Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Accor

Carcassonne Day One : Ibis Budget Carcassonne La Cité

I’m not sure that I took any photos inside of this hotel, so this external shot will just have to do. There was a dead cat outside, which seemed something of a bad omen and especially as it was still there two days later. I wasn’t obviously expecting it to move itself, but I wondered if someone else would. But, it’s probably not fair to judge the hotel but what animals have been killed on the road outside of it. I’ve digressed though. The welcome at reception was immediate, warm and engaging with the hotel feeling comfortable and clean.

The room was cheap and Liam agreed willingly he could have the mezzanine level, also known as the top bunk bed thing. These rooms have one double bed and a single bed on top at a different angle, but it was the £30 per night per room price range which made this appealing. The room was clean, the temperature was appropriate and there were no real noise issues either internally or externally. We didn’t have breakfast, but it’s quite basic at Ibis Budget hotels so there seemed better options in the town itself. The hotel has a small bar area as well at the seating area at reception.

The hotel isn’t brilliantly reviewed on-line, but I wonder whether there are some unreasonable aspirations from some customers about what level of luxury is provided here. I’d happily stay here again, especially at this price point.

May 1, 2024
Bucharest Trip – Day 3 : Ibis Styles Bucharest City Centre

My hotel for the first two nights of my stay in Bucharest was the Ibis Styles Bucharest City Centre. The others, quite sensibly, managed to stay in the same place for the entire week, but I was on a mission to complete the 6,000 points offer from Accor which involved staying at three hotels for two nights each. Which meant that I stayed here for two nights, then moved to another hotel in the city, then came back again. It’s sub-optimal in many ways, but I like getting Accor points. Incidentally, I’ve been inundated with requests for the return of my Accor blog (well, I had one person asking if I was still doing it) and I’m actively working on that.

The hotel has a modern design and some considerable thought has been put into it. My check-in process was handled by a staff member who was on the phone to a customer the entire time which wasn’t entirely ideal, but I appreciated the efficiency of the operation. The welcome went as expected and I was given a room on the fourth floor. There are low and high tables for those wanting to get a drink, get some work done or meet up with others, with a separate restaurant area at the rear.

For anyone interested (goodness knows who) this is the menu in the hotel’s restaurant.

I didn’t like this room at first sight. I didn’t mind the concrete ceiling and that element of minimalism, but I like having a desk. But, more on that in a moment.

Matters improved considerably when I discovered my welcome gift of cakes and a juice in the fridge. I was becoming rapidly more forgiving. I sent this photo to the group WhatsApp and Bev claimed she thought I had a coffin in the room. She was just jealous that she didn’t have a coffin shaped table in her room I think, she’s quite dark like that. But, of course, I didn’t say anything.

And then I discovered a fold-up desk, so I felt just a little guilty for jumping to conclusions. A few years ago, I was on a panel which discussed the new room design and I mentioned the importance of a desk, even if it just folded up. I’m not saying that they paid any attention to me, as ultimately most people don’t, but they have made a sensible decision here. The other table (on the right of the above photo) is also of an adjustable height, so can be used as a standing desk or a bedside table.

Steve was staying at the hotel, so we had breakfast together on the mornings that I was actually staying there. I don’t much go for hot options at breakfast, so I was suitably surprised and delighted by the cold meats selection. And olives, I like olives. And that red paste, I’m not sure exactly what was in it, added to the proceedings.

The selection from the following morning.

There’s plate one and I did try, despite my previous comment about the hot food, a few of the hot sausages. I wasn’t that engaged with them, so I didn’t repeat that exercise.

Here’s the hot food selection, which doesn’t really inform my two loyal readers as they can’t see what’s in them. There was a choice of, I think, eggs, fatty bacon and sausages. I make regular comments about how bacon should be cooked, including for those who read through my Norwich Market posts. I have agreed, and I am unanimous in this, that bacon should be served crispy and slightly burnt. The Americans know how to do this.

The cereals selection and there was also a juice station with five different juices, served alongside large glasses. This is most unusual, as usually hotels offer little tiny glasses for orange juice which requires me to take around four of them to the table.

Some of the breads and pastries, with a separate doughnut selection which I really quite enjoyed.

And biscuits.

And here’s another plate. I think everyone gets the idea of what I liked….

Anyway, I liked this hotel and my room had a pleasant view. There were no noise disturbances in the hotel either internally or externally and I enjoyed my Ursus Black welcome drink. Steve had a problem with his coffees not being topped up to which he was told that this wasn’t something that reception could do anything about and he had to speak to house-keeping before 18:00. This feels an entirely sub-optimal situation, there’s no reason why the hotel couldn’t have spare coffees behind reception, but there we go, I fortunately didn’t experience any issues.

I’d merrily stay here again and I liked how modern the hotel was, something which Ibis Styles often gets right. The service was friendly, the room was clean and I felt that I received good value for money. I paid £110 for these two nights, including breakfast, but the Accor offer means that the rate was effectively £70 for the two nights. The hotel is very well reviewed and seemed to be at near full occupancy during the time I stayed here, with it being around a twenty minute walk from the city centre.

November 19, 2023
Bucharest Trip – Day 0 : Ibis Heathrow

As mentioned in my previous post, I had walked to the Heathrow Ibis and this is one of my favourite of the hotels on the Bath Road and I’ve stayed there numerous times before. There was a friendly welcome from the team member at reception and the atmosphere felt suitably warm and inviting. I was told that I had been given a room upgrade, which was very kind, and I guessed that this wouldn’t actually be a better room, but just a better located room. That’s realistically the best that a hotel can do when every room is the same design. Although I suppose that they could have put a little mountain of crisps in the room for me by way of an upgrade, but perhaps that’s not for everyone. The team member also asked if I’d like a free late checkout, but given my morning flight that wasn’t needed although it’s kind to ask.

I went for a pint of Goose Island Midway as my welcome drink. I might have mentioned that I have something of a passion for Goose Island, including visiting their Chicago brewery last year. I accept that Midway isn’t exactly the Bourbon County Stout that they brew, but there we go.

