England has so many long-weekends!

This weekend was quite nice.

So, in Cannon Hill Park (my favourite place in England), there is this amazing place called 'The Midlands Arts Centre' (MAC)… unfortunately, it has been closed since before I arrived in Birmingham. BUT IT OPENED THIS WEEKEND!

On Saturday, Aussie and I went over to check out the MAC!  The building includes a cinema, a theatre, a café and a bar, and a variety of classrooms and studios. You can enroll for all kinds of classes: sculpture, jewellery making (Birmingham is known for jewellery), dance, yoga, piano and guitar, music production and even web design. Because it was the opening day, the place was sooo busy! Katie and I even took advantage of one of the 'taster' classes in web design… but it was really just a preview of the iWeb software I already have on my computer.  Later, Aussie and I spent the evening watching 'Over the Rainbow' (the search for the West End's next 'Dorothy') and 'Britain's Got Talent'.

After church on Sunday, Aussie and I went to Aston Hall. I've been already, but I thought I'd return to see the gardens in their full springtime splendour. Unfortunately, it was so cold that we spent the whole afternoon inside. But it was way more fun to explore the massive Jacobean manor house with a friend. We did learn all about how the house's owner, Steve Holt— I mean Sir Thomas Holte— had King Charles to stay while he was fighting the English Parliament for power… but we also laughed at some of the paintings and took part in all the kid's activities. But seriously, the house is really beautiful. One of the huge paintings in the dining room is being restored, so I got to see all three stages. At the bottom, you could see the restored bit, with bright colours and vibrant highlights. The middle section of the painting was all chalky, displaying the section that the restorer (?) was working on, covered in chemicals. Finally, I saw the top section, dark with dirt and grime. I don't think I've ever seen that in real life before.

Today, I went to the local Halford's to see if it is possible to mount roof bars on my tiny car. It's a go! I've even found a great rental place that will mount them for me! Afterwards, Aussie and I went to check out 'Manor Farm Park'. We were hoping it would be, like, a 'manor farm'. But it's just a park. A nice park… but just a park. It did have this awesome see-saw thing and even though there were kids and their parents everywhere, we tried it out! So cool. Later, we found another park to take a stroll in. This one had a Victorian tea room! We had a nice cream tea, with tea and scones and clotted cream and jam. Mmmm!

We made a return-trip to the MAC to enroll for tap-dance—yep, you read it right! And then we enjoyed a film at the new MAC's cinema: It's Complicated… not sure how I feel about it yet, so I can't give a proper review.

How was your weekend? I know, I know, if you are reading this from the shores of the True, North, Strong and Free, you had to work today… but what did you do on Sat and Sun?