Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Blog

  • 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.

  • British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Berlin)

    Today’s expedition was to Berlin Tegel airport and, as usual, I arrived hopelessly early in the day to ensconce myself into the BA lounge. It was evident from the volume of rain hitting the roof of Heathrow T5 B Gates building that there were going to be some weather issues, although there were only a few cancellations and relatively minor delays.

    Fortunately, my flight was only delayed by around an hour, although there’s always the fear of a creeping delay where that one hour turns into two or three.

    Boarding was from gate A2 and I fail to understand why BA don’t make this process easier to understand. They did have separate queues for the different boarding groups, with groups 1 and 2 each having their own lane, and groups 3 to 5 were merged into one lane. But, in a piece of design brilliance, the lane for groups 3 to 5 was in front of groups 1 and 2 and so the others couldn’t be easily accessed. I’m not important enough for group 1, but I can sneak into group 2 and it took quite a determined staff member to get me, and some others, to the right place.

    There’s the aircraft at the end of the airbridge, which was registration G-EUOE, an Airbus A319 which British Airways have been using since it was manufactured in 2001.

    The aircraft was clean, although the crew had their usual challenge of trying to fit all the hand baggage into the overhead lockers. It’s the one disadvantage of exit row seats for me, having to engage in this whole overhead baggage game. This is a problem for me as my bag is relatively small, and usually there is someone with a ridiculously sized cabin bag who takes great exception to my small bag being in the lockers. So they try and shove it somewhere else. Always unsuccessfully I’d add.

    Waiting on the tarmac for departure, with the captain sounding professional and fitting the British Airways brand perfectly. I was also pleased to note that there was silence during the safety demonstration, it makes things feel so much calmer. Indeed, the whole flight seemed calm and the crew were efficient and polite.

    We landed around sixty minutes late, with the pilot being able to make up a few minutes of the delay en route. I flew to Berlin Tegel around five years ago and thought it’d likely be the last time there as operations are being moved to Berlin Brandenburg Airport. Unfortunately, this is currently one of the world’s most mocked projects, with an opening expected nearly one decade late. All of which means that Tegel is looking quite rickety and spending more money on it is pointless given that it will all be demolished soon.

    Anyway, this flight was a Reward Flight Saver (RFS) so it cost £17.50 plus 4,000 Avios points.

  • Shoreditch – Brewdog

    Having arrived into London Liverpool railway station, I had no shortage of food and drink options in the Spitalfields and Shoreditch area of the city. I’ve been converted to Brewdog now, after initially taking a slight dislike to them for their corporate practices (which seem to have  now been moderated somewhat), so I thought that the ten-minute walk to their Shoreditch location was worth it.

    Not particularly busy at 16:00 in the afternoon, although it did get busier later on. Lots of different seating styles, including bar stools, tables and booths. All clean as well, with the surfaces not being sticky, which is an irritating feature of some large pubs.

    The Brewdog beer fridge, with choices to take away, or for a premium, drink at the pub.

    The beer choice, but my preferred option of Zombie Cake had run out and the only other dark option was an imperial stout and I didn’t want that strong a beer.

    Half a pint of Dead Pony Club and a sample of Clockwork Tangerine. There are a lot of hops in the Dead Pony Club, which is fruity and citrusy. Not my preferred type of beer, but full of flavour and very drinkable. Incidentally, I didn’t think that the Clockwork Tangerine had quite the strength of tangerine that I was expecting, but it was also light and drinkable.

    The meat feast pizza, which was a slight challenge to eat as the ingredients slid off the base with some ease. But, food should sometimes be messy, so it’s all about the taste. Actually, it’s about the temperature as well, which was very hot and I was a bit too eager to get started so nearly burnt the top of my mouth.

    As a pizza, we’ve established it was served at a hot temperature, but the ingredients were decent, the base was light and the sauce rich and flavoursome.

    The manufacturers of Dalston chillies say that “there is no junk” in their products and I have to say, I liked it. Quite a powerful little kick without being stupidly hot, so this complemented the pizza well. Although I might have got a bit exuberant with the amount of the sauce I put on one piece of the pizza, which required another emergency drink of beer.

    It’s painfully clear from the customers that this is a very on-trend brand and it’s perfectly suited to Shoreditch. There’s a contemporary and modern feel to the whole proceedings, which is also coupled with excellent customer service.

    If I could find fault, it’s one of those locations where some of the staff seem to be doing the majority of the work, whilst some of the others were perhaps preening themselves just a little too much. But, all told, the surroundings are comfortable and everything was as I’d like it to be. Other than they needed more darker beer selections.

  • Camino de Santiago – Summary

    For the last week I’ve been in Spain walking the last 120 kilometres of the Camino de Santiago. We opted to complete the most popular of the routes, the Camino Francés, which as its name suggests actually starts back in France. We started from Sarria and took five days to reach the end, staying in some comfort and avoiding the more traditional option of staying in hostels.