I approve that they local the musical instruments up to prevent unnecessary noise from musically untalented guests.

I’ve never actually eaten at this hotel, other than when the breakfast was included as part of the deal, but I merrily take photos of the food options that are on offer.

As I don’t get out much, I was surprised and delighted to get exactly the same room as when I stayed in the hotel for three days earlier on in the year. I like patterns in life and there seems something reassuring in repetition, especially with the never ending change that travel brings. I should definitely get out more as I suspect that I might have overthought that. Anyway, it was a peaceful night’s stay, not least as I was on the top floor in the corner, something I’d agree is an upgrade.

Also, I forgot to take a photo of the room, so I’ve used the one from earlier in the year. I’ve just found some more missing posts from this blog, something else I’ll have to fix along with the missing images. Bloody thing.

At this moment I heard from Susanna, Bev and Thim. They were all safely at Stansted Airport, and I was reassured that Thim was there with them since last time Susanna and Bev were left along at Stansted Airport they got drunk and missed their flight in some sort of drunken stupor. I’m pleased to report that this incident didn’t happen again. Their flight, two hours before mine, left without any issues other than Thim wasn’t thrilled and delighted with the leg room situation which he was encountering.

I decided to cut it very fine in terms of leaving for the airport, which meant that I departed the hotel just 2 hours 30 minutes before the flight. Razor thin I tell, razor thin timing. I’m not sure I’ve ever risked it quite that much before, although I accept that I am very risk averse with travel arrangements.

November 11, 2023
Gdansk Group Trip – Day 3 (Mercure Gdynia Centrum)

Richard and I were staying in Gdynia for the evening, although he opted for a more decadent room in the city’s Mercure hotel than I had because of his great wealth. I had chosen this hotel as I thought it would be somewhere new for me and it was also part of an Accor extra points promotion, which I’m pleased to note have been posted correctly. Anyway, when I arrived I realised that I stayed here in January 2020, I had completely forgotten that. I do get muddled up easily….

The grand reception area. The welcome from the staff was friendly, authentic and genuine, so I was pleased to be back in such an inviting place. The bar area off to the right was busy and there was a vibrant feel to proceedings. In this instance, I should say that I mean vibrant in a positive sense, sometimes I use it as code for a venue where it feels like there will be a massive fight within ten seconds.

I was upgraded to a room on the eighth floor and given the alcohol themed room. Of course, I’m not sure why on earth they thought that would be suitable for me, but I didn’t say anything. Unfortunately, the bottles in the barrel were empty.

One of the features in the room was this little display, which are real corks and not some wallpaper. I liked theme rooms, and especially so this one, although if they had popped some extra beer in it then I would have liked it even more.

Wine posters. I was pleased to note that there was a bath in the bathroom, it’s more common practice recently to take them out to install showers instead.

Our welcome drink, with Richard getting some wine whilst I was able to choose between a number of beers from a local brewery. I went for the Kurortowe wheat beer from Browar Miejski Sopot, a very acceptable way to end the evening.

The hotel is 40 years old this year and there’s promotional material throughout the building noting that. There was also a welcome gift of food, I appreciated that. Richard saves his for when he gets home as a reminder of a trip, whereas I eat them straight away. There were more than two in the pack incidentally, that’s all that’s what was left by the time I took the photo.

The view of the sea from my eighth floor room. I stayed here for two nights and it is a well run and managed hotel, but there was the limitation for me that there’s no air conditioning and the hotel is something of a sun trap. It was all too hot for me, so I likely wouldn’t come back here as it wasn’t relatively that hot in Poland during the visit, so I suspect that I’d find it almost unbearable in the height of summer. Indeed, the vast majority of negative comments are about the air conditioning, but I’m not sure how the hotel is going to fix that without a substantial refit of the entire building. The hotel got an odd complaint a few weeks ago saying that the staff didn’t speak Polish, which is an unusual comment I’ve never seen before about an Accor hotel in Poland. It seems ridiculous anyway, the hotel responded that all of the staff were Polish, although this gives me an opportunity to say that their English was perfect as well.

May 16, 2023
Sunday – A Short Perambulation around Darlington

Saturday evening was wet to say the least, but it all looked a bit drier, and indeed hotter, on the Sunday morning. On the left of this photo is the TCB Darlington, or The Chinese Buffet, which closed down earlier this year. The story of the closure is a bit odd, it closed due to lockdown which is understandable, and then after a break of a few months it reopened for about three hours before being shut down due to irregularities with the electricity supply. Draw your own conclusions….

The River Skerne, which is a tributary of the River Tees, and this area is of note for an historic building which was once here. But, I only realised that later on during my visit to the town, so more about that on a different blog post. Oh, the anticipation…

The entrance to the parish churchyard of St. Cuthbert, with rather a sparse collection of graves, so I assume many have been removed at some point.

The church dates from the twelfth century, although was modernised and faffed about with during the 1860s by George Gilbert Scott.

A war memorial in the church’s graveyard in memory of those who died between 1899 and 1902 during the Second Boer War.

It’s a grand war memorial and it was unveiled by Field Marshal the Rt Hon Earl Roberts (1832-1914) on 5 August 1905. This would have been seen as important, as he was the man who was in charge of the entire campaign and had also been the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces until the abolition of the role in 1904. He died during the early stages of the First World War, although he fell ill on a tour of troops and not through enemy action, and was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral.

A list of the 11 men from the local area who died during the campaign.

And 89 more names are on Grade II listed monument, but these were listed in honour of the men’s contribution to the campaign. Unfortunately, war memorials following the First World War could hardly list everyone who had fought, just those who had died. This memorial was funded by 5,576 different subscribers, so it’s a real public effort.

Another quick visit to the William Stead with its interesting carpet. I was rather productive here for some time, lots of coffees for just £1.25. I may have mentioned I’d constantly surprised and delighted by this bargain arrangement though.

And then to Darlington’s covered market. The council are mid-way through their modernisation, and it seems from reading news articles that this has been a controversial process. The market building itself is rather beautiful and was designed by Alfred Waterhouse and constructed in 1863.

