Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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Flixbus – Wrocław to Munich

As I’m meeting up with Richard in Munich later today, I needed to get from Wrocław last night and the most efficient way of doing that was the direct Flixbus between the two cities. I’ve had mixed experiences with Flixbus, but I thought that it would be worth the risk as the timings worked out well to save me getting a hotel for the evening. Here’s the rather glamorous bus station in Wrocław, although it’s more a shopping centre than a bus station. It’s relatively new and it apparently replaced a ramshackle and disorganised bus station that was previously on the site.

And here’s the grand central area of the shopping centre element, which was rather nicer than the bus station. Ridiculously, the bus station toilets are chargeable and the shopping malls ones are free, so I walked the extra 50 metres to go to the latter.

The coach stops are in the downstairs of the building, but everything was clearly signed. I was pleased that it seemed logical, it’s not always the case.

There we go, stand 7 and I discovered something that I didn’t know, which is that Monachium is the Polish name for Munich.

The coach comes sweeping into stand 6, but that’s near enough. There were two drivers (well, one driver and one helping) and they were friendly and personable.

On board and I had a compulsory free seat reservation which I sometimes think are more hassle than they’re worth. Some people were put next to others despite the coach being nearly empty, but I was fortunate to have no-one next to me for the entire journey so there was plenty of space. There were only two stops which were Dresden and Nuremberg (well, and to fill the thing up with diesel and for the police check).

It was clean on board, but the tray was sticky.

The charging point being down there was a bit of a hassle as neither of my cables were long enough to even tuck my phone into the seat pocket. Instead, I charged my power bank and then charged my phone from the power bank.

Leaving Wrocław I tried to take a photo of the sunset, but, having thought about it, the foreground doesn’t look very decadent.

The police board at the German border, which I’m not sure is entirely commonplace, but it’s why Flixbus has to check passports and ID documents before anyone boards a cross-border route. The policeman was particularly interested in my passport with all its stamps, but not concerned enough to hold the coach up. There was a stop for diesel just before we crossed the Polish/German border and there must have been some sort of issue as there was lots of shouting about and moving the coach about the place. Someone wanted to get off for a cigarette, but this was refused in the middle of a petrol station.

And safely in Munich after the stops at Dresden and Nuremberg. The coach was always on time, or within a couple of minutes, and it was clean and comfortable. The free wi-fi was a bit limited in terms of the amount of data, but I had free roaming so it didn’t matter. The drivers were friendly, there was plenty of space and it was a reasonable experience for the £45 I paid. This was I accept a little bit expensive for a coach trip, but it saved a hotel and didn’t seem unreasonable. I got a sufficient amount of sleep on board and it was a generally very quiet coach which made that easier. Based on this experience, I’m becoming a little more confident to use Flixbus a little more often rather than just as an operator of last resort. Oh, and the coach station at Munich wasn’t as new and shiny as the one in Wrocław and it did look a bit like it might fall down soon.

August 20, 2025
Wrocław – Whiskey in the Jar

Whiskey in the Jar is a small national Polish chain of bars focusing on steaks and burgers. I decided to pop here as I’ve been to, I think, every other Whiskey in the Jar outlet in Poland so thought that I would complete the set. It’s relatively well reviewed online and they operate on a system of QR codes that customers scan rather than use printed menus.

I sat outside as that’s the only option they offered and there was no-one else inside. The service was polite and efficient, with everything feeling organised and well managed. There were no seagulls, pigeons or smokers in sight, so all was well with my outdoors bravery.

Here’s inside when I popped in for a look. I visited on a Tuesday afternoon and, unsurprisingly, it wasn’t busy, although it seems that it can get packed during the evenings.

Decorative….. The venue had a decent mix of different customers, including younger and older, families and tourists. There’s something of a rock theme going on, but I was pleased to note that there wasn’t any loud and intrusive music to annoy me.

Free popcorn, which I ensured that I completed.

They only had the standard Żywiec beer which was a little sub-optimal but it was cold, refreshing and generic. The burger was OK, served medium which is fine by me, although it didn’t really have a huge depth of flavour. The rest of the ingredients in the burger were OK, but it all combined to be an entirely satisfactory arrangement rather than one that surprised and delighted.

All told, this was a rather pleasant visit, although I’m not sure that the chain is quite as exciting as it once was. Not that it made any difference to me, but it has to groups that I’ve been with in the past, is their refusal to split bills at a table. There’s not really any reason that they can’t do this and it’s not ideal. But, I digress, and returning to the most exciting theme, they have free popcorn….

August 20, 2025
Wizz Air (Luton Airport to Wrocław)

Another day, another train from Norwich to Luton Airport. I went via Cambridge and St. Pancras, but everything ran like clockwork so no delay repay today….

