In the Gnomes of Wrocław collection, this is the Bankomatnik gnome, located next to an ATM. I’m not sure whether they’re repairing it or robbing it though….
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Wrocław – The Gnomes of Wrocław (A02 : Parasolnik / The Umbrella Gnome or Szermierz / The Fencer)
The Umbrella Gnome, also known as the Fencer, from the Gnomes of Wrocław series, located outside the university at pl. Uniwersytecki. As if it’s not hard enough to find all of these gnomes, some have split personalities, so this one is either seen as holding an umbrella as a defence against the rain or holding a fencing foil. I mean, it looks like an umbrella to me, but the official name is the Fencer, so there we go to add to the confusion.
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Wrocław – The Gnomes of Wrocław (A03 : Profesorek / The Professor Gnome)
The Professor Gnome from the Gnomes of Wrocław collection, identifiable with his glasses, book and mortarboard. He is located by the University of Wrocław and shows his love of education and academia.
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Wrocław – National Museum in Wrocław (Stephen Báthory by Andreas Riehl)
This artwork is located at the National Museum in Wrocław and this imposing chap is Stephen Báthory (1533-1586, also known as István Báthory in Hungarian, Stefan Batory in Polish), a significant historical figure who was Prince of Transylvania, Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576), and later King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586). The text at the top reads “By the grace of God, Stephen, King in Poland, Grand Duke in Lithuania”. Báthory was a skilled military leader who led successful campaigns against Ivan the Terrible of Russia, recovering territories lost in the Livonian War, much to the annoyance of the Russians. He also strengthened the Polish-Lithuanian army and reformed its organisation, whilst also implementing reforms in the administration and judiciary of the Commonwealth, aiming to strengthen the central government and improve the efficiency of the state.
He was also a skilled dancer, which I’m not entirely sure that I expected from the portrait, but it’s best not to judge. It is also said that he kept a pet bear at his court, which is certainly brave and at least it wasn’t a polar bear. On top of that, he was a master swordsman and he apparently kept on fencing into his later years. Before the Second World War and also since the fall of communism, he has become something of a hero in Poland. The Russians didn’t like him though and his historical role was downplayed during the communist years, it wasn’t really the done thing to celebrate someone who had fought successfully against the Russians.
As for the artwork, it was painted by Andrea Riehl (1551-1613) in about 1600, so after Stephen’s death. He was a German painter, but there’s not much known about his life and this is one of his most important works.
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Ridgeway – Day 0 (The Savoy)
[I originally posted this 11 June 2018, but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]
We thought for our pub visits in Swindon that we should rely on the Good Beer Guide, so many thanks to Nathan for sending the details of pubs which were listed.
The Savoy, which is a JD Wetherspoon pub, had made the cut and so we thought we’d go there for a quick drink and small snack.
There was a pleasant external beer garden area, although Bev later complained about the locals when she went to examine the clientele…… This was our last chance to talk about the others before they turned up, so we made sure that we took advantage of that opportunity.
Since the devastating removal of pastrami bagel from the menu, the chicken wrap will have to do….
A lovely pint of Guinness, although perhaps not perfectly poured…
There were nine real ales available, an impressive number, and they were well selected with some interesting options. The stout had a rich and pleasant flavour, with the price of £2.29 being particularly appealing. The service at the bar was also engaging, with the team member being willing to offer samples and she happily discussed the options available.
Interior of the pub, which is a former cinema that originally opened in 1937 for ABC. It was redesigned in 1973 to add a pub at the rear and was taken over by Cannon in 1986, before closing in March 1991. It re-opened as a JD Wetherspoon pub in February 1996.
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Ridgeway – Day 0 (Watergate)
[I originally posted this in June 2018, but have reposted it to fix the broken image links]
So, Steve, Dave and I managed to navigate across London’s underground system, despite the closure of Liverpool Street Underground’s concourse and the closure of the Hammersmith & City Line. We were like a team of Michael Palins as we arrived into Paddington, ready to see if we could get some group saver tickets to Swindon. We could, so delighted at our purchases, we jumped onto the first train to Penzance.
The train to Penzance was fortunately going to Swindon, but it was a bit full. We didn’t want to wait 4 minutes for the next empty train, so we positioned ourselves near to the buffet carriages.
There was free water near to the area that we were standing. Or at least we thought it was free water, since Dave decided to hand some out to nearly the entire train.
Steve also considered walking through the train with a little basket of goods. But Dave was the natural here, tempting customers into taking two bottles of water when they probably only wanted one.
Fortunately, the train restocked at Reading, with the train crew no doubt wondering where their entire stock of sparkling and still water had disappeared to. However, we disembarked at Swindon and there was no British Transport Police, so I’m fairly sure we did nothing wrong 🙂
But in case we did, I’m calling this incident Watergate. Above is Steve monitoring the on-board replacement of water supplies at Reading.
