Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery has a lot to see, although much of it was out of reach due to refurbishing and a lift in the second building being out of order. I arrived ten minutes before opening and rang the buzzer to access the lift, failing to notice the time, and received a rather blunt reply stating, "The museum opens at 10. You have ten minutes to wait!" – which could have been a little more polite. The areas I was able to access were certainly interesting, particularly the exhibits celebrating Birmingham's past. The museum had a tribute to the late Benjamin Zephaniah, which was great to see – I love it when a city celebrates its heroes. I'd recommend popping by if you're in the area and I hope that when you attend, more of the museum is accessible.

My initial reason for visiting the Birmingham Museum was to see the Staffordshire Hord - the largest hord of Anglo Saxon gold ever found - and it did not disappoint! However, when I got there I was pleasantly surprised at the large amount of other interesting artefacts and displays. The museum joins onto the Birmingham Art Gallery, which is connected via a covered walkway 10 or so meters up in the air. I didn't even realise I had moved from one building to another, although I quickly realised that one visit would not be enough!