Lunch at Big Smoke.

A snack at Nolito.

And the evening meal at My Lounge.

At the boarding gate.

The boarding process was efficient and well managed. The aircraft hadn’t even arrived when they started checking boarding passes, but the aircraft seemed to be turned around quickly. The aircraft is HA-LGW and I haven’t been on this one before, although that’s not entirely surprising as it’s only been in service for just under eight weeks.

Happy passengers during the flight. The announcements during the flight were helpful and informative, the crew were friendly and everything was beautifully uneventful. The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat near to the front, which was handy for border control as well as being decadent as it wasn’t a middle seat.

And safely in Wrocław on time. There wasn’t much of a wait at border control as most of the passengers had EU passports, although there was quite a lot of checking and counting my passport stamps. As I used Multipass, the flight was just £8.99, a whole arrangement that I thought was marvellous value for money. As we arrived on time and the border control checks were efficient, it meant that I was able to catch the 00:06 bus and had a 40 minute journey to the city centre, a trip which costs under £1.

August 19, 2025
Food from Every Stall on Norwich Market (2025 Edition) – Week 26 and Ruby’s

This is week 27 of eating at every food stall at Norwich Market and the randomly drawn location this time was Ruby’s, which Nathan and I visited in 2023. I had a burger back then which I thought was decent, with Nathan having the BLT, so I had high expectations for this repeat visit.

The menu boards and there have been price rises of around £1 on everything since we visited in 2023, which is a larger percentage increase but these prices are still towards the lower end of the market pricing. I have to note that the prices for hot drinks are very low, just 70p for a tea and 80p for a coffee.

Not the fault of the stallholders, but there are bloody pigeons everywhere. Could be worse, there could be more seagulls. Note the signage on the left for quality, delicious beef burgers.

The burger which was nicely presented in a fresh roll and with salad which added taste and texture. I’m afraid to note that the burger itself was, if I’m being honest, sub-optimal, devoid of taste, seasoning and flavour. The burger was hot, properly cooked and all of that, just completely lacking in taste. By the end I was thinking they could have just ditched the burger and instead doubled the salad, which is a somewhat extraordinary thing for me to say given my life-long resistance to lettuce.

James had the cheeseburger and was also disappointed, replacing an experience he had at Reggies a few weeks ago.

Overall, the service here was friendly, the roll was fresh, the prices were reasonable and so that was all positive, although this wasn’t the burger taste sensation that I had hoped for. Either the burger quality has gone down, or perhaps I’ve been so surprised and delighted at the quality of the food stalls at the market that my expectations have increased.

August 18, 2025
Redhill – Garibaldi (Good Beer Guide)

The Garibaldi is a Good Beer Guide listed community pub located on Mill Street in Redhill, with a bit of a walk up a hill required to get there.

What’s on at the pub and a few copies of the Good Beer Guides. This is a small Victorian pub and it was nearly demolished a few years ago, but the community took it on and have been running it on a not-for-profit basis. They have a large garden area which has views over the local area, which also gives them something of a boost in terms of the seating numbers given that they don’t have a vast number inside. The pub likely takes its name from Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Italian revolutionary who came to the UK on a few occasions and seems to have inspired quite a few people to name pubs after him.

There were four real ales available, mainly local options. The service was warm and friendly, with the pub being moderately busy when I visited albeit with one quite raucous group in.

There were also a few craft keg beer options.

I stuck with the real ale and my first half was the Surrey session bitter from Pilgrim Brewery, a well-kept, light, clean and rounded beer with a slight biscuit taste.

My second half was the Shere Drop from Surrey Hills Brewery, which was clean, light and had a slight fruit edge.

This is a well-reviewed pub online and it does have a rather welcoming community feel to it, something perhaps evident by their meat raffle. Since 2017, it has been run as a community project on a lease from the amenable owner, but they’re now trying to buy the freehold to ensure the venue’s long-term viability and the MP, Rebecca Paul, mentioned the purchase of the pub in the House of Commons. It might not be the most central of pubs in the town, but it’s worth a walk up the hill to visit.

August 18, 2025
Norwich – Gentleman’s Walk and No Trams (Old Image)

This photo of Gentleman’s Walk is from 1938 and it doesn’t look far different today, just with fewer cars as the area by the market has effectively been pedestrianised. The saddest element of this is that the trams have gone, a decision made in 1933 following the purchase of Norwich Electric Tramways by Eastern Counties Omnibus. All the trams departed from Orford Place and this route would have been Haymarket, Gentleman’s Walk, the Market Place, St. Giles Street and then down Earlham Road. I also wonder how many of those market stalls sold food, I suspect not very many of them. James and I might have found it quicker to do our eating at every market stall thing back then.