There aren’t many stalls here at all and they’re a little aggressively priced in terms of the food. I’m not suggesting that’s bad, as it’s expensive running a business, but the prices of the stalls inside the market seemed to be higher than the outlets outside of the market. That seemed an odd way round to me, this is being run as a decadent arrangement and not as a cheap alternative for locals. A chips stall here would be good, affordable and inviting, which could then sit alongside the more expensive options.

The bar at the market, which I thought (and perhaps harshly as I try not to be too judgemental) was rather formulaic and bland, but I think it’s fair to say that they’re pitching themselves at a rather younger market to myself, namely teenage girls I suspect (of a legal drinking age I’d better add). It’s a shame though, this market would have been lifted by a on-trend, modern and exciting craft beer bar which sold some interesting drinks. Given there are some operators of fantastic bars nearby, perhaps they could have been prevailed upon to operate this.

I went for the IPA from Caps Off Brewery who are from nearby Bishop Auckland. I asked for half a pint, which the staff member repeated back, but then was clearly pouring a pint. I stopped her before she served the entire pint but she then decided to get another glass and tip what she had already poured into that. That of course fobbed the beer up (which is evident from the photo), so there was a wait whilst that settled. She then tried again and proudly announced that she had given me more than a half. Unfortunately, she was reading the third of a pint line on the glass, so I politely queried that and she poured a bit more in. I have no idea what she did with the small amount of beer that was left, but it was a comedic performance at least which added positively to the visit.

The beer was acceptable, but I wasn’t entirely confident that it was being kept at the appropriate temperature, but it wasn’t so bad as to be a problem. The scampi fries were delicious though, the bar excelled themselves there. I was surprised how few people were in the market, but it did have something of a laid-back atmosphere at least. I hope that Darlington can do something with this market when the refurbishment project is completed, these are such important elements to a town and it would be good to see it done right. Barnsley have really thought through their new market, which is on-trend, affordable and interesting.

The statue of Joseph Pease (1799-1872), the railway pioneer who was born and died in the town. He was involved with the creation of the Stockton and Darlington railway company, on which more in tomorrow’s riveting blog post, as well as being the first Quaker MP. There’s also a link to Norfolk as he married Emma Gurney in 1826, the youngest daughter of the banker Joseph Gurney.

The four panels represent different elements of Pease’s life, including politics, industry, education and the emancipation of the slaves.

Thrifty.

And a quick half a Bass in the Darlington Flyer, which is a Stonegate pub on Skinnergate. The prices are low, the service was polite and the surroundings were comfortable enough. Most of the customers were watching football and minding their own business, but they all seemed to be enjoying their visit. This was a Yates Bar, but Stonegate have rebranded it, which is probably for the best. The pub is opposite the Tanners Hall pub, operated by JD Wetherspoon, and this is perhaps their nearest competition in terms of a pub chain. Stonegate are going for a similar market, although they are orientated a bit more towards showing sports at this venue. All affordable and not at all pretentious, which I think is a very nice compliment.

Back to the Mercure Darlington which I’d stayed at a couple of nights before, although this time I was staying for three nights. I was upgraded again to a superior room, which meant more free drinks and it was once again all peaceful. I mentioned this before, but I was impressed at this hotel, it seemed very well run.

The pigeons looked content as the sun started to set.

September 8, 2022
Tuesday : A Walk Along the River Vltava

This will be another of those posts where I took far more photos than I’ll use here, for anyone who wants to trawl through the whole lot, they’re at https://flickr.com/photos/julianwhite-uk/albums/72177720300849821. Don’t all rush at once…..

I mentioned yesterday about the rather lovely breakfasts at the Ibis hotel, with the additional bonus on this morning of doughnuts. It’s a great shame that more hotels don’t offer blue cheese for breakfast. And doughnuts actually. I also liked that the hotel had glasses of a decent size for the apple and orange juices, rather than the little thimbles that some offer.

This intriguing piece of street art is by the Czech artist Epos 257, a series of traffic signs in a mosaic design. There’s probably a greater meaning to it than that, but I’ll take the stance of letting individuals decide what it means.

My plan for the day was to walk along the Vltava river for some distance and see what happened. It seemed like a good plan when I started off anyway.

The path started off nice and shady with quite a rural feel to what is still a city centre location.

It was far too hot, but there was a breeze from the river and shade from the trees, I thought that it was all quite relaxing and scenic. I accept it wasn’t quite as hilly as whatever mountain range Dave Morgan is sweeping majestically over, but it was still a little adventure of some sorts.

I sat here for a while, contemplating that I’d be in Norwich for an entire month within just a couple of days.

The riverside path ran out here and so I was forced onto the road, but I was then reminded that if I walked for another two miles, then I’d come to a KFC. I was sold on that plan.

It’s a shame that the river path diverts up a bit at this point, but at least the water was still visible so there was some breeze.

I liked that boat thing that looked like a car.

There was some more opportunity for me to sit down on those logs, contemplating how brave that I was being by walking in such extreme heat.

I scrambled down the bank a bit here, hoping I didn’t somehow slip and fall in. I probably wouldn’t have mentioned anything about this if I had of done though to be fair.

I’m pleased to say that I didn’t fall in, but it was nice being right by the river.

Bloody typical. The riverside path was shut off with a barrier.

There was a diversion by the road, but it wasn’t quite the peaceful riverside setting that I had been enjoying.

At this point I could only cross the river over the bridge, or take those steps down in the hope that they reconnected with the river path.

I took the steps down and it transpired they’d been blocked off as well so they didn’t go anywhere.

With no choice, I had to cross the river here. This wasn’t entirely ideal as I had wanted to stay on the same side and also run into the KFC I had managed to incorporate into my plans, so that was that plan wrecked.

But, I decided to make the most of it as I never complain about anything, so I crossed the river.

I saw a few of these signs, often in random places, but they didn’t seem to actually be obeyed by everyone shall we say.

