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Category: Poland

Poznan – National Museum in Poznan (Jozef Faworski)

This photo is from my 2019 visit to the city’s National Museum in Poznan, I was looking back on the huge heap of images I have that I never did anything with. This one is actually quite forward thinking.

It’s a portrait of Weronika Piędzicka(nee Szczawińska) with her son Alojzy, painted by Józef Faworski in around 1790. For three years the artist painted members of this family, in what the gallery notes is “an earthy style”, which really means that he didn’t try and sex them up a bit. Instead, the aim is not to show fake natural beauty, but to show a reality, focusing on the personality and, in this case, the motherly bond of the woman in the artwork. They add that it isn’t perhaps as technically developed as some western painters at the time, which seems an entirely fair point, but that it’s important as it’s an early artwork of a non-Royal member of society.

Apparently it was the habit at the time of depicting children as small things with grown-up faces which apparently Faworski didn’t do, although I have some slight doubts. And, I like that the artist seemingly shoved a little still life selection at the front to show his artistic prowess. But, I rather like the whole underlying tone here that this is an eighteenth century artwork which is all about showing the real person, and not a fake personality. Here we are nearly 250 years on and famous people still have their images tinkered about with using Photoshop to remove their blemishes. Józef Faworski, an artist ahead of his time.

July 11, 2022
Saturday : Beer, Burger and Churches in Poznan

Breakfast with a view in the shopping centre opposite the hotel. McDonald’s in Poland sell Jalapeño burgers which cost about 80p and are a suitably cheap and delightful breakfast option at nine in the morning. No Egg McMuffins or whatever rubbish you get in UK McDonald’s. I’m not sure why Jay Rayner would think about all this, but I’m sure that he’d approve.

I was lucky to get a seat with all the customers deluging the food mall.

Looks like Caffe Bimba in the old tram carriage has closed down. I can’t complain that I’ll miss it, since I’ve never actually been in it, but it is something of a iconic scene.

This sign notes that the German physicist Max von Laue (1879-1960) studied in this school between 1887 and 1891, at a time when the city was part of Prussia. He refused to help Hitler develop the German nuclear programme and remained opposed to the Nazis and their work.

The building is still used as a secondary school today. Excuse the angle of the photo, there’s a barrier to stop people being hit by trams and, if I’m being honest, I couldn’t be bothered to traipse all the way around to the other side of the road. My enthusiasm for this blog isn’t always endless.

The interesting Zbigniew Zakrzewski Gardens which aren’t named after the local Poznan footballer, but after the local economist who also wrote numerous local history books. This should be a fountain with water spraying out, I’m not sure why it wasn’t working, but I bravely walked across anyway taking the risk that the water wouldn’t start gushing out. I always have half an eye on everything being some sort of social media prank, so I can imagine the water starting just as I’m ready to take a photo in the middle of it.

Although recently modernised, this area of land has been a park since 1840, one of the first in the city. The Prussians decided they’d name the park after Erich Ludendorff (1865-1937) who was a war leader, that’s the sort of thing they wanted to celebrate back then. As an aside, Ludendorff refused to accept the rank of Field Marshal from Hitler in the 1930s, he said that he wouldn’t be promoted to a high rank by a corporal. The park and the trees were badly damaged during the Second World War, but that seems to be the story of most things in the city.

The park was named after Zbigniew Zakrzewski in 2008 and this figure is designed to be a professor wondering where the rain was, I’m not sure if this was meant to be Zakrzewski as he was a professor. The sculptures have an environmental aim, to make a thing of the ecological threats to the earth.

The figures in the park were all designed by Norbert Sarnecki.

This niche appears to be a modern recreation of an older feature, which they’ve included in the photograph. I know it’s a modern recreation as I had a look at Google Streetview of a few years ago, and it’s not there.

The Sisters of Charity nunnery which was established in 1595 by a group of Grey Sisters and it’s still in use as a church.

Standing opposite the nunnery is St. Francis Church, with the first consecrated building on this site having been completed in 1473. During the Swedish Deluge of 1657 the papers and the books of the church were pinched, with some of them still located today in the Royal libraries of Stockholm.

