Birmingham... mummy and ryan day :)

Well it started off well, and we had every intention of going to Cadbury's World :) Got to the train station on time, checked the website beforehand etc etc... and all looked good. Booked to Bournville and went straight there, changing at Birmingham New Street and getting an earlier transfer train than expected so we followed the signs and the purple rails and got to Cadbury's World about 11.30. I expected queues, as we hadn't prebooked (didn't say it was necessary, just advisable) but we had arrived in enough time to wait a bit and still have time to get round.
Anyway, we got in and the first bummer was that we couldn't get in until 15.00. Seriously, 3 and a half hours? People were queueing for it too.. crazy. I had already prepared Ryan for the chance that we might not get in, so the let down wasn't too bad. On the way out, double double checking the signs that we seriously couldn't get in until 3pm, I saw another sign saying 'factory production area is closed' or words to that fashion. So even if we did wait until 3pm or had been allowed in when we arrived, the main part of what we wanted to see was unavailable. Lameness. We'd have paid full price to go round the museum. Hmm. Ok so back to Bournville train station we went, lol. On our way we did get a tremendous whiff of chocolate which excited Ryan, and walked past a part of the canal called 'Bourn Brook', a little stream really, and I admit I did let Ryan believe it was like the chocolate river in the Willy Wonka film. I didn't put the thought into his mind, he came up with it and I thought it harsh to correct him :) There's a chocolate river in the actual Cadbury's World anyway so next time we do go, he'll see that one instead hopefully.

We went back to Birmingham New Street and it was pushing lunch time, so we popped into Greggs and got a Pepperoni Pizza and a chicken bake. Ryan was very much looking forward to his pizza, but we got outside of the Pallasades and it was a spicy chicken pizza, no pepperoni to be seen. What the hell, they don't even sound the same :( We did sit on the fountain for lunch and watched the big screen which Ryan enjoyed once I'd taken the chicken off his pizza. He chucked some coppers in the fountain too, to make wishes :) One of them was for a skateboard and one of them was that the chocolate factory would be better next time.

We then headed over to our next mummy and ryan activity attempt - this was the Sea Life Centre. Upon arriving, we joined a gimongous queue and I just was expecting the worst, for inside - think of the queues and not being able to see anything. The man gave us some rock and said we'd have about 20-30mins wait - it was probably about 10mins, so not as bad as we thought, the line moved quickly. Good job as the air felt low and like it was about to rain! Just our luck and it would tip it down!! We got in and had a generally good time, looking at all the fishes, stingrays, happy feet 4d in the cinema (20mins shortened version of it lol), nemo, shark and turtle tunnel. Plenty of stuff :) The picture is a fish that Ryan was particularly keen on for some reason... lol.

We managed to get away quite lightly in the gift shop too, with a medal for the factfinder quiz 'ryan' did, a nemo resin thing for nana fran, a shark grabber thing I originally said no to but found a better one so let him have it, a couple of badges with seals and otters on, and a treasure chest of miscellaneous sea creatures in - 9 different things so meant we didn't have to buy them all individually. Ryan was happy anyway :)

We came out, and on the way in Ryan had asked me about a sign we had seen on the canal - it was advertising a 'water bus'.. basically a canal barge bus. I said we should get to the Sea Life Centre but that if it was there on the way out, we could go on it if he wanted. He did want, and it was there when we were passing it on leaving the Sea Life Centre. So we went on the 'Water Bus'. It was a 30minute round trip, which lasted about 40-45mins, and took us from Brindley Place around to the Mailbox, Gas Street basin, and 2 wharfs.

Water Bus website

So then we left and got the train home :) All in all, a bit disastrous at times but we had a day that Ryan was very excited about and will certainly remember for a time to come :)


<3 ryan <3