This is looking back across the river at what I would have walked along if it hadn’t all been blocked off.

Some of the artistic elements of the bridge, although I think the visual impact might have been stronger if it hadn’t got graffiti on it.

My plan to walk further along the river on the other side was also moderately ruined by it being shut. Only slightly annoyed, I thought I might as well walk back into the city centre.

Back on the shady riverside path, I was pleased once again. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned, but it was too hot and I was in need of shade.

It was far too hot, so I decided on popping into a petrol station to buy a couple of bottles of chilled drink. I then had a little lie down to cool down.

All quite idyllic, I must admit to enjoying the walk back into Prague.

These are the sort of yachts that I might be able to afford. And I don’t mean the ones at the back of the photo.

Fish of some sort and there plenty of people fishing along the river bank.

Some of the city’s fortifications and the entrance to the Vyšehrad tunnel.

I channelled my inner David Morgan to go storming up these steps. They’re much steeper than the photo suggests.

And I then stormed up these ones, albeit at a slightly slower pace. More Stuart from the NEC sort of pace.

The Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, with the current building dating from between 1887 and 1903, although there’s been a church around this area since the late eleventh century. There was an admission fee and I have to admit on past visits to not being taken by the churches in Prague, not because of their design or heritage, but because they seem to be treated as cash cows in a way that I’ve never seen in countries such as Poland. If the authorities don’t think there’s enough interest, they lock the doors, or that’s how it has felt during previous visits to the city. In terms of tourism, that’s their right, but they do have an obligation to the communities which they serve.

There’s a lot of moral authoritarianism coming from the Vatican about what individuals should do (sometimes designed to be hurtful), but not a great deal of what their churches should be doing. In Poland, a strongly Catholic country, there’s a welcome that is evident in just about every church I’ve been, even in the most tourist of locations, I hope in the future that becomes more apparent here as well. I at first thought that it was perhaps the communist authorities in the then Czechoslovakia that had changed the ethos of what churches can offer, but it appears to be issues within the Czech Republic itself, as is evidenced at https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/02/once-the-same-nation-the-czech-republic-and-slovakia-look-very-different-religiously/.

But, anyway, my random complaining and plunging towards religious debate aside, that’s why there are no photos inside the church.

The church’s graveyard was free to enter and was a peaceful environment which was well looked after.

The church from the side, it all feels well proportioned.

A memorial to those who died from communism.

Some artwork in the Vyšehrad complex, of which the church was part. It’s not known, but this might have been the fortified area from where Prague grew, it’s certainly located high enough up the hill to make it hard to attack (or walk up in the heat). Initially this area was a Royal Palace, but in the fourteenth century it was abandoned and the other fort on the other site of the river, Prague Castle, became the home of the Monarchs. Much of what exists now, including the church, is due to remodelling of the area in the late nineteenth century.

The fortifications, heavily repaired, as there are only small parts of the Middle Ages constructions still standing.

A little promenade on which to overlook Prague. I had been walking on that far riverbank in the morning.

I thought I was really quite brave walking to these dizzying heights whilst it was so hot.

Looking back towards the city centre.

I needed to head back to the hotel as there was an LDWA zoom meeting that I needed to attend, a handy excuse to get out of the heat. Actually, I should stop mentioning the heat, I think I’ve written twice now just how hot it was.

I had saved my welcome drink voucher for when I was back at the hotel. I had the choice of getting something from the bar area, or any drink from the little shop next to reception.

I had a quick walk around the city after the Zoom meeting, my final night in the European Union for what will be months…..

July 29, 2022
Sunday : Canterbury to Prague via London Victoria

The weekend in Canterbury had gone quickly and the four of us in Carena House waved goodbye to the landlady. It was a clean B&B (actually, it was more of a B as there was no breakfast included), although quite quirky, but the welcome was friendly enough, even when Richard changed rooms for reasons unknown. But, I don’t get involved in these matters.

We walked to Tannery Field and had a little look at the bull, designed by local artist Steven Portchmouth. There’s a double purpose to that sculpture, it marks that this was a tanning site, but also that there was a tannery rail track, so they’ve replicated the rails in the artwork.

And there’s some more information about the bull for those who want to know even more.

It was a similar walk to the previous day, with West Gate in the background. It was still too hot.

Back in Wetherspoons, which I accept shows a complete lack of originality, but I didn’t have long and there was a power point here which was handy for ensuring my devices were fully charged for the day ahead. The poached egg was only just runny, they keep getting these wrong now, but that’s my fault, I probably should have gone to a local cafe.

Back again also to Canterbury West railway station, where we set off from the day before.

And the sizeable waiting room, with an absence of power points. I had another little debacle at this railway station, as I had stupidly used my Chase card to buy my rail ticket. The collection machine was having none of it, but this is a known fault with Chase cards on the network, as confirmed both by them and also by Great Western Railways. Chase had said the workaround was for the ticket desk to print the ticket (which isn’t really a solution to their dodgy arrangements in this area), but the man on the desk said he couldn’t do that. I wasn’t going to argue, although I’ve noted that other ticket desks have managed to, but he was helpful enough to wave me through the barriers so I could get to the platform.

My plan was to go and speak immediately to the train guard to tell him of my little predicament, which was a good strategy. The guard said he couldn’t print the ticket either as his machine didn’t have that functionality (there’s a lot of little issues in terms of consistency within the rail network), but that it didn’t matter, he’d wave me through the barriers at London Victoria.

Another routine complaint of mine, there isn’t space in a rail carriage for five seats across, and I am unanimous in that…. Anyway, we got about 100 metres down the track before the Southern ticket inspectors came to interrogate passengers, but fortunately, the train guard noted this and told the inspectors I had a ticket but the machine was broken at the railway station. The inspectors looked confused, as the machine wasn’t broken, just it wouldn’t print my ticket, but they didn’t pursue the matter. They came back through the train twice, with one of them forgetting they had spoken to me already, but the other was more alert.

