Birmingham Travel Guide: rouge bowling balls + drinks set on fire

So, I recently took a day-trip into Birmingham... to have some asocial leisure time.  If you'd like to extend your stay there are plenty of hotels in Birmingham. I started off by visiting The Alchemist in Snow Hill. Ooooo.... magical. I've wanted to visit this place for a while. It's always super busy so not a great place for spending the whole night - if you're asocial. They make these super cool cocktails using science. I had a rose-chocolate flavored one and it was one of the best things I have ever tasted! Also, it's so cool watching them make the drinks, some of them get set on fire! Fire is cool. 

Photographs by me, Rosa Fairfield.

My rose-chocolate cocktail

Next, I made a quick trip to Harper & Lewis in the Bullring. It has some really nice pieces... they currently have these dinosaur print pinafore dresses, which are super cute. If you're looking for cool places to shop in B'ham, there's also Cow Vintage, they have a big warehouse in Digbeth. You can pick up some really great quirky pieces. Head down to the Custard Factory, if you like graffiti and independent shops.

Most of my night was spent around the Broad Street and Five Ways area. The building work around the library area means that Broad Street is currently mostly deserted, especially during the early evening. I was nicely buzzed on my cocktail at this point so was walking around in a bit of a blissful daze. There's this place... called Creams... which is my go to spot for white chocolate cookie dough... I ate some. It was good. It was also a great opportunity to use the free wifi coming from the nightclub next door. Got to always be on THE GRAM.

Next up on my list was Five Ways, Broadway Plaza. I went to theatre school in Birmingham for two years but I've never visited this place... driven past it a lot of times. Again, it was pretty much deserted! B'ham gets so packed around the Bullring so it's nice to get away from it all. I headed into Hollywood Bowl and went bowling... nicely buzzed bowling is extremely fun. My version of bowling involves throwing balls in any direction, them bouncing over to the other lanes and then getting stuck there. Come bowling with me, it's a fun experience. There was also this American style diner there... so I had more food. Rosa loves food. Food is good.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I also attempted to play pool. It was embarrassingly bad, I was trying to flick the ball and it would only move a centimeter. You know it's not going very well, when you're looking confused and the guy at the next table is shouting, 'the balls are over there.' That's enough talking about that.

I finished off the night by going to the Odeon Luxe. I've never been in a luxe one before but it was so so so so so good. Yep, so it was good. They have chips that can be delivered to your seat. The seats were big comfy recliners and you could bring the foot rest up so you're lying down!! It only cost £10 too, which is pretty much just a regular cinema ticket price.

Yep, so yep, Rosa had a good night.

*The spending money was gifted by Hotels.com but all views are my own.