A bustling city of culture and history, the collision of people and places: Birmingham. I arrived in the early hours of the morning and watched the sun rise over the city. The city came alive around 6am with people rushing off to work or stepping outside to enjoy the sunshine.
It was also the location for this years Crufts Dog Show and the streets were full of merchants who took advantage of the crowds. The street musicians came to life in the afternoon and played into the evening, with hopes to get a fair bit of pocket change in exchange for a smile and the occasional foot tapping.
The meeting of two worlds appears at the canal system where you can travel in time to see the path of a well used trade route from inside the city to the outskirts. A lovely walk along the cobblestones of the canal and a hot sun makes it hard to believe what was necessary to obtain what we now so easily take for granted.
A great challenge in a city such as this is to create space that attracts people for learning about the history while at the same time stimulating the continuation of learning. Such places as museums and educational sites are great displays of this as well as the city streets.
With all this going on no wonder the city is home to the rock band Black Sabbath and the factory of Cadbury Chocolate's!