That meant at London Victoria station I had to get through the barrier as I still didn’t have a ticket printed out. The customer in front of me told the gate guard that “the guard had forgotten to print my ticket” which was not an excuse that was accepted. For about two minutes there was an argument about this, with the gate guard saying that he didn’t believe the guard on-board had forgotten, and even if he had, the customer should have reminded him. Voices were raised and it was bloody clear that the customer didn’t have a ticket, but he was let through anyway. This is a fault with the rail network, what’s the point of this expensive set-up if people are just let through anyway? I was slightly worried that the gate guard would instead have an argument with me, but I showed him my booking reference for the ticket that I couldn’t print and I was let through without dispute. I think it’s fair to say, it’s not hard to get through those barriers without a ticket.

It was time then to get on the Victoria Line for a couple of stops, to then board the Piccadilly Line to get to Heathrow, a moment of excitement as that meant a few days overseas, the last I’d get for several weeks. No delays here, all was going well.

Back at Heathrow T5, which wasn’t particularly busy despite all the fears of overwhelmed airports. The flights that have been trimmed seemed to have helped operations though, with the wait at security being relatively minimal.

The BA lounge has gone from self-service to order via app, back now to order at a counter. Here’s the menu for the lounge, a choice of meatballs, pie, vegetable curry or vegan balls.

I opted for two steak pies with a can of Brewdog Jet Stream, living the dream…. These pies aren’t world class, but they’re moreish (as are many things with me) and sufficiently tasty for my needs, especially when I get chance to ask for extra gravy.

These raw juices were rather delicious, although I suspect I overdosed on fruit with them. There was no fruit health warning in the area which I felt that there could have been.

There’s the green sludge of the raw juice in the background. And another highlight, crisps have finally returned to the lounge, so what a time to be alive!

And even more excitingly (I don’t get out much), the ice cream has returned to the freezers.

The flight was departing from Gate A1 but I wasn’t entirely sure this was well managed, as there weren’t enough seats and there was a paucity of announcements. Standing there for thirty minutes was fine in terms of time, although the terminal in this area was quite hot.

None of these dispensers were functioning at the airport, another one of Heathrow’s little short cuts I imagine.

Ready to board the BA0858 flight to Prague on aircraft G-EUYT, which I’ve travelled on before when going from Heathrow T5 to Warsaw.

The interior of the aircraft and I had an exit row seat by the window. The flight was very busy and at near capacity, so there was the usual faffing around trying to fit ridiculous numbers of arguably oversized bags into the overhead lockers.

We took off over 30 minutes late, which is always slightly frustrating on a night flight, especially when I had plans to catch the last bus of the day in Prague. Fortunately, we landed on time as the pilots were able to make up the time during the flight. There was nothing much notable about the flight, which is always a positive as far as I’m concerned.

The standard in-flight snack of crisps and a small bottle of water.

At Prague airport and there was more queueing as UK travellers now need a stamp in their passport. Fortunately my fast walking had meant the queue wasn’t too long when I arrived, I think I was through border control in under ten minutes.

Rather random, but I liked the little aircraft shaped holes they had made in the benches. I had visited Prague a few months ago and remembered where the ticket machines were to buy bus tickets, something which saved a few minutes of uncertainty.

I caught the last 191 bus of the day, with just a couple of minutes to spare. It wouldn’t have mattered as a night service then kicked in, but this saved me over thirty minutes, so I pleased to be able to catch it.

The bus journey takes around 40 minutes and I was fortunate with my hotel choice, as there was a bus stop just a one minute walk away. It goes direct from the airport to the city centre, or at least the west bank of the river so that people can take another bus or tram to get elsewhere in Prague.

Off the bus and ready for my big one minute walk to the hotel. It’s rare that they’re such short treks at this time of night and I had already alerted the hotel that I’d be late. I’m not sure they care to be honest as they have 24 hour reception desks, but I like to let the hotel know of my plans in case they flog off my room to someone else and they replied promptly and politely telling me all was fine with arriving late.

And here it is, the Ibis Praha Mala Strana, a well reviewed Accor hotel on the west side of the river which isn’t an area that I’ve much explored before in my previous visits to the city. The entrance, for reasons unknown, is tucked away on the far side of the building, but the signage was sufficiently clear for me not to get muddled up.

Typically, someone had just checked in despite it being after midnight, so I had a little bit of a wait, but that gave me enough time to take photos of their shop area. The staff here were always friendly and welcoming, this transpired to be one of my favourite Accor hotels.

My welcome gift was doughnuts and I was very pleased indeed with that. I just knew that this was my sort of hotel.

And the room, the standard Ibis layout, all clean and comfortable. I’m still quite content with this sort of room layout, it’s functional, it has a desk, working wi-fi and space for storage. Given that I had such a late arrival into Prague, I was surprised that I was able to make such timely progress to be in the hotel just after midnight. That gave me enough sleep before breakfast, but more on that in the next riveting instalment of this blog as it transpired to be relatively memorable (or as memorable as a hotel breakfast can realistically be).

July 27, 2022
Tuesday : Meander along the River Warta

Another short post today, I was occupied with work related things for much of the day, before going on a little meander along the River Warta.

This is Park Tadeusza Mazowieckiego which was opened in 2014, named after Tadeusz Mazowiecki (1927-2013) who was the first non-communist Prime Minister of the Third Polish Republic between 1989 and 1991. The Polish authorities rarely celebrate any of the communist leaders and the timing was deliberate to mark 25 years of political freedom.

The city doesn’t have much development by the River Warta, although that’s primarily as this stretch of land floods which wouldn’t be ideal.

Unlike in the UK, where there’s apparently a heatwave at the moment, it’s quite cool in Poland, although the tree cover made it even more tolerable.

Most Świętego Rocha and although this bridge was constructed between 2002 and 2004, there’s been a crossing here since the fourteenth century. The wooden structure fell down in 1771 and it took longer than anticipated for them to build a new one, instead a ferry ran between the two sides of the river. After much dithering about and numerous failed attempts, a replacement bridge opened in 1913. It didn’t last as long as they might have wanted, as the Polish army blew it up in September 1939 to try and slow the advance of the German military. A temporary bridge was slung up (I’m not sure if that’s an engineering term, my friend Liam will know) in 1945 and a steel bridge stood here between 1949 and 2002.

