Birmingham

We had a good day today in Birmingham. First thing we did was go to the Museum and Art Gallery. There were two interesting exhibitions on. The victorian painting one was very good. They had Waterhouse's Lady of Shalot as the central point of interest. If you've never been to see Birmingham's collection of Pre Rapaelite paintings you really should go and see them. These additional paintings on tour from the Tate were great.

The government art one was unusual. It was made up of art we don't usually get to see. It was very varied indeed. I really had to read the notices to find out what they were all about. I think my favourite was a bronze from 10 Downing Street of Winston Churchill and Clementine. I also liked the protrait of Ada Lovelace. A print of it can be seen here. Some of the modern stuff was very modern indeed. Much of it had been commissioed for display in government buildings.

Enjoyed shopping afterwards too. Thought this view of Telecom Tower looked good. We noted that like the London one it seems to have been stripped of its microwave communication technology.

Later on we saw a weird thing. A large group of people wearing masks and some carrying flags converged on a city centre Bank. I was glad that I didn't need to use the bank, it all looked very intimidating.