Walking. Gossip. Travel.

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  • Opole – Delikatesy

    I haven’t entirely worked out the set-up here, but it appears to be a like a mini food court with a number of food and drink outlets within one premises.

    I ordered the pizza from one of the counters shortly after entering the restaurant and they gave me a buzzer to collect it when it was ready. The service at the pizza counter was warm and friendly, with the ordering process briefly explained. And having the buzzer  meant that I could go and investigate the craft beer options in the meantime.

    When it arrived, the pizza was a little larger than I expected, but it was well presented and at the appropriate hot temperature. There was plenty of chorizo on the pizza and it had a pleasant flavour, with the edges being suitably crispy. I could find slight fault that the bottom was slightly soggy, it needed probably another couple of minutes in the pizza option, but it still tasted good.

    Meating appear to be operating both a restaurant serving burgers and grilled items, alongside this craft beer selection. And, I have to say, this is brilliant, on-trend, interesting and innovative selection of beers. The staff member was enthusiastic, engaging and was merrily offering samples of the beers.

    There were two dark beers available and I tried one of them, the coffee oatmeal stout, which didn’t quite taste as rich as I’d have liked. So, instead I went for a lighter option, which is the Birbant Hopsbant, which was hoppy and had light flavours of peach. It was expensive for Poland, and around £3 a pint, although the bar did have cheaper beers as well.

    But I’ll be back, as this was a stand-out bar for me, because of the selection, the customer service and the quality of the beer.

    The seating area, although there were lower level tables and also external seating as well. All absolutely lovely and so very on-trend, with well above average customer service.

  • Opole – Opole Zoo

    I like zoos, so since the weather was acceptable and I thought it might be quiet being a Friday during term time, I decided to pay Opole Zoo a little visit. Entrance was around £5, which is cheap by international standards, but it makes it one of the more expensive tourist attractions in the region.

    The whole zoo seemed quite modern, although this is because the previous one got flooded in storms in the late 1990s, so nearly everything here was reconstructed after that. The collections got larger, the zoo was modernised and it also took over more land in the city’s park.

    The zoo wasn’t particularly busy today (a Friday in late September), around ten other visitors, plus a school party which I never actually saw again other than at the entrance. I’m assuming they went to some form of educational classroom as part of their visit, but all told, I wasn’t exactly fighting for viewing room to see the animals.

    There were a lot of owls at the zoo, rather beautiful birds.

    A playful primate.

    This frightened me. It’s a cheetah and the thing came careering over towards me and looked like he was going to jump. The enclosure here doesn’t have high fences, more just a big dip in the ground so that the cheetah can’t physically jump out. However, it didn’t look like a very big dip, so I was concerned the bloody thing was going to jump over. Being naturally cautious, I rushed off and Googled “can cheetahs kill humans?”, which was actually reassuring. It seems if the cheetah had of jumped out, it was unlikely to have tried to attack me.

    I’m assuming this is a normal cat, not one of the animals belonging to the zoo. Zoos don’t seem like safe places for cats like this, I’m not sure what the cheetahs would make of it.

    A very philosophical look I thought.

    And his friend looked relaxed.

    Hippos.

    Zebras.

    A horse thing.

    All of the enclosures at the zoo seemed spacious, so the animal welfare seemed at the top of their agenda. This serval seemed a bit manic though, he wasn’t only pacing, but was doing so almost by walking around in mini circles.

    Californian sea lions.

    Not deliberately, but I think I woke the cat up.

    Cute.

    Mischievous.

    Tall.

    The zoo has three lowland gorillas, although they decided to sit at one of the furthest points possible from where visitors could see them.

    A goat on a rock.

    This is one of the bird areas where visitors can walk through ferns and plants to see different types of bird. Although I only saw two little birds who soon hopped off.

    And a meerkat, who I named Leon.

  • Opole – Kawiarnia Kafka

    My quick lunch today was the coffee shop at this rather modern looking building, which is I think part of the city’s library.

    The coffee shop is bright and airy, with an open feel to it, with more seating available outside. There was a range of different seating types as well, catering for those who wanted a table (ideal for me and my laptop) and some more comfortable lower level seating.