It’s a pleasant walk along the river, the left-hand side is for pedestrians and the right-hand side is for cyclists.

The river, with Poznan Cathedral visible in the background.

The firm track runs out half-way along, so I diverted up along the bank.

Park Stare Koryto Warty, which is on a stretch of land which was water until they dumped soil on it in the 1960s. It was turned into a park in 2015 and there’s quite a large playground for children as well as an amphitheatre arrangement. There has been some manipulation of the river around here in recent decades and apparently there are plans to make some further changes in the future.

I’m always intrigued by old buildings, especially one where bits have been knocked off it. I have no idea what the building was used for, but it’s got a prominent riverside location, I can imagine it’ll be flats in twenty years.

In the background is Poznan Cathedral which is located on Ostrów Tumski, or Cathedral Island. It doesn’t look it, but it is still an island and it’s where the city grew up from.

A view from the bridge, lovely and cool with all that cloud cover.

The Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, located in front of the cathedral, which was built during the 1430s and 1440s and served as a collegiate church. It had started to fall apart by the middle of the nineteenth century, but a reconstruction of the building took place between 1859 and 1862.

This column with a statue of Our Lady Immaculate dates from 1886.

And then the main event, Poznan Cathedral, of national importance not just as one of the earliest Christian churches in Poland, but because numerous early Poland leaders, such as Mieszko I, the founder of the Polish state, are buried here. I’ve visited the cathedral a few times before, but I think they were mainly pre-blog (it’s hard to imagine such a time, I know).

The first church here, likely from the early tenth century, was expanded into a cathedral in 968 and St. Peter is the patron. A new cathedral was constructed in the mid eleventh century, of which fragments remain, before it was mostly reconstructed in the fifteenth century in the Gothic style.

There were numerous rebuilds over the centuries, but a major one took place following the Second World War, when substantial damage was done to the cathedral. One minor advantage in rebuilding a cathedral after a disaster is that some archaeological features can be uncovered, and partly based on these it was decided to return the building to its Gothic style.

The grand pulpit is from the eighteenth century, although it’s not from here, it was brought from the church in Milicz. There’s a crypt under the cathedral which I’ve been in before, I’ll put photos up of that at some point.

Walking back to the city centre, a view of the river from the other side of the bridge.

This memorial commemorates Action Bollwerk, an attack on 21 February 1942 by the Polish Home Army against the German occupiers. The Poles set fire to numerous German warehouses, causing substantial damage to them with their contents including food and military uniforms. The Germans executed many of those involved and there’s a square in the city named after the bravery of those involved.

Duzy Ben are an alcohol retailer, who I assume sponsored this rather glorious piece of street art showing what Poznan used to look like.

And that’s the end of the Poznan expedition, I returned to the hotel as there was an LDWA meeting of group representatives (by Zoom, they hadn’t flown 30 people over to Poland, although that would have been a marvellous idea) and picked up my welcome drink (albeit belatedly) of a dunkel from Paulaner. I’ve been really rather impressed by the Ibis Poznan Centrum, I’m sure they’ve just rebranded half the hotel as Ibis, because the rooms are sizeable and feel more Novotel than Ibis.

July 13, 2022
Friday : Cheesecake, 1956 Poznan Protests, Express Oriental and a Walk Around the Park

After checking out of my Ibis hotel after a peaceful stay, I went on another little stroll around Poznan, with this being Corpus Christi Church. I learned something new here about host desecration, which is the process of when Jews in the medieval period were accused of deliberately destroying the sacred host. This state of affairs annoyed the Catholic as it involves the body of Christ and all that.

I can’t remember if I saw this image a few weeks ago at the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya in Barcelona, but it’s an example of the desecration. As with many of these things, a lot of the allegations made against the Jews were untrue, designed to cause division in the community or as an excuse to expel the Jewish residents. This is relevant in Poznan as apparently this happened here and where the authorities found the desecrated host, King Władysław Jagiełło decided to build Corpus Christi Church to mark the event.

The church is in active religious use, although isn’t routinely open to the public, but the building isn’t in great condition as can be seen in the first photo. The frontage of the church, as visible in the above photo, is though better.

A statue commemorating the life of Hipolit Cegielski (1813-1868), a local man who was an industrialist and social activist. Krzysztof Jakubik designed the statue and it was installed here in 2009 to mark his contribution to the city, including the foundation of the first Polish newspaper in Poznan, called Gazeta Polska.

As I again didn’t have breakfast at the hotel, I this time went to Da Vinci caffe bar for a little snack.

Rather decadent surroundings, with a friendly welcome from the staff member at the counter.

Cheesecake and latte, a suitably delicious breakfast. That slice of cheesecake is bigger than the photo looks, I probably didn’t need to eat it all.

The city’s Imperial Castle, a slightly odd building was isn’t really a castle at all, it’s more a palace constructed by the Germans in 1910 for Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor and the King of Prussia. It was used as Government offices after the war, but was also designed to be used as a personal flat of Adolf Hitler and substantial amounts of reworking took place in the early years of the Second World War to deliver that. By 1943, they’d given up with that plan, their efforts were being redeployed to stop the Soviet advance on the eastern front.

A maths thing for Nathan and Richard, this commemorates Henryk Zygalski (1908-1978), a mathematician who was born in Poznan and was involved in cracking Enigma. He remained in the UK after the end of the Second World War, teaching maths in a small provincial school. I wonder whether his students were aware of his contribution towards the war effort….

I’m not sure what the two aircraft were doing. Well, obviously they were flying, but beyond that.

As I mentioned yesterday, there’s no shortage of construction work going on across the city. It’s rather lovely to see all this work and investment taking place to improve the infrastructure.