    There were eight of us from Hike Norfolk who took part, and as everyone who reads this can imagine, I was the bravest. We were joined on part of the route by Susanna and Jim, who seemed to spend most of their journey on the train, but I didn’t say anything so as to not cause offence.

    Anyway, this is the summary page that I’ll leave here to link in all the separate blog posts. I’ve posted elsewhere about my final thoughts on this trip.

    GETTING THERE:

    Day Zero

    THE WALK

    Day One : Sarria to Portomarin

    Day Two : Portomarin to Palas de Rei

    Day Three : Palas de Rei to Arzúa

    Day Four : Arzúa to O Pedrouzo

    Day Five : O Pedrouzo to Santiago de Compostela

    DAY IN SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA

    Streets of Santiago de Compostela

    Mercado de Abastos de Santiago

    Cafe Blu

    GOING HOME

    Ryanair Flight

  • Ryanair (Santiago de Compostela Airport to London Stansted)

    I don’t often write up my flights on Ryanair, as there’s a limited amount that can be said about the experience. The boarding process is though becoming slightly farcical as the priority queue has now increased to being around 75% of everyone boarding, although I have to say that it is an organised process.

    The aircraft was EI-FZL, a Boeing 737-800, which Ryanair had purchased in April 2017. The aircraft set off on time and was also back in Stansted on time.

    The seating on board, which was clean and sufficiently spacious given that this is a budget airline. I had been automatically allocated an aisle seat for free (woooo), with the other two passengers on this row arriving soon after I took the photo.

    The safety demonstration was appalling and one of the worst that I can recall on any flight. The crew did nothing to try and quieten the cabin down and I’m not sure that many people were able to hear the safety announcements. I’ve been on British Airways and American Airlines flights where the crew have stopped the demonstration if the cabin wasn’t quiet, which does reassure me somewhat that the crew are focused on safety.

    I couldn’t hear the announcements from the pilots either due to the cabin noise, which is not a problem, but isn’t ideal. The flight was the usual constant process of trying to sell things to customers, which is fine given the price of the flight, but it’s again not conducive to a peaceful flight. And, on this particular flight, there were two crew members who didn’t seem to be entirely nimble on their feet and managed to keep bumping into passengers on the aisle seats.

    I can’t recall how many Ryanair flights I’ve taken, I think it’s something around the eighty sectors mark over the last ten years. I’m now reluctant to book with them again though, primarily because the outbound flight was potentially caught up in the crew strikes. This concerns me because Ryanair’s IRROPS handling is inadequate and although I’ve never had a problem, it’s an additional factor which I’d rather not have to be concerned about. And, frankly, I’ve become too attached to Oneworld airlines (not literally, although British Airways do need to clean their cabins better).

  • Camino de Santiago – Day One

    And, so we were ready to start our first day of walking, which took us from Sarria to Portomarin.

    The first part of the walk was fairly open, but did allow for extensive views over the countryside.

    One of the old towns which we walked through, which always brought back the spirit of the camino to me as pilgrims would have taken this route for many centuries.

    Our lunch stop, which is perhaps most notable for Bev and Sarah becoming a little overwrought at the sight of something and Bev being told off for queue-jumping for the toilet. She tried to explain to the Spanish lady that she wasn’t queue-jumping, she was just looking through the toilet window at Gordon, but I suspect something was lost in translation.

    Our first sight of the Miño, which is the longest river in Galicia.

    A map just before we got into Portomarin, which initially seemed confusing with all the different options and the former pilgrim route shown across the river. Much more made sense when we realised that Portomarin is a new town, built higher up the bank of the river after they flooded the old one to build a dam.

    Incidentally, it warned of a very difficult section, so I took a little detour, although it appears that they exaggerated the “very difficult” nature of the message.

    This is some of the former Roman bridge which was flooded in the 1960s for the new dam. I initially thought that this was all that remained of the bridge, but this is actually a separate bridge and its footings. The medieval bridge is still there, just by the new bridge, but it’s only rarely visible when there is a very low tide. It’s in excellent condition and can be walked across for anyone fortunate to be there at the right time, but this must be one hell of an obstacle to navigation for boats.

    Looking across to Portomarin, with the old bridge being just to the right of it, although it’s underwater…

    Looking back over the river.

    Steve after smashing a wine glass when the excitement was all too much for him. This was a pleasant little cafe in Portomarin, although the bottle of wine I bought seemed to disappear and it look quite a while to find a staff member to remind them to bring it.

    The free crisps kept flowing at the bar, so we kept drinking, which was all rather lovely. The crisps came from what looked like a huge sack rather than from delicate little packets, but they tasted satisfactory and went well with the beer.

    And sampling the Pilgrim’s beer. Which was unexceptional shall we say. The wine was better.

    The town centre of Portomarin. I had hoped that they would have these signs all along the Camino, since there was a similar one in Sarria. But they didn’t…..

    Iglesia de San Pedro de Portomarín.

    This is Igrexa de San Xoán de Portomarín, a fourteenth century fortress church which was established by the Order of Saint John, who upheld the values of Christianity for many centuries in Malta. The order helped to protect pilgrims on their journey and the building, like the other historic ones in the town, was moved stone by stone in the 1960s because of the dam.

