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  • Bydgoszcz – Coffee to Go

    This cafe doesn’t perhaps have the most traditional of Polish names, but it is certainly descriptive and has a suitable range of coffees and cakes. It’s located within Bydgoszcz railway station and has a decent size seating area.

    The latte and sponge cake, which cost the equivalent of just over £2. Both were perfectly acceptable, the sponge was fresh and the latte had a depth of flavour to it. I’m planning to go back to Bydgoszcz by train in early 2020 and so I might pop in here again, just to check they’re maintaining their standards….

  • Bydgoszcz – Photos

    Photos from Bydgoszcz. These are from November 2017 which justifies why one of the images has a Christmas tree in it……

  • Bydgoszcz – Street Art

    Some imagination had gone into the street art in Bydgoszcz, with this piece located at Księdza Piotra Skargi loosely translated as “the breakfast of champions”.

  • Bydgoszcz – Kormoran Ciemny

    This beer cost me the equivalent of 40p in an Aldi in Bydgoszcz, so my expectations were relatively moderate. It’s not a bad beer at all though, slightly watery, but a sufficiently rich taste to make it entirely drinkable. There are some flavours of caramel shining through and looking back on this purchase, I should have perhaps procured a few more…

  • Beccles – Shopping Trolley

    This is an interesting use for a shopping trolley in Beccles…..

  • Baltimore – Chicken Rico

    I remember this restaurant from when I visited in 2015 as it’s the first time that I’d had Peruvian food. Now, inevitably a chicken burrito and chips isn’t exactly the epitome of Peruvian cuisine, but the chicken itself was rotisserie cooked in a Peruvian style, so it’s the nearest that I’d got to it. There are a few of these around Baltimore, with a Peruvian family having brought the concept to the city.

    As chicken burritos and chips go, this was above average in quality, with the chicken being tender and moist. The portion size was also generous, it certainly erred towards being one of the largest burritos which I’ve had.

    Trying to remember this visit four years on isn’t entirely easy, but I remember it was a clean and fast foody type environment, which was perfectly comfortable. I also remember that the staff were friendly and the prices were also realistic, considerably cheaper than some of the rather more fancy Inner Harbor restaurants.

  • Norfolk Broads – Albion Wherry

    For the last three years I’ve organised the Hike Norfolk trip to the Norfolk Broads, which has included hiring a Broads cruiser from Wroxham. Last year we were walking around Ranworth for our lunch break and we saw the Albion wherry and the volunteer on board mentioned about it being available for hire. So, I decided that was a marvellous idea and that’s what twelve of us did for this year’s maritime expedition.

    The Albion wherry was first built in 1898 and remained in use carrying cargo around the Norfolk Broads until the middle of the twentieth century.

    The Norfolk Wherry Trust took the boat over in 1949 and initially continued with carrying cargo, but it had a couple of little incidents when it sank twice and it was agreed that this wasn’t ideal. So from 1961 it was decided never to carry cargo again, just carrying passengers around the Broads.

    Our boat is ready to sail.

    This photo was taken out when we were taken out in small groups using the wherry’s dinghy to get photos of the wherry itself.

    A swan.

    The sail, which is 1,200 square feet in size.

    This subtle little thing is the Quant Pole, which lets the crew punt the boat along. We had three crew aboard the Albion and they were all helpful and enthusiastic.

    The downstairs quarters of the boat, which can be used for overnight hire, so hence the bunks.

    Getting the food ready. Susanna and I had heated the water up for coffees and teas, a process that took considerably longer than we had expected. There is an oven and basic cooking facilities on board, all fuelled by gas.

    Our picnic on board.

    The view of the Norfolk Broads, we went from Oulton Broad to nearly into Beccles.

    Part of the wherry, I don’t know the technical term….

    A dragonfly.

    All told, it was a warm day and the twelve of us from Hike Norfolk were very fortunate with the weather. Although I thought that it was too hot…. Sitting downstairs was though much cooler, so it was handy to have the option of where to sit and there were plenty of spaces around the wherry.

    It was only when I went on the dinghy to circle the wherry that it was clear just how beautiful the Albion is, and many people had taken photos of the wherry during the day as we went past.

    For any group or so, a charter for the day is recommended, especially as it isn’t that much more expensive than taking out a Broads cruiser for the day. And this is certainly more of an experience.

  • Baltimore – Washington Monument

    Located in the Mount Vernon area of Baltimore, this column and statue was the first substantial monument to George Washington. It was designed by Robert Mills who also designed the Washington Monument in the country’s capital. Work started on the monument in 1815 and was completed in 1829, with a time capsule added which was discovered in 2015. It was originally meant to be built in a more urban area of the city, but it was built in the suburbs as some residents complained that it might fall over onto their houses.

    When I was in Baltimore a few years ago the column was closed to the public whilst urgent repairs took place. It re-opened in 2015 to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary since work started to build it, with the cost of the project coming to a not inconsiderable $6.5 million. There are 227 steps to the top of the monument and when I finally get back to Baltimore, I might try and climb them…..

  • Baltimore – The Walters Art Museum (Colosseum by Giovanni Paolo Panini)

    Thanks again to the Walters Art Museum policy on having photos of their exhibits available to download, I’m again using their version rather than my considerably less sharp photo. The painting by Giovanni Paolo Panini is more favourable to the Colosseum and to the Arch of Constantine than they deserve, made more attractive for the purposes of the artwork. The artwork was painted in 1747, in the middle of the artist’s career.

    The museum, keen to give the provenance of every artwork, notes the history of the ownership of this painting:

    “Tyrwhitt-Drake, Shardeloes, Amersham, Buckinghamshire [date and mode of acquisition unknown]

    Agnew, London [date and mode of acquisition unknown]

    David Koetser, London and New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown];

    Walters Art Museum, 1954, by purchase.”

    The first owner, Tyrwhitt-Drake, was from the family descended from Sir Francis Drake and it was purchased for their country home in Buckinghamshire. I imagine that it was collected as part of some grand tour of Europe by a younger member of the family. Agnew and Koetser are art dealers, so I assume that the family later needed the money and wanted to sell this painting.

  • Fakenham – Aldiss (Heritage Trail 6)

    Part of the Fakenham Heritage Trail, this is number 6, the former Aldiss store which unfortunately burnt down in 2014. The fire was caused by an electrical issue and it destroyed the department store which had been built in the early twentieth century. Aldiss had already moved out of the store to another location in Fakenham and the building was being used by The Original Factory Store, who have since moved back into the newly built replacement premises.

    I hadn’t previously paid much attention to this arch, which goes through from the market place to Fakenham Church. But, as the signage notes, it was built over at some stage by Stewardson for his printing business.

    And the same passageway coming from the direction of the church. Fortunately, the church wasn’t damaged during the fire, although there were some initial fears that the fire might spread.