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  • Poznan – Old Marych Sculpture

    I liked this sculpture located at plac Wiosny Ludów in Poznan, primarily because I feel that it represents how I usually ride a bike. It involves walking alongside the bike as the cycling bit for me is far too tiring, it’s just easier to push it.

    Anyway, I thought it might be a representation of an interesting local character, but it was decided to make a sculpture of just a typical Poznan resident on his way to work. It isn’t modelled on anyone in particular and it was designed by Juliusz Kubel, a local sculptor.

    Apparently it’s now good luck for cyclists to touch the sculpture. But I’m not a cyclist, so I didn’t bother.

  • Poznan – Stodola Kebap N Grill

    This Turkish restaurant is very well reviewed on-line, but I’m not really an expert in this type of cuisine. I’ve never been to Turkey and I’m not sure that the kebab shops in Lowestoft and Ipswich are really indicative of decent Turkish food. Anyway, I wasn’t actually that hopeful about this place.

    Nice and bright counter, with the staff being enthusiastic and welcoming, speaking good English. I had checked the menu on-line in advance so I knew what I was going to order, and I was pleased that this coincided with what they had on their menu boards. It doesn’t always work out like that…..

    Contemporary and modern design, all very interesting and fun.

    This is chicken kebab and chips with a spicy sauce on top. When it arrived the presentation didn’t look particularly exciting, so my expectations were still low. But that meat was outstanding, tender, packed with flavour and very moreish. The chips were firm and well salted, with the sauce adding some extra flavour and spice.

    This visit far exceeded my expectations and if this restaurant is typical of Turkish cuisine then I might need to have a little visit to Turkey. The meal, including a Fanta, cost around £4 and the restaurant was busy throughout my visit with both eat-in and take-away orders. Very lovely.

  • Poznan – Accor Hotels Menu

    This was the menu in the lift of the Ibis hotel which indicated the special food selection in their various hotels in Poznan. I couldn’t help but think it was a bit pork orientated….

  • Poznan Lawica Airport – Business Executive Lounge

    Located just to the right after the security area is Poznan airport’s sole business lounge, although it’s in the non-Schengen area. This meant that I left the lounge with lots of time in case it took me a while to pass through the security check, I thought 45 minutes would suffice. It took 20 seconds, so I felt that I had perhaps been a little over-cautious. Anyway, I had over two hours in the lounge and that sufficed.

    The food and drink area is stylish in its design, with a decent variety of drinks and a passable selection of food. There were self-pour wines and both local and national beers, but the soft drinks selection was particularly extensive. There were vitamin and energy drinks, which provided me with a useful boost.

    The food was limited to cold selections, primarily just biscuits, chocolates and snacks. This sort of food is perfectly sufficient for me, but ideally there would have been some sandwiches or salads available to choose from as well.

    It’s not a huge lounge in terms of the seating capacity, but it feels spacious and airy. There are toilets at the rear so visitors don’t have to leave the confines of the lounge, with a separate area for those wanting to use the computers. There aren’t very many power sockets, but there are some in the liftable floor panels for those who go looking for them.

    A beer, a vitamin fruit drink and an eclectic range of snacks. The staff in the lounge were friendly and, like with nearly everywhere else in Poznan, spoke excellent English. The newspaper selection was quite limited and all of the newspapers were in Polish, I didn’t see anything in English.

    The lounge was clean and tidy with plenty of departure boards located around it. They don’t make individual calls, although it’s possible to hear the airport announcements easily enough. If I visit again I will though perhaps not rush off to the departures gate quite as early next time, but always better to be early for a flight than late…..

  • Norwich – Christmas Decoration at Chapelfield

    I’m typing this in January, but since this Christmas decoration is still at Chapelfield it doesn’t feel inappropriate to post this. Anyway, this random photo is of the giant bauble outside of Chapelfield, and I think it looks rather impressive. Sad to see that the nearby Carluccio’s has now closed, it would have been a good view for their diners to look out on.

  • Peterborough – Peterborough Cathedral (Mary, Queen of Scots)

    Peterborough Cathedral was, for a short while, privileged to be the burial site of two Queens, Katherine of Aragon and Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary was born in 1542 and was rather a threat to Queen Elizabeth since they both have rival claims to the crown. On 8 February 1587 Queen Elizabeth decided that she would have Mary beheaded, whilst she was being held at Fotheringhay Castle.

    From Fotheringhay Castle, Mary was brought to Peterborough Cathedral to be buried, with a grand service being authorised by Queen Elizabeth. There was though some delay with these proceedings, with the body not being brought from Fotheringhay to Peterborough for over five months. It’s also thought that her heart and organs were buried near to where she was executed.

    James I decided to bring his mother’s body to Westminster Abbey in 1612, where her tomb remains to this day. The tomb that he created at Westminster is rather grand to say the least and was designed by William and Cornelius Cure. Peterborough Cathedral was left with just one Queen, which is still more than most cathedrals in the country can offer.

    An information board located near to where the tomb of the Queen was. It’s marked today by Scottish flags which are placed in the nave.

  • Peterborough – Cowgate Parish Burial Ground

    I’ve walked past this plaque lots of times on Cowgate when heading from the railway station to the city centre, but I’ve never noticed it before. It must be the excitement of walking into Peterborough and so I’ve rushed by it at speed.