The 1956 memorial is a reminder of the horrors of Soviet control of Poland, when in June 1956 the authorities ruthlessly suppressed a trade union strike. 10,000 soldiers were brought in by the communist authorities, and they massacred 49 civilians during street fighting, including the murder of 13 year old Romek Strzałkowski, with a street in Poznan now being named after him. 28 June is an annual day of remembrance to mark the bravery of those involved with the uprising, which is now seen as an important milestone in the defeat of communism.

In the years that followed, the authorities tried to suppress information about the atrocity that the Soviet and Polish authorities had committed, but following the advent of Solidarity in the 1980s, the truth started to out once again. This enormous memorial was installed here and unveiled on 28 June 1981, which wasn’t an ideal situation for the authorities at the time who most certainly didn’t want it. But, despite their efforts, it went up and 200,000 people were present at the unveiling, including Anna Strzałkowska, the mother of the little boy who had been killed.

That reads ‘Poland Reborn to the Sacred Heart’, with reference to when the country regained its independence in 1918.

I mentioned yesterday about how in 1940 the Germans destroyed the first statue in Poland of Adam Mickiewicz. The Poles didn’t like that, so in 1960 they built this much larger statue of him instead, designed by Bazyli Wojtowicz. Adam, if I might call him that, is today wearing the colours of Ukraine, which seems very fitting in this square, which is now named after him.

In 1956, the Soviet tanks rolled into Poznan, like they do today in Ukraine. People cannot be subjugated. Anyway, away from politics…

Designed by Edward Furstenau, this building was constructed between 1905 and 1910 to be used by the Prussian Royal Academy, but it’s today used by the Adam Mickiewicz University for lecture and conference halls.

The railway tracks, and I was intrigued to see why they had closed off the underpass.

I’m not entirely sure why I was so intrigued by this. Sometimes I fear this blog veers into the irrelevant. Actually, nearly every post veers off on that course, but there we go.

Dworzec Letni, or Summer Railway station, which was built by the Prussians as a private railway station for Emperor Wilhelm II. Known then as Kaiserbahnhof, the Polish railways in 2011 connected the building back up as part of the station and it goes down to the platform still. They’re put some information boards up on the building to note the work that took place.

After all that history, I needed food, so I went for Express Oriental.

It’s self-service and customers pay at the end depending on how heavy their plate is, a concept that seems more common in mainland Europe than in the UK.

It looked suitably delicious and judging by the number of customers, it was also quite popular which seemed a good sign. Incidentally, most of the other customers were using chopsticks, but I’m not highly trained in using those, so I stayed with the knife and fork that I’m better trained on.

That fried chicken with almonds looked particularly moreish. However, I had to show self-control, which is a little rare for me, as I didn’t want to break the scales with the weight of my plate.

Mango lassi, I had to have that!

I accept my presentation here isn’t great, but it’s not easy to place food delicately on the plate in this sort of set-up. The food and drink cost just over £5, which I thought was entirely reasonable. I also liked the size of the plates, they were like Alan Partridge’s big plate.

This slightly complex piece of street art is certainly very different in terms of its creation and it’s by Sten & Lex of a random person they knew. It’s a combination of paper which is partly cut out and then painted, creating this unique effect. There’s more of their work on their web-site at https://stenlex.com/category/en-plein-air/.

Our Lady of the Queen church, constructed between 1904 and 1907 as a Protestant church, but it became Catholic following the end of the Second World War.

It’s a pleasant little church and there’s a market behind it, mostly selling fruit and vegetables, so I didn’t linger there.

Poland has become very enthused with these parcel delivery boxes, which I know are common across the world, but they seem more used here. I took a photo of this as there’s actually another one about fifteen metres down the pavement, but it’s got green plants on the side to camouflage it, but it’s an indication of how much they’re used.

I had a little walk to John Paul II park (Park Jana Pawła II w Poznaniu) and was pleased with the state of the weather and it rained a little soon after this. I’m glad the days of hot weather are gone, and as loyal readers (or the loyal reader) will note, the blog posts get longer when it’s not too hot.

I had a meander around, it’s a decent park which was only created in 1970, mostly on top of the debris they’d dumped there from Poznan’s war damage.

There’s a lake and numerous walking areas, all rather pleasant.

The park was named after the Pope in 1983 following his visit to Poznan on 20 June of the same year. A slightly staggering one million people came out to see him, which is an impressive number by any standard, although there was a political element to proceedings then, as well as religious. On the same day he beatified Urszula Ledóchowska and this memorial was put up to mark his visit.

A memorial to Cyryl Ratajski (1875-1942), the Mayor of Poznan who famously refused to give the keys to the city hall to the Germans when they invaded the city. This rather glorious memorial was installed here in 2002 in front of the city’s central financial building.

Excuse all the photos, but this is an outstanding conversion of a former brewery into a shopping centre. Stary Browar has two main wings and over 200 shops and restaurants. There are numerous art installations throughout the site, but there will likely be more about this shopping centre over the next few days on this riveting blog.

The reason for that likely burst of more posts about the shopping centre is that I’ve moved hotels to the Ibis which is located opposite.

It’s an odd set-up, the Novotel and Ibis share the same building, the same reception and seemingly much else. Nice room though, with desk, which is lovely. The windows don’t open, but the room is freezing cold which I like, so no complaints on that front. The staff members were friendly and helpful, it feels like a well managed hotel. I haven’t got anything to complain about yet anyway.

What a lovely gesture and the peanuts were delicious. Very much appreciated.

And the view from the hotel window. All really rather lovely.

July 8, 2022
Wednesday : London Luton to Poznan with Wizz Air

After my quite scintillating story of getting from Norwich to London Luton Airport (that in itself is a bit aspirational, Luton is hardly in London but I won’t go off on that tangent) it starts again in the airport terminal. I had enjoyed a pre-departure nap at home, so was planning to be hugely productive overnight in getting things done, which I’m pleased to say did work out. I know Dave Morgan will be once again surprised and delighted at hearing about these exploits of my very slightly odd travel.

Two points. Firstly, I can’t relax before a flight, I have to keep checking the board. Secondly, note the only flight on the entire board that was showing as delayed.