  • Camino de Santiago – Day Four

    After the exertions of the previous day, this was a far more pleasant distance of just twelve miles, walking from Arzúa to O Pedrouzo. I was a little reluctant to leave my accommodation as there was a lovely terrace with views out onto the countryside, but a pilgrim has to make sacrifices.

    We all met near the church, known locally as Igrexa de Santiago de Arzúa, which was unfortunately closed at the early hour that we set off from Arzúa.

    The start of the route was busy and I spent some time overtaking people so that I didn’t have to walk at their slow pace. I was conscious that they were enjoying their environment and treating it like a pilgrimage whilst I was storming down the path at 4mph, but each to their own of course….

    The morning walk took us through some open countryside and we were fortunate again that the temperature was moderate.

    I’m not an expert on the foliage of northern Spain in the medieval period, but I imagine that there was much that was wooded. These sections felt the most authentic to me in terms of what the pilgrims would have historically experienced and I enjoyed the thought that the terrain of the land here is unchanged over recent centuries.

    It was at around this point that another amusing incident took place, which is that Gordon and Bev managed to go down the wrong path. This isn’t unusual on a walk that I’m leading or am participating in, but is pretty amazing on the camino where the signage is idiot proof. I of course didn’t say anything at their incompetence, but I’m sure it’ll be brought up again in the future….

    This is one of the quietest main roads that I can recall seeing in some time. Beautifully peaceful, despite the initial appearance of being a scar on the landscape.

    The breakfast stop en route, a healthy Coca Cola and a croissant which had perhaps seen better days, although the taste was fine.

    A cockerel excited by the banana in Bev’s bag.

    Gordon made friends with the local cockerel and we all enjoyed the moment when the cock attacked him. I could make a joke here, but it’ll be beneath me, so I’ll avoid the temptation.

    One of the more inventive cafe arrangements at Casa Tia Dolores, which looked an inviting location to visit. Unfortunately, it appears from TripAdvisor that this cafe, which brewed its own beer, has permanently closed down which seems rather a shame.

    A reminder of the slightly tropical nature of the surroundings.

    My healthy lunch en route. The staff had given me a cracked glass by mistake (or perhaps on purpose if they hated me) and I managed to break one of the ashtrays when moving it, which didn’t bode entirely well. Bev spent some time taking photographs of another English group doing the walk and Susanna and Jim caught us up as they were a little behind. It transpired that Susanna had spent half the morning digging, hence why they were late.

    The afternoon walk took us through woodland, which was fortunate as the temperature was starting to rise.

    More afternoon woodland…. I accept that this isn’t the most descriptive of terms, but to a degree the landscape around this part of Spain did get a little repetitive at times and I have managed to forget anything of particular note for certain sections of the walk.

    The meeting place in the evening in O Pedrouzo, the town cockerel, which seemed appropriate given the events of earlier in the day. Being the gentleman that I am, I took the rare action of bothering to walk everyone to their hotels, which I thought was very generous.

    After settling in to our hotels for about twenty minutes, the two Steves and I headed to look for a bar. I was moderately irritated to discover that ‘Taste the Way’, the bar that I wanted to go to, was shut. But we found Panadería A Peneira instead, where we had a few drinks.

    I had three glasses of flavoured tap water, which I admit was refreshing.

    The snacks acquired by Steve M were good, and the bar provided us with more complimentary olives than we could realistically eat.

    The ladies (including Gordon) had meanwhile discovered that ‘Taste the Way’ was open, so we headed back there. And, I was delighted, this was the first decent craft beer bar that I’ve been to all week. I found a stout, which excited me greatly, as northern Spain isn’t known for its stouts and porters. Just so that everyone knew how excited I was by this development, I told them at least three times.

    There was the option then of going to a nearby restaurant for a pilgrim’s meal, but I was too tempted by the menu options at this bar. Having waited nearly a week to find somewhere this good, I wasn’t going to willingly miss out.

    The Galician soup, which was tasty, although I wouldn’t say was exceptional as it wasn’t packed with flavour. It was though hot, but it could have had more texture as I’m not entirely sure that this soup is meant to be smooth.

    The Galician meat pie was though exceptional and was the best food that I had during the week. It doesn’t perhaps look very exciting and embarrassingly I wasn’t entirely sure of the ingredients, but it tasted of pork and had a rich and moreish taste. Absolutely delicious.

    And my beer of the day to go with the meat pie, which was a beech smoked bock. This is something a little different and the beech smoked taste was a delight, smoky and caramel flavoured, I’m not sure that I’ve had anything even remotely similar before. I had to test a few bottles of this to ensure that I was delighted with the experience. I was.

    Bev, Steve M, Gordon and I partied away late into the night in this bar, well, to 22:30 anyway. Then the highlight of the day took place, Gordon reported that the electric in his room had gone off. This caused merriment throughout the town, although we were disappointed to discover that he managed to get the electric back on and working.

    With that excitement, it was time to sleep.