The church interior, but, of course, the story goes the way it so often does, with this being badly damaged during the Second World War. The Nazis used the building as a workshop, destroying most of the things in it.

The repairs to the church were mostly completed by 1972, although they weren’t finally finished until 1983, nearly half a century after the damage had been done. There’s a little collection of photos in the back of the church which shows some of the work.

It’s a peaceful, and long, church, and I had to be discreet with my photos as there were people praying quietly who I didn’t want to annoy or disturb. It’s a slightly odd arrangement that visitors have to climb some stairs to get to the main part of the church, but the reason is a sensible one, it’s to stop the flooding which once caused so many problems in this part of Poznan.

This church bell is a bit broken, so they put it here in 1980 (I assume they weren’t sure where else to dump it), but it was in use within the church from 1730.

More helpful old imagery of the city centre, this is from just after the end of the Second World War.

The square and they’ve done a really good job here, as this was until relatively recently just a giant car park. People don’t need to drive cars around so much in city centres, they’ve reclaimed this for pedestrians and it’s a lovely open space. The area was formerly occupied by St. Mary Magdalene Church, which at over 100 metres in height was one of the tallest in Poland. The Swedish attacked it in 1657 and caused substantial damage, but the city decided they couldn’t afford to repair it, so they left it for a while. Then, in 1773, the remains were hit by lightning and the church fell down. It was decided by the authorities that they’d better do something, so they rebuilt it, but whilst rebuilding it, it fell down in 1777. I think I’d be annoyed at the civil engineers involved with that one. They were having a think about what to do with it, before in 1780 the bits that remained were destroyed by fire. After another little think, they pulled it down in 1802 and flatted the area to make a square.

This 12 metre sculpture was designed by Piotr W Wełak and marks where the church once stood. Some of the remains of the foundations are visible to members of the public under the glass in a couple of places, but I can’t really take useful photographs as it just reflects back.

Formerly the Jesuit College, this is the Municipal Office for the city, the building dates from 1571, although is of course much changed since then. Very observant readers will note that I took photos of the other side of this building yesterday. I accept, of my two readers, it’s unlikely anyone noticed. But, undeterred, I persist.

The authorities in the city have some beautiful buildings from which to work from.

I’d had enough walking, so I went to Whiskey in the Jar, which is a small Polish chain that I’ve written about before (Gdansk and Warsaw).

The same menu as the other venues and the same delicious food. The beer is just Lech, but that suffices for a lunchtime refreshment. Man cannot live on craft beer alone. Well, they probably can actually, if served with burgers. Service was friendly and personable, although I struggled to pay at the end of it. This was another time when I ordered with what I consider my beautiful Polish, which the server understood, and then replied in English. Incidentally, that bloody knife was impaled in the board, I’m surprised I don’t do myself an injury with some of the food that I order.

This is the Holy Cross Lutheran and Methodist Church which was constructed between 1885 and 1886, although they decided against the new national Union Church which the Prussians wanted them to. Damaged during the Second World War, it was reconstructed by the Evangelical Methodists, although it doesn’t look decadently looked after today.

The Little Prince Mural which was painted in 2019 and has the lovely back story that it’s from the Open Door Organisation who support children with disabilities.

The work on digging up Poznan continues.

Colourful houses in front of the building zone in the city’s main square.

The city hall has been in this spot since the late thirteenth century, with the current building being mostly from the period between 1550 and 1560. It’s from this building that Heinrich Himmler gave an infamous speech in 1943 that was the first time a senior Nazi had admitted the mass extermination of the Jewish population. He did that as he must have assumed that the audience listening to him were fully aware of what was going on. Continuing on the theme of destruction I mentioned earlier on in this post, the building was badly damaged during the final stages of the Second World War, but was restored soon after and a more thorough repair took place in the 1990s.

A link to Sussex on the bar at Piwna Stopa, a bar which I’ve been to before, but has a suitably interesting ambience to make me want to return.