    It wasn’t particularly busy, just a couple of other customers when I was there. Everything seemed clean and ordered though, with the bonus that I felt that the ordering process was clear and so I didn’t look as confused as I often do about what to do.

    A latte and some sort of fruit sponge cake, I didn’t quite ascertain exactly what it was. The cake was nicely presented and I liked the little addition of the orange slice to make it more colourful. The cake had a pleasant taste and wasn’t too rich, all perfectly acceptable. The latte was also served at the temperature that I think it should be, namely not so hot I have to wait twenty minutes for it to cool down.

    The service was pleasant and polite, with the staff member speaking English, as my Polish didn’t really extend to ordering a cake that I couldn’t actually even describe in English either. The whole environment was relaxing and peaceful, all very appropriate for its location near to the library. The cost for the drink and cake was just over £3, which seems to be in keeping with what I’d expect for Poland.

  • Berlin – Funkturm at Night

    The well-lit Funkturm tower, located near to Berlin’s central bus station, which stands at 150 metres in height. It was built as a television tower in the 1920s, but ceased to be used for that purpose in 1973. It’s now a protected structure and there’s also a restaurant around 50 metres up.

    The tower isn’t leaning in some Pisa type situation, it’s just my photo was taken a bit on the wonk…..

  • Flixbus – Berlin to Opole

    During the 2003 Iraq War there was a Minister for Information named Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf, although he was better known as Comical Ali. Flixbus’s advertising always reminds me of him, it’s aspirational to say the least. My past experiences with Flixbus have ranged between dreadful and poor, so they’ve really focused in on providing a consistent level of service.

    I wasn’t going to use Flixbus any more because they’re really not very good. But, there’s something quite amusing about them, in the same way that Comical Ali attracted quite an audience. Anyway, on this journey, I can’t fault the information provided at Berlin coach station, it was perfectly sufficient to know when and where my bus was going from.

    And there were also screens to show passengers where to go, which is all excellent and often not provided by other bus operators around the world.

    And, information at the bus stop itself. I was worrying at this point that Flixbus would be providing an excellent service.

    The coach pulled in fifteen minutes early and let people board. This is also excellent, as it can be frustrating to have a coach at the stand and no way of boarding it. I didn’t work out what language the driver spoke as he didn’t say very much, but he was efficient and polite. At this stage, I was verging on being distraught that Flixbus were offering such a quality service.

    I sat upstairs in front of the steps, meaning that I didn’t need to have anyone recline into me. Although not one single person did recline, perhaps that’s the politeness of the Poles.

    And, I have to say, the driving of the bus was decent and the journey was comfortable. The temperature was appropriate, there were no disturbances and the driver made regular announcements. For the first time, Flixbus have provided me with a bus service which is comparable to that of Megabus, so I’m slightly surprised to say the least.

    I can’t say that perfection was reached though as the wi-fi didn’t work and nor did the power sockets. But I didn’t need either thanks to a large data allowance and a fully charged power bank.

    And, the coach stopped at a BP petrol station on the Polish border for reasons unknown. I’m sure it was important, but I could have done without the bus being plunged into brightness for fifteen minutes, although a few customers did go and buy snacks from the Wild Bean Cafe.

    The coach having arrived in Opole, around 25 minutes late. I’m not sure why the coach arrived late as it seemed to be on time at all its stops, but the delay was actually useful to me as it meant that dawn had fully broken and I wasn’t in a new city in the dark.

    My ticket for this coach cost £13.99 and I have to say, this was an entirely acceptable service from Flixbus. This is the first time I’ve been able to report that, so either things are picking up or this is just an aberration.

  • Berlin – Buddy Bear 112 – City-Bär

    I wasn’t aware that there were several hundred of these buddy bears located around Berlin, not that I was intending to try and visit them all anyway. The project started in 2001 when 350 of the painted bears were placed around the city, and the organisers have expanded the whole idea out somewhat over the years and there are now nearly 2,000 around the world.

    This is bear number 112, located outside of the Europa Center, designed by Anette Schulz and sponsored by AG City.

  • Berlin – Europa Center

    I’m not sure that I’ve been in many shopping centres that are seen as historically important, but the Europa Center is one such building. It was constructed between 1963 and 1965 and was one of the largest shopping centres of its type in the country when it opened.

    It perhaps feels more 1980s than 1960s, but it still doesn’t really seem that dated.

