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Ending up in Birmingham

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I had a short trip to Birmingham and had time a short visit to the city centre

Ending up in Birmingham

Birmingham Airport

Together with a couple of colleagues I had an interesting meeting with a vendor in Coventry. We had flown to Birmingham with the morning flight and arrived in rain. After the meeting with the vendor was finish they asked us what we were going to do the rest of the afternoon since we had 4 hours to our flight back to Brussels. I said that we were going to visit Brimingham.

Birmingham!! They said; what are you going to do in Birmingham??

I said I don’t know but I had read somewhere that they had improved the city image with some new architecture.

With this comment from them standing we left for Birmingham! We followed the GPS to the city centre driving in the rush hour.

The magnificent facade towards Park Street
Finally arriving there we looked at it and didn’t have a good feeling. Was this the city centre! We parked the car in a large parking garage close to the central station and the main shopping area.

We walked up and down some of the shopping streets enjoying some of the design; especially the striking Selfridges building. The buildings three-dimensionally curvaceous form hugs the dramatic incline of the redeveloped bull ring site as it moves like a shimmering silver wave and drops down to St Martin´s square below.

After viewing this amazing building we walked back towards High Street in order to find the cathedral. When we walked up Temple Street in order to reach the cathedral we were met by hordes of men in suits and office dressed women emptying all the surrounding offices and running towards the nearby train station. I just had to take some pictures to see if I could catch the lemmings following the same path; it was monstrous.

The cathedral was a lot smaller than what we all had anticipated, but next to it we found the pub named; Fullers Ale & Pie. This was a beautiful place with a good atmosphere and a good choice or beer. We tasted some of the beers but quickly found them far from the standards in Belgium. I had some beers from bottles which tasted quiet nice.

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Birmingham Airport
Birmingham Airport
The magnificent facade towards Par…
The magnificent facade towards P
Birmingham Airport
Birmingham Airport
New Street
New Street
New Street and High Street
New Street and High Street
Shoppers towards the High Street
Shoppers towards the High Street
The Bull at Bull Ring
The Bull at Bull Ring
The church of St Martin in the Bul…
The church of St Martin in the B
The shopping mall at Bull Ring
The shopping mall at Bull Ring
The magnificent facade towards Par…
The magnificent facade towards P
The magnificent facade towards Par…
The magnificent facade towards P
High Street; The Rotunda is an ico…
High Street; The Rotunda is an i
Bull Ring, The site is located on …
Bull Ring, The site is located o
The view at Bull Ring
The view at Bull Ring
The Statue of Horatio Nelson by Ri…
The Statue of Horatio Nelson by
Corporation Street and New Street
Corporation Street and New Street
Corporation Street is a main shopp…
Corporation Street is a main sho
Temple Street
Temple Street
Temple Street
Temple Street
Temple Street
Temple Street
Temple Street
Temple Street
In front of St Philips Cathedral …
In front of St Philip's Cathedra
St Philips Cathedral is a Church …
St Philip's Cathedral is a Churc
In front of St Philips Cathedral …
In front of St Philip's Cathedra
In front of St Philips Cathedral …
In front of St Philip's Cathedra
In front of St Philips Cathedral …
In front of St Philip's Cathedra
In front of St Philips Cathedral …
In front of St Philip's Cathedra
Fullers Pie & Ale House
Fullers Pie & Ale House
Fullers Pie & Ale House
Fullers Pie & Ale House
Avis car rental in Birmingham
Birmingham airport is quiet easy to find your way in. For me one of the most striking things was the entry procedures due to that England is not a member of Schengen Agreement. The term Schengen Agreement is used for two agreements concluded among European states in 1985 and 1990 which deal with the abolition of systematic border controls among the participating countries.

As soon you have passed this part the rest is easy. Finding the area for the rental cars was very easy and no problem at all, especially compared to many other airports. The cars were situated very close to the arrival area. The prices were fair and not too high, even for larger cars. One thing I found missing here compared to other places where mainland Europeans rents cars in Great Britain was that there were no reminders of the left side driving in the car.

Delivering the car was just as easy with good indication on where to deliver it. Check of the car went fast too. Only minus here was the distance from here to the airport which would have had an influence if it was raining.

All in all; a good place to rent cars.
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We had an Omega with automatic
Chokk says:
Jeff - your comment is worth a review - go for it:)
And you had the rain - poor guy:)
Posted on: Jan 30, 2009
jennjeff1 says:
Hi Christian! I also rented from Avis at Birmingham Airport this month. Walking in the rain from the car hire area to the terminal at 0500 was not fun, despite how close it was. Also, Avis check-in does not open until after 0730 so I could not check in my car due to my 0650 flight so I had to drop my key at the Avis terminal desk. Luckily, the Avis counter in Stuttgart was able to print out my receipt later that same morning so I could file my business travel voucher without having to wait for a receipt in the mail which would take another couple of weeks for it to arrive.

The other thing about renting from Avis in England is all the compact cars are not only right-hand drive but also left-hand manual stick shift! I had to drive in the rain from 0300-0430 while passing spraying trucks all the way from Alconbury to Birmingham. Next time I hope to fly into Stansted instead!

~Jeff
Posted on: Jan 30, 2009
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