Vanessa's Blog...
We arrived on a late sunny Friday afternoon at Staying Cool apartments, in Birmingham’s highly iconic Rotunda building. The location could simply not have been better, nor could have been the view from our splendid Clubman apartment on the 19th floor of the building! It was simply mind-blowing, the lobby, the main floors and obviously the apartment, which is easily the most luxurious, comfortable, stylish and modern looking place I have ever
stayed in.
We lingered in the sunshine for a bit, admiring the fabulous view and unpacking and then slowly moved on to our next stop, which was Carluccio’s Italian Restaurant in Brindleyplace. The walk along the canals to the restaurant and the gorgeous pink sky, which highlighted buildings such as The Cube in the most wonderful way, felt romantic, exciting and peaceful. It was then that we truly understood why people talk of Birmingham as the “Venice of the North”.
Carluccio’s was by far the best Italian restaurant we have ever dined at, and we have travelled across Italy. The service was top-notch and the food was heavenly... just heavenly. Our hearts dropped for the Bruschetta, which had ultra fresh and divine-tasting tomatoes and herbs on it. We also picked their own selection of white wine and did not regret it at all. The pasta and the pork that we had for our main meals were also delicious, as were our desserts. Everything tasted so simple yet so detailed and rich at the same time.
The next day, after a good night’s sleep and a brilliant breakfast served with fresh orange juice, we went to pick up our passes and goodies for the Flatpack and Fierce festivals. In the midst of all the VIP craziness, we unfortunately did not have enough time to see everything we would have liked to see, mainly because there was so much to see! After enjoying a great variety of some of the most amazing appetizers at the Warehouse Café, we decided to catch a bus to the MAC in order to watch Colourbox, a series of animated short films; all of which we literally fell in love with.
Our dinner at the Bodega was, again, superb. It was great to see that Birmingham had such a variety of cuisines. This Southern American restaurant felt very authentic and the food tasted great! Once more, we could not resist the temptation of going back to the apartment to enjoy some hot chocolate and try the Apple entertainment system for the evening.
On Sunday, after Staying Cool apartments kindly accepted to keep our bags a while longer, we went to see Every minute, always at the Electric Cinema. The place was authentic and fascinating while the cinema experience was really well thought and very cute. Our last stop was The Victoria, a nice little pub where we ate good old burgers before heading off home.
It was one of the most, if not the most, memorable weekend I have ever had. I feel so incredibly lucky to have won this and I can now say that I have seen the true beauty of Birmingham.
Thank you VisitBirmingham !!!
xXx
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