    There is now absolutely nothing left of the graveyard, as can be seen from the side by side map above. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the graveyard was finally removed to build this lovely big roundabout to serve the needs of the local population. If that wasn’t good enough, part of the former graveyard is now also used as a car park. What a wonderful piece of remembering the dead that was….

    Incidentally though, this site is said to be one of the most haunted areas in Peterborough. There was some bodysnatching which took place here in the 1820s and the reports of ghostly sightings has been put down to that. Although if I was a ghost, I think I’d like to find somewhere more fitting to stay than a roundabout in Peterborough.

    There’s lots more information about the parish burial ground at https://www.peterboroughcivicsociety.org.uk/plaques_blue2.php#ParishBurial.

  • Peterborough – Queen’s Head

    The Queen’s Head pub is located just outside the Queensgate Centre in Peterborough and it has gone through numerous iterations over recent years. It has been known as HGs (after HG Wells), the Grapevine and Clarkes (which was a fine dining restaurant), but the Charles Wells brewery have now decided to name the pub the Queen’s Head.

    Rather a brave statement.

    There’s a quirky feel to the pub which I rather liked, with the building being much larger inside than I had imagined.

    This is Young’s London Gold, which I ordered before I realised that the pub stocked Young’s London Stout. London Gold is in my view a pretty generic session beer and although it was well kept and tasted fine, I wasn’t tempted to have another.

    The interior of the pub was clean and bright, although most of the seating seems to be catering for those customers who are dining. The pub specialises in pizzas and pots, the latter of which is defined as meals cooked and served in one pot such as mac & cheese, lasagne, curry and tagine. I looked at the menu on-line (for reasons mentioned below) and it seemed to offer something a little different which I liked.

    The lack of menus in the pub was though a little confusing to me, as they didn’t have any on the tables. This confused another pair of customers who walked back out, and none of the staff noticed them leave. Although I did, I was rather busy people watching. There also isn’t a lunch-time menu in the pub, which I had expected and I’d probably have ordered from if they had it. I’m sure that I could have gone to a staff member and been given a menu, but I have an aversion to go hunting when not particularly hungry.

    The pub service was efficient and polite, although I was rather disregarded when a customer known to the barman came in. The reviews for the pub are though really good, so there doesn’t appear to be anything particularly wrong with the management. It was also clean and tidy, so it seemed like a comfortable environment for those dining, and I also felt comfortable in the bar area. I got the impression that the food was pretty decent and it seemed like a reliable place for those wanting to bring a group of people to dine.

  • Santon Downham – St. Mary the Virgin Church (Benjamin Matthews)

    Following my visit to St. Mary the Virgin Church in Santon Downham, I took a brief look at some of the gravestones in the churchyard. I’m interested in random gravestones which are becoming hard to read (I really must get out more….) and trying to ascertain a little more about the individuals. Random really is the word for this.

    This is the gravestone of Benjamin Matthews who died on 17 July 1894 at the age of 66. He was an Anglican who was born in 1828, marrying Elizabeth in 1867. In 1891 Matthews lived at High Lodge, now within the Forestry Commission site, and worked as a farm steward. He lived with his wife and also his niece, Alice Matthews who died in 1922. Also buried at the plot is his wife Elizabeth, who died at the age of 82 on 19 July 1910.

    Unfortunately that was about all that I could find out….

  • Santon Downham – St. Mary the Virgin Church

    On my Brandon walk we visited St. Mary the Virgin church at Santon Downham, one of the most historically complex churches that I’ve visited recently. Its location by the edge of Thetford Forest have given the building the rather suitable name of ‘The Church in the Forest’.

    The nave and chancel of the current church date to the twelfth century, but it was built on the site of a Saxon wooden church. The tower is later and was constructed between 1460 and 1500.

    The doors on both the north and south walls of the church are contemporary to the nave, so are twelfth century, although they look modified.

    The exterior of the building has numerous former windows and entrances, some of which have been blocked up. This is the former entrance to a chapel, which at some point has been demolished. I had assumed that this took place following the Reformation, but it seems that it might be a later removal.

    The stone base of what was once a free standing preaching cross, or the site of an external pulpit.

    The font dates to the thirteenth or fourteenth century.

    The church’s interior and the rood screen.

    A partially exposed window which was filled in long ago, with the window on the right created to replace it. I assume that this was to create more light inside the church.

    The altar.

    The dreaded, since in retrospect they often are, Victorian restoration mainly took place here in 1894. The phrase “new interior of walls” often means that history was faffed about with to make it even more confusing for me to work out. Another newspaper called the restoration “extensive and substantial”, so I imagine the interior was modified to a considerable degree. Certainly the impressive high pews, which a newspaper said were “cupboards into which you enter, shut the door and sit on the shelf” were replaced with “decent oak seats”. Personally, I imagine the high pews looked rather gorgeous.

    Stained glass.

    I’ll have to go back to this church as I’d like to understand a little more about what is going on with its history. There are also some interesting tablets inside the church which I didn’t have time to look at properly. It was pleasing to see that the church was open on a Wednesday in early January, and the flowers inside the church showed what wonderful local volunteers they must have.