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United States – Amtrak Trip Cancelled but Canada on the Horizon
With some sadness, I’ve ditched my plans to complete the next stage of my Amtrak adventures in the United States when I wanted to go from Chicago to Seattle and then back down the west coast to Los Angeles. I’m not confident that I would be safe under the current political leadership, but, instead, I’m switching my attention to Canada and seemingly they have something called Via Rail which is the equivalent of Amtrak.
Here’s the route map and it all looks rather lovely, so I’m now on the lookout for a cheap flight to Canada….
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Wrocław – The Gnomes of Wrocław
Wrocław has become well-known as being the city of gnomes (or dwarfs) and there are now an estimated 800 of these little things dotted around the city. There are so many of them that I’m not even sure that there is a complete list available (although the map at https://visitwroclaw.eu/wroclawskie-krasnale is likely as complete as anywhere), which makes completing a task to visit them all rather difficult. There’s a city map available listing hundreds of them (Dwarfs in Wroclaw_map), so I’ve now decided that I’ll have to start finding some of them because that’s what happens when I’m left alone in a city without any adult supervision……
Anyway, my two loyal blog readers can now expect some random posts about gnomes every time I find one (and, so far, I’ve found under 30 which is a rather amateurish effort I accept).
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Wrocław – PINTA
PINTA are one of my favourite breweries and they’re based in Warsaw where they have a taproom which I’ve been to several times. I’ve also been to their now closed taproom in Sopot, but I didn’t know that they had one in Wrocław and when I realised, I thought I’d better rush there. As for the Sopot outlet, I’m not entirely sure why that closed.
The beer boards and they’re also on-line at https://pinta-wroclaw.ontap.pl/. The service was friendly, personable and welcoming, with the atmosphere being laid-back and comfortable. It’s all rather on-trend, but in my desperate attempt to pretend to be a millennial, that suits me. I asked about flights and they’re reasonably priced and there are four different beers on each board of whatever the customer so desires.
The flight of beers and from left to right:
(i) Sourtime Mango Imperial IPA from Maryensztadt Brewery, which is a sour that had mango, so they nailed that. There was a sharp citrus edge, handy as I wanted my fruit in my diet.
(ii) Break Point from PINTA Brewery, which was clean, dry and with a taste of grapefruit, quite punchy at 6.5%.
(iii) Lublin to Dublin which is a collab from O’Hara’s Brewery and PINTA Brewery, this was very creamy and a joint Irish/Polish delight. Rich flavours of milk chocolate and coffee, this was my favourite of the four.
(iv) Atak Chmielu from PINTA Brewery, which was malty, resinous and definitely had a taste of forest in it.
The interior was light and open, although as it is evident, it wasn’t the busiest lunchtime haunt for locals.
The fish and chips which was well presented, at the appropriate hot temperature and served as a generous portion size given the price. The fish had a richness of taste, the batter was quite crisp in places, but it was all suitably moreish and it went well with the beers.
As mentioned, I was pleased to discover that this bar existed, not only because it let me try more beers from PINTA, but also as it’s a comfortable space and I hope that they open up more of them around the country. I suspect, and hope, that it’s rather busier in the evenings and at weekends. The prices were moderate, the entire food and drink cost £11 and I thought that was reasonable. If I come back to Wrocław, which seems likely, then I’d be surprised with myself if I don’t come back here. All really rather lovely.
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Wrocław – Doctors’ Bar
Doctors’ Bar is a centrally located craft beer bar and restaurant in Wrocław, with their current beer listings at https://doctors-bar.ontap.pl/. I understand that the bar was formerly the taproom of the Doctor Brew brewery and hence the name, although I don’t think that’s the case any more. Either way, this venue is open for long hours and it has quite an extensive list of cocktails in addition to the craft beer range.
I like this, they have a copy of the beer board outside and it’s very uncommon to see this. It is a marvellous idea though, look at those tempting options and if I was someone meandering by on a regular basis I’d be tempted in simply by seeing the words “pastry sour”. I don’t get out much, it’s simple things that excite me in life….
The bar area felt modern and on-trend with the general ambience feeling inviting. Most people here seemed to be coming for food, perhaps because they have a low priced lunch menu, so there was table service available, but I headed to the bar to order. The service was friendly and helpful, it all felt a welcoming place to be. The prices were moderate for the beers and although I was tempted by the 11% Imperial Baltic Porter, I thought that it might be just a little too much at lunchtime.
I went for the Pretty Tatanka from Magic Road, a brewery from Warsaw who regularly come up with some really rather lovely sours. This one was no exception, it had a suitable level of sourness and it had lingering flavours of apple and mango.
I rather liked it here, it’s quite a large venue with a choice of different seating types and everything seemed clean and tidy. Customers seemed to be enjoying their food from what I could see, whilst I was sufficiently surprised and delighted by the eight beer taps.