August 16, 2025
Norwich – London Street / Guildhall Hill (Old Image 1919 and New Image 2019)

I’m not generally one of those people who looks at old photos and comes to an immediate conclusion that things were once better, but I have some sympathy with that argument with this above photo from 1919. The sweeping tram-line and the grand buildings give it something of a European feel. What is now the Leeds was once Dean & Palmer tailors and that was still going into the 1970s.

The removal of the tram-lines was a dreadful mistake and it’s likely now too expensive the fix that decision. The buildings remain grand as they’re the same ones, but it feels a little less charming without the decorative shop displays. Here’s a 1939 colour photo of those shops (one of very few he took) taken by the great George Plunkett shortly before war was to break out.

August 15, 2025
Norwich – Ferry Road (Old Image)

I’ve never seen this image before, but it’s Riverside Road in front with Pull’s Ferry at the rear. The road that the photo is taken from is Ferry Road.

And here’s what that looks like today. I hadn’t noticed, but that wall on the left does look pretty old.

August 15, 2025
Food from Every Stall on Norwich Market (2025 Edition) – Week 25 and Bodega

This week’s visit, in between James signing autographs as we walked to the market, of eating at every food stall at Norwich Market was to Bodega, which was the ‘winner’ of when we did this in 2023. We’re struggling to fit lunch in now at all with James needing to stop to talk to all these middle-class people we pass, it’s gotten so bad I’ve had to start wearing a shirt with a collar to blend in with this whole world of wealth that I hadn’t known about. Anyway, I digress. This seems to be one of the most talked about food stalls on the market and the standards have remained high for years, so we were looking forwards to this visit.

The menu and there are many tempting options. I’m aware that I should have tried something different, but pastrami and pickles are one of my favourite things, so I went for the same again and was pleased that James showed a little more culinary bravery. As a price comparison, the Bring Back the Katz is now £9 and was £7.50 a couple of years ago, so it’s not an enormous price increase. The service was polite, efficient and welcoming, so this continued to feel like an inviting place to visit. I also liked that they had stickers, it suits my inner child and that’s going on the laptop later alongside the selection of craft beer stickers. They accept card and cash and there’s a small seating area located opposite the stall.

This looks, and indeed was, delicious. There was a large quantity of the ingredients, the pastrami was tender, the pickles added texture, the sauce was light with a slight punchiness and the bread was soft and fresh. To be honest, half a sandwich was plenty, although being greedy I wasn’t displeased to have to eat another half. All very nice and although it’s a little expensive for a sandwich, there’s a lot going on here for the money.

James went for the Coq Joke and was suitably impressed by the quality of the chicken and the size of the portion, although I think he found it just a little sickly with the sweet sauce. But, there’s still value for money there, with the ingredients being decent. James also took a Good Girls sticker, I’m not sure where he’s planning to stick it.

Once again, I couldn’t really fault this visit. The service was friendly, the ordering process was well managed, the quality was high and the portion size was generous. This is definitely one of the market’s consistently excellent stalls and long may it continue…. Only a handful of visits left now and we’ve started to discuss who the winner will be, my two loyal blog readers must be beyond themselves with excitement.

August 14, 2025
Redhill – Garland Pub

In trying to deal with this extreme heat, I decided that I would seek solace in the pub.

The pub is tied to Harvey’s, which might be obvious from this beer selection, but it was positive to see a choice of different real ales as well as numerous flavours of Tayto crisps. The service was friendly, engaging and warm, so the environment felt welcoming and a place that I might want to actually spend some time.

The pub had a clean and inviting interior. CAMRA notes that it was built as a Victorian corner pub in 1865 and was known as the Anchor until Harvey’s Brewery purchased it in 1992. The pub has been in previous Good Beer Guides, but it seems to have fallen out in recent years, although this is more likely just because there’s strong competition in the area.

Oooh, a bar billiards table. Hopefully I’ll get to play on it one day, I think Surrey has quite an active league going on.

This was my first drink….. There’s a lot to be said for water with ice in a heatwave.

This is the Forward’s Choice from Harvey’s Brewery and it was on the turn. In fairness, I could have taken it back and informed them, but I was too hot and tired to do very much about the situation so I’ll accept that one is my responsibility as these things happen.

The Prince of Denmark from Harvey’s Brewery and this was much better, with flavours of chocolate and liquorice, with the taste being rich and very slightly boozy.

I liked this pub, it had an informal feel to it and a decent selection of beers from Harvey’s, which I don’t get to see much in East Anglia. I like the idea of playing bar billiards here and the whole environment felt comfortable and inviting. I won’t hold the beer on the turn against them as I didn’t tell them and it’s hot and these things happen. It just means I’ll have to come again to try the venue again.

August 12, 2025