So, what is there to do at London Luton overnight? Nearly nothing if I’m being honest. There is limited seating in the airport, although fortunately, I did find a space, not least as I got there so early. It’s a terminal which can’t really cope with the number of passengers it gets, and there were in the hundreds of people waiting at the terminal overnight for their morning flights, far more than when I was at Heathrow T3 a couple of weeks ago. I was pleased to note that the Pret landside opened early, so I moved there to enjoy a single can of Coke and three hours of charging my devices with their electricity. I’m not entirely sure they made much from my largesse. It wasn’t that busy though, I didn’t stop someone else from sitting down as it was never full.

Going through security was easy, other than my superglue was spotted in my liquids bag and they went off to test it. I’m not sure if there’s some odd drugs related use for it as that’s the machine they used, to swab it for drugs. The lady at security asked why I had superglue and I replied that it’s because I break a lot of things and want to fix them quickly. She seemed happy at that slightly odd answer. It’s actually because I was worried about my shoe breaking last year, which I’ve since replaced, but I’ve decided the superglue might be useful for all manner of reasons, so I’ve kept it.

After lots of faffing about, and nearly entirely catching up on this bloody blog, gate 30 was announced for the Wizz Air flight to Poznan. I have no sort of priority on this flight and certainly didn’t pay for that benefit, so I meandered slowly around the back of the queueing system, whereas the people in the above photo are rushing to go through the priority line. I got to the front of my queue for unimportant people and a staff member waved me forwards. I mention I’m not priority and she shrugged and said she didn’t mind either way, which ironically meant I ended up ahead of most of the people who had been rushing. This had the exciting benefit and advantage of my being able to stand further ahead on the stairs down to the aircraft.

Here’s the aircraft, which had been slightly delayed on its inbound journey, hence why we were operating around forty minutes late at this point. It’s an A320 aircraft, registration G-WUKD, which Wizz Air have operated since new in 2018.

The boarding process. I had let people get ahead because I kept faffing about taking photos of the aircraft. I think people thought I didn’t get out much, but I just wanted to ensure this blog had some photos that weren’t blurry. Selfless I tell you, absolutely selfless of me.

I could hardly deal with the excitement of being in a middle seat for two hours. But, I paid £8 for this flight, so there’s no way that I have anything to complain about. The aircraft wasn’t particularly comfortable, but it’s a short haul journey that isn’t much longer than some bus journeys, so it was perfectly sufficient. It was also just about full, although the lady in the row behind me was on the phone to someone in the terminal who had somehow missed the flight. She didn’t seem that concerned about the fact that her friend wasn’t going to get on the flight, I had hoped for a little more drama if I’m being honest.

I was quite embarrassed (although I’m not sure why, there’s a limited amount I can ever do about these things) at the British passenger who had a go at a Polish member of cabin crew, as he said he wanted to sit on the back row. The back row is often sealed on Wizz Air flights, sometimes for trim reasons of aircraft safety and sometimes because the crew sit there. Anyway, the helpful member of cabin crew politely told the man three times he couldn’t sit there. He replied “I’m sitting here, that’s the end of it”. It wasn’t the end of it, the crew member suddenly got bored of being polite and replied “Sir, you will need to leave the aircraft” and she clearly meant it. He argued, she stood there and asked him to make his decision. He grumpily moved back to his assigned middle seat further down the aircraft, but only after giving her some more abuse. It’s sad to see to be fair, but I’m pleased the crew member stood her ground, but I get the impression that she’s used to it, which is perhaps an even greater shame. The pilots sounded professional as well, we ended up arriving around thirty minutes later than expected, and they kept everyone updated.

The airport terminal in Poznan is visible in the background, but we needed a bus to take us to the non-Schengen gates at the airport. I just held back, I was in no rush, but once again, fortune favoured me and I joined a queue which for reasons unknown moved so quickly that I was at the border control desk way ahead of those in the other parallel lines who had started queueing up before me. Then I got delayed because the border control lady, who was perfectly amicable and friendly, decided she would count my time in the EU. It seems this can only be done manually, there’s currently no way of them doing this using technology, so she carefully worked through all my passport stamps and it took her a fair while. I didn’t want to undermine this process, she was doing her job carefully, but I knew I was within the limits as I carefully use a Schengen calculator to ensure I’m not spending too much time in the EU. She thanked me for my patience and I was on my way, pleased to be back in Poland.

They were then stopping every traveller and asking if they had food. I clearly didn’t, I rarely keep food in my bag long as I’m too excited to eat it rather than carry it about (my food I mean, not the bag), but another man had his egg taken off him. I have no idea why he had an egg, I assume it was hard-boiled though unless he had been very careful during the flight.

With all that excitement out of the way, I got a ticket for the bus. It’s possible to walk from Poznan airport to the city centre, but it’s a ninety minute walk and, frankly, I couldn’t be bothered, especially since the bus ticket is under £1. Dave Morgan would be horrified, I hope he doesn’t read this. I think he walks all distances of under 40 miles.

The bus went to the central railway station in Poznan, which is a city I’ve visited before I think on three occasions. I do perhaps need to start going to some new places, but I like the reassurance of these reliably excellent Polish cities.

Back in the Ibis Poznan Stare Miasto, which I had forgotten I’d stayed at a couple of years ago. All reliable as ever, friendly staff, a functional room, working air conditioning (although, fortunately, it’s not too hot in Poland, unlike in Krakow a couple of weeks ago) and a window that opens. Just lovely.

My welcome drink of a Żywiec Porter. It’s definitely good to be back.

There’s a Biedronka supermarket next to the hotel and I was sufficiently tired not to have to want to go finding food anywhere else, so this was a handy option. So this little selection, which looks like a kid who likes alcohol has bought it (there’s a reason for that), just had to do. I’ve posted this so I can comment on the price, this came to just over £5. Note the British cheddar cheese at the back, which would have likely cost about £3 on its own in the UK. I probably didn’t need all this, but I hadn’t eaten all day and I felt I deserved a little treat.

July 7, 2022