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  • Poznan – Old Zoo

    Poznan – Old Zoo

    This zoo opened in 1874 and it remained the city’s main zoo until 1974, when the New Zoo partly replaced it as it no longer offered enough space for the animals. This location is much nearer to the city centre and I rather liked it, primarily focused on reptiles but still with plenty to see. It was relatively quiet when I visited, with plenty of space for the animals and reptiles that remained, with entry today being free to enter the park area and it was just over £1 to see the reptile house. I don’t like snakes in general, but I like looking at them through glass.

    Anyway, this post is primarily photos from my visit in 2016…..

           

  • Poznan – Lech Brewery Tour

    Poznan – Lech Brewery Tour

    These photos are from my visit to the Lech Brewery in Poznan back in 2016, although I’m disappointed to see that they have now been permanently discontinued.

    I managed to arrive a few minutes late due to circumstances beyond my control (I got a bit lost) and was rather nervous that I had kept around 50 people waiting when I saw the assembled crowd. It transpired that this group was for the Polish tour, whereas the tour English had just me and two Irishmen on it. They seemed to drink a lot of Guinness.

    There was a walk across the brewery site to start with and the tour guide was enthusiastic and keen. He didn’t actually work for the brewery and was instead trained by them to offer the tours, but he was very engaged with the whole thing, so it was a good choice. However, he admitted that the brewery had told him that real ale wasn’t really going to take off in mainland Europe and it was becoming less popular in the UK. I suspect that was more wishful thinking from the brewery management, and I’m not sure that Lech has made much progress in the direction of real ale or craft beer at all.

    My knowledge of the brewing process is limited, primarily as I seem to fail to be able to grasp anything scientific. I think I just like looking round factories and then having a drink, but I remember it was sufficiently interesting.

    A model of the site.

    At the end of the tour there was a drink provided at the brewery’s own bar.

    This is a very poor photo, especially as I must have forgotten to take one when the glass was full (and that’s how it started off). I was also given a Lech bottle opener which I still have and is one of my favourite bottle openers (insomuch that I have favourites….)

    Anyway, the tour was cheap to go on, the guide was engaging (and spoke English fluently), everything look sparklingly clean everywhere and the beer was as good as Lech gets. Since I visited the company has been taken over by Asahi Breweries and it’s disappointing they’ve chosen to stop tours entirely. I can’t confess to being a huge fan of Lech beer (and their reviews on Untappd are painful to look at) but I was impressed at the professionalism that was visible at the brewery itself.

  • Random – Scarborough’s Railway Bench

    Random – Scarborough’s Railway Bench

    Just as a random post, but I quite liked this story in the Scarborough News about the longest railway bench in the world. Despite having been to Scarborough on numerous occasions, I hadn’t managed to notice this 139 metre long bench which dates to around 1883.

    It’s rather lovely that it has been preserved, although I note that Network Rail have replaced all the nuts and bolts, as well as an undetermined amount of wood. There’s something about Trigger’s broom here that there’s going to be nothing old left other than the original iron supports, but it’s still a very worthwhile project given how so many railway stations and structures have been allowed to crumble.

    NB, as I’ve haven’t been to see this bench, the main photo above is at the start of my very brave second coast to coast walk a few years ago I did with Liam (I was the bravest). Might as well advertise that again here, here are the links  🙂  Coast to Coast Two  [ Day 0 | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 6+1 ]

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 240

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 240

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Parson

    And this is a walking related definition from Grose, which is “a guide post, hand or finger post by the road side for directing travellers: compared to a parson, because, like him, it sets people in the right way”. Not that Grose treated religious office holders with respect with all of his definitions, some were perhaps far more telling about the realities of late eighteenth century religious figures.

  • London – Camden – British Museum (Rosetta Stone)

    London – Camden – British Museum (Rosetta Stone)

    This was from my visit to the British Museum a few weeks ago, the most viewed object in the collections apparently. This has meant that I’ve never really seen it that clearly before, it’s like the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, there are nearly always other visitors standing there and taking photos in front of it. Hence why I took so many photos of it this time with the museum being so empty when I visited in late October.

    There’s not much point writing much about the Rosetta Stone, it’s done much better in countless other places. But it dates to 196BC and it was rediscovered by the French in 1799, with the British deciding that they wanted it in 1802. The stone went to the British Museum in the same year and it has been there ever since. As visitors kept fiddling with it, the stone was barriered off in 1847, not that this stopped some people. Since 2004 it has been placed behind a rather more secure screen.


  • Norwich – Earlham Cemetery (Valorous John Wright)

    Norwich – Earlham Cemetery (Valorous John Wright)

    This is the war grave of Valorous John Wright, buried in the older military graves area of Earlham Cemetery. Incidentally, my photo of this grave is at an angle as there’s a big bush in front of it.

