La de dah...I'm a Lady...

The city of Birmingham has to be one of my favourite places.  Somebody has to love it.  This is Chamberlain Square.  The Building to the left is the Birmingham Museum and Gallery.  That is where we headed yesterday bright and early.  The museum received a multi million pound National Lottery grant to finance a new permanent gallery to house The Staffordshire Hoard.  The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo Saxon Treasure ever to be found.  It was practically stumbled upon by an amateur with a metal detector in a farmers field.  Lucky find.  It really is a story worth googling and googling it can do it more justice than I can.  You are not allowed to photograph some of the exhibits or exhibitions in the gallery, so I have no pictures of the hoard.  Awesome does not really come close to describing it.  I have seen the hoard several times and I hope to see it many more times.

The Edwardian Tea Rooms have recently had a revamp within the museum.  I think you would be hard pushed to find a more beautiful setting for a cuppa.  It would be easy for 'one' to slip into the persona of an Edwardian Lady and get lost in delusions of grandeur. 

We chose this comfortable little corner.  I do not like anywhere if it is busy.  We planned our journey to skip breakfast at home, catch the train and walk to the museum in time for opening.  We were very ready for breakfast when we arrived and the tearoom was almost empty!  I love it when something goes to plan.

The whole place is just eye candy.  Can you see the beautiful floor?

I had to photograph the floor by my seat and I am glad I got the chair fabric in the shot too.  The furniture is all mismatched and 'odd' but it works together beautifully, whoever designed the revamp is a real genius.  If you are a coulour, pattern and texture fan you just can't stop looking everywhere.

I love the concept of framing part of the picture.  The tea rooms started to fill up and I feel a bit silly going around with my camera but every wall has something different to look at.  

Not only can you get tea, you can get all kinds of tea.  

And coffee, I needed coffee.

Small things please small minds and all that but that dinky milk bottle makes me smile.  It is very nostalgic of the free school milk that we all used to receive daily.  We would race our friends to drink our milk through little straws before we could go out to play.  If you did not like milk, tough luck, you had to drink it anyway unless your parents sent a letter to explain you had allergies.  Milk in the Winter was lovely and icy cold but in the Summer I used to hate my milk, it was warm and nasty.  You had to hold your nose and drink it down quickly.  I am sure many people have mixed memories about free school milk.

How posh was my breakfast?  It was so tasty and cooked beautifully.  I am sure being hungry made it even nicer.  The ten year old went for a Full English Breakfast, it is a regular feature of our weekends, we often cook a Full English Breakfast.  Then you really don't need to eat again for quite some time.  In fact it would be quite easy to consume double the recommended calorie intake just by breakfast alone.  

I think this is a civilised Full English (sorry not for veggies).  Do you get Black Pudding in other parts of the world?  Black pudding is made by congealing pigs blood and mixing it with Oats Barley and seasoning.  You buy it in rings or large sausage shapes.  It is tasty if you don't think about what it actually is.  I had a work colleague once who was brought up on a farm and his job as a child, after the pig had been slaughtered, was to keep stirring the bucket of blood so it congealed evenly.  I could easily skip black pudding if I had to do that!
   Because the museum are celebrating the opening of the new Staffordshire Hoard Gallery, they had some 'Anglo Saxon' specials on the board.  I thought this was a nice idea especially for children.  Food is a great way to secure some knowledge.  

They did add an Anglo Saxon veggie option of Barley and Vegetable Broth.  
     Last week the Museum had another celebration.  It was to commemorate 150yrs since the Sultanganj Buddha statue arrived in Birmingham.  It is the largest complete metal sculpture to come out of India and it was made and then buried for 700 yrs.  It is a beautiful piece that is on display.  If you click the link you can read a bit more.

 It is a work of art that you feel you haven't just looked at, he emits love and peace.  The local Buddhist Community held blessings at the statue last week.  I am so glad this piece found its way to Birmingham and it had quite an adventure getting here all those years ago.

People left origami lotus flowers at his feet.  It is nice to know he is a much loved statue.  He is in a little Buddha Gallery that is really worth a peek.
    This is a very photo heavy post.  I think I should save the rest and get busy on another blog post.  I would like to share some 'Modern Art' that I photographed because I just don't get it and you maybe able to enlighten me!  Maybe modern art is like olives?  You don't like it at first but you have to get accustomed to it. 
   If you made it to the end of this post, well done you.  I should include a little download for a certificate of achievement.  Thanks for reading.  It is nice to share happy days.  :) xxx