    The ground floor water feature. The Castle Mall in Norwich had one of these. Well, some buckets to catch leaking water anyway.

    Looking down from the first floor onto the ground floor.

    The shopping centre’s pride and joy, the ‘Clock of Flowing Time’ which shows the time by filling spheres with luminous fluid.

  • Berlin – Pendelobelisk

    This subtle little sculpture is designed to let people try and shift it slightly and then make a wish as they push it. It was designed by the Munich artist and sculptor Karl Schlamminger, who specialises in open space works. It stands twenty-seven metres in height and the ball at the base is three metres wide.

  • Berlin – Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

    Located on Kurfürstendamm in Berlin, this Protestant church was constructed in the 1890s. It was badly damaged during an air raid on 23 November 1943 and a decision was made later on not to repair it, but to instead let it stand as a memorial.

    The name memorial church doesn’t relate to the Second World War, but was its original name, after Kaiser Wilhelm I who had died in 1888. Reuters news agency wrote in March 1891:

    “The laying of the foundation stone took place with great ceremony. The Emperor and Empress and the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden attended, together with a large military retinue, and among the other distinguished persons present were Count von Moltke, General von Caprivi, the Imperial Chancellor and Ministers”.

    There was once a grand rose stained glass window in the centre.

    More of the damaged church. The Nottingham Evening post noted in 1948 that “the spire of the church stands like a protesting finger raised from a mangled body”.

    This photo is from what once the entrance to the nave. The church was left as it was until 1956, more out of indecision than by design, but there were fears that the choir section was going to collapse so action was needed. Many wanted the entire church entirely demolished and replaced, but a compromise was reached so that the tower would remain. Personally, I think it’s a great shame that what was left of the entire church wasn’t allowed to remain, in the way that Coventry Cathedral was.

    Inside the grand foyer, although it took until 1987 to open this area up to the public.

    Steps to the higher part of the church.

    This sculpture is made using Carrara marble from Italy and it was installed here in 1906. The display text reads that it represents “a seated Queen Luise watches as King Friedrich Wilhelm III awards an officer’s sabre to Prince Wilhelm, their 9-year old on, on New Year’s Day 1907”.

    A chair from the lodge for members of ecclesiastical authorities and clergy families.

    There are 330 locations around the world which have these cross of nails, which are nails taken from the roof beams of Coventry Cathedral, which was also destroyed during the Second World War.

    Items found at the church following the bombing.

    The grand ceiling of the foyer area. There are some information boards around the church explaining how it was constructed and also what is left today. It’s a useful reminder to future generations about the futility of war.

  • Berlin – Ibis Berlin City West

    I had a one-night stay in this Ibis hotel, in readiness for my late night bus journey to Poland on the following day. Handily located near to the Fehrbelliner Platz U-Bahn station, not that I had the luxury of arriving that way….

    The view from the hotel’s upstairs foyer area.

    And the view from my room.

    It’s hard to write much about Ibis rooms, as they’re nearly exactly the same throughout the world. There’s no real nod towards the local community, although the consistency of the experience does rather please me. Everything was clean and comfortable, with the room temperature being easy enough to change to my required cold.

    The seating area at the bar, which is open 24 hours a day. The wi-fi in the hotel is fast, but there’s a strange log-in process where details had to be typed in within around six seconds otherwise the screen reset itself.

    The Accor drinks voucher. There was no gift in the room for gold status, although Ibis aren’t renowned for doing this.

    There was a choice between bottle or tap, but I went for beer from the tap. Goodness knows what it was, but it was acceptable for a quick late night drink since it was free of charge.

    The welcome at the hotel was engaging and friendly, always a bonus after a trek from the airport. Although  it wasn’t too onerous a journey to get here from the hotel, eight minutes to clear customs at Tegel Airport, two minutes to find the bus station, two minutes to find the stop, three minutes to find the correct stop as the signage wasn’t great and then a thirty-five minute bus journey to a nearby underground station. And then a twenty minute walk. That’s satisfactorily near enough for me though.

    The hotel was quiet and I had been given my desired room at the end of a corridor. It’s not one of the cheapest hotels, but given that I was staying in a city centre and the pound isn’t at a particularly good rate, it wasn’t too bad.