    Valorous is a wonderful name and it’s because he was born on HMS Valorous, a Royal Navy paddle frigate built in 1851, on 24 December 1866. He went to North Road Boys /Steynton School at Milford Haven and his school records remain from 1878 and 1879.

    As is this document which I very much like about the school’s progress and the students clearing off home, with Valorous mentioned at the bottom.

    At the 1881 census, Valorous was living with his mother, Mary Jane Wright, at Robert Street in Steynton, his father having already died. There were two lodgers in the property as well with Valorous and his mother, Richard Wakeham and William Tinkham.

    He joined the army at Pembroke Dock on 14 June 1883 at the age of 16, although he declared on his form that he was 18 years and 5 months old. He asked to join the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and his medical was the next day and magically he declared his age to be 19. The records show that he was 5’6″ in height and weighed 8.7 stone.

    During his time in the army, Valorous married Martha Huggins on 10 September 1896 at the Church of St. Ethelreda in Norwich. At the 1891 and 1901 censuses, Valorous was away in the army, whilst his wife Martha was living with her father John Huggins, on King Street in 1891 and at 54 Argyle Street in 1901.

    Whilst in the army, Valorous fought in South Africa, but was mostly stationed in the UK and he was uninjured in battle during his service. He was promoted to Colour Sergeant on 25 February 1900, moving to the Norfolk Regiment on 27 February 1906 and then leaving the military entirely on 31 July 1909.

    Valorous died on 11 December 1910 at the age of 43, leaving his wife who was ten years younger than him, with his burial being on 17 December 1910. During their final year the couple lived at 115 Sprowston Road, a house perhaps more notable today for being opposite the rather lovely Brewery Tap pub. But, my favourite part of this story is really the name, and I think it’s not unusual for people born at sea to be named after the boat that they are on.

  • Poznan – Restauracja Ratuszova

    Poznan – Restauracja Ratuszova

    This not being able to travel thing means I’ve decided to resort to looking at old photos, these ones are of my visit to Restauracja Ratuszova in September 2016. Located in the heart of Poznan, this was, and still is, a well reviewed traditional Polish restaurant. Obviously I was in an exotic mood at the time, as I opted for an outdoors table.

    Zywiec is OK, I prefer Zywiec Porter, but needs must…. All was as expected on this front.

    I think I was still going through my cider phase at this point, this is a strawberry cider from Kamron (a cider producer from Kielce) as clearly my half litre of Zywiec wasn’t enough.

    I have been asked why I keep ordering non-Polish food when in Poland. That’s because for my first ten or so trips to Poland, I did keep eating local food, and in this case, the national dish that is pierogi (or dumplings). They are very lovely, but, with the best will in the world, quite a lot of Polish food can be stodgy, and hence why I often veer off towards other cuisines. But, I do revert to these traditional Polish dishes from time to time and am rarely disappointed.

    In the case of this restaurant, the dumplings were filled with wild boar and they were rich in flavour, served with spinach, Chanterelle sauce and cranberries. There were helpful English speaking staff, it was a comfortable location and so all rather lovely. The meal came to £10 which included the two drinks, so given the central location, this seemed entirely reasonable.

  • LDWA – Group Walking Stopped Again

    LDWA – Group Walking Stopped Again

    This is sad to see (the 3rd December update at https://www.ldwa.org.uk/library/coronavirus2020.php), hopefully it can be resolved to allow larger groups to start walking again soon in a safe manner. I have a 100 to walk in May 2021……

  • Poznan – New Zoo

    Poznan – New Zoo

    This was my visit to Poznan’s New Zoo (the Old Zoo is still open and in the city centre) in 2016 and I remember it primarily as I only saw two other visitors there). I went on a weekday morning in September and the zoo is huge in terms of the amount of walking required, although there’s a little train service for busier times of the year. There were quite big gaps between the enclosures, but this is deliberate to give the animals as much space as possible.

    The one benefit about there being so few other visitors (other than no kids shouting about) is that the animals seem more interested in coming to have a look. Perhaps they’re hoping that they might be fed, but it was a handy advantage to get so much solitude. The admission fee is low, just a couple of pounds. Everything at the zoo seemed well cared for, not just the animals, but also the enclosures and public areas.

    Anyway, here are some of the photos….

     

     

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 239

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 239

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Pantler

    This word is defined by Grose as “a butler” and is from the same derivative as the word ‘pantry’, so it means someone who is in charge of the bread and the entire pantry.

    And the word has slowly, but surely, fallen out of usage over the last century. There are though a few cafes around the world with this name, normally those specialising in breads and cakes.