more like a futuristic space building than a library doesn’t it? Wait it gets better. This is a picture of the INSIDE of the library:
Blue neon lights under the escalator. Star-looking lights hanging from floors?
And then there’s the mysterious “Secret Garden” that’s well advertised throughout the building. I mean if it’s supposed to be “secret” you’re doing a pretty poor job of keeping said secret, but okay. Let’s see it.
OMG! this place just goes and goes and goes. Let me move to carousel.
Okay, so that was insane. Go to the Birmingham library and see the whole of Birmingham. I mean really. You can walk to every corner of the building and see out to every other building in Birmingham. I highly recommend it.
Tree of Life WW2 Memorial
Before I wrap up, I realize there are two important parts I left off that I want to include. The first is this World War II memorial statue that is actually travelling as I understand it. It commemorates those who were killed in the air raid bombings and spans many European countries and so it travels to the hardest hit.
Tree of Life Memorial Statue (Side View)
There is something deeply moving that captures life’s impermanence here for me. The names of the dead become the roots which form the hands which hold the earth. It’s a powerful symbol of the interconnected web of life of which we are all a part and the deep impermanence of life. For me, anyway, it’s a reminder to live life to the fullest. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. Powerful message and it hit home as we were walking around Birmingham.
Birmingham LGBTQ+ Support (i.e. Trans Central)
And just as we were leaving the Asian community, we saw this sign for Birmingham Trans Central, which marks the LGBTQ+ specific areas of Birmingham marked in solidarity. As June was pride month, I had just missed some of the organized activities that had taken place. There was still evidence of painted streets nearby where gatherings had taken place.
Rainbow paintings marked a central hub for Birmingham Pride in June 2025
Even though I wasn’t here in person last month, it’s great to see the remnants of what was here just a few weeks prior to my visit. I know Violet would have enjoyed seeing this part of Birmingham too.