The beer board, all looking nicely balanced and lots of interesting options, although I was marginally disappointed that they’d run out of the Tankbusters Pastry Killer. The service was friendly and engaging, it’s a very decent craft beer bar this, with the team member merrily recommending beers of the style I wanted.

The interior of the pub is quirky and interesting, with lots of books about the place.

I went for two beers, both from the ever wonderful Funky Fluid brewery, these are Zingy and DDH Cloudy. It reminds me that more British pubs should have Polish beer, as Funky Fluid continue to surprise and delight me.

The beer board at Ministerstwo Browaru, usual friendly and welcoming service.

It’s a cellar bar, the interior is suitably slightly dark and atmospheric.

This isn’t under-poured, it’s not meant to go to the top of the glass and it was certainly very lively when being poured, with the team member taking some time to get this far. It’s the Kia Ora from Browar Gwarek, a fruity DIPA with a tropical taste.

I then went to Aldi to buy salami and crisps, what a time to be alive…. Poznan seems to be one of those cities which is becoming effortlessly on-trend, with a busy feel on a Saturday night, but it doesn’t have the backdrop of fighting, violence, shouting and intimidation that some UK cities have.

July 10, 2022
Thursday : Pizza, Beer and Goodbye to the Prime Minister

I didn’t get breakfast at the Ibis hotel that I was staying at, so I moved my office operations to the city centre Cukiernia Sowa. Look at all that healthy produce!

I went for hot chocolate with cream and a blueberry tart. I’m not going to get involved with politics on this blog other than to say that it tasted all the better for hearing the news during my breakfast that Boris Johnson had resigned.

No, not Jeremy Corbyn, this is the fictional character of Stary Marych, notable for his Poznan dialect which has evolved from this city bouncing between Germany and Poland. It was the Prussian city of Posen until it was restored to Poland in the years following the end of the First World War.

The basilica on the left and the City Hall on the right.

The rather lovely Fryderyka Chopina Park. What is now the City Hall was a Jesuit College between 1572 and 1773 and this park was once the botanical garden for the monks. The communist authorities put a kindergarten here following the Second World War and used the park as the playground, but it has recently been restored again so that the public can access it. Plenty of trees and shady spots, they’ve done a nice job of it.

Given that the park is named after Chopin, I think the statue that was unveiled to him in 1923 is a little small and doesn’t even stand out in the photo. It survived the Second World War because they hid it in 1939, but apparently this one is a copy as the original was damaged in 1997, although I’m not sure how.

I like it when cities provide interesting photo comparisons such as this.

The area in front of the City Hall offices. As an aside, I like the amount of seating everywhere in Poznan.

This looked like something intriguing for me to walk.

And it led to the ballet school, which was once part of the Jesuit buildings. It was used as a school until the middle of the nineteenth century when it became residential buildings, before its new lease of life as the School of Decorative Arts in 1921. It was badly damaged during the Second World War, but was reconstructed between 1954 and 1957.

A little memorial to Olga Sławska (1915-1991) who was the founder and creator of the school, but also a dancer of national importance. Her professional career had ended when the war had broken out, when she also lost her husband, although he had been a wealthy man and so she was able to use that money to create the school. She died in Poznan on 29 April 1991, which was International Dance Day.

The outside of the building. I’m also impressed how the city has put so many information plaques about their buildings around Poznan, shows a certain kind of civic pride I think.

The Roman Catholic Poznań Fara, or more formally known as the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Mary Magdalene and St. Stanislaus, which has held basilica status since 2010.

The building was constructed between 1651 and 1701, using craftsmen from Poland and Italy, which perhaps explains some of the design features internally. Much of the interior was damaged during the Second World War when the Germans used the building as a warehouse, but it structurally survived the conflict relatively undamaged.

The richly decorated interior and those red columns, of which there are sixteen, are entirely decorative and aren’t supporting the structure.

I particularly like the design of those spiral columns in the aisles. I’m sure there’s an architectural name for them, but I don’t know what it is.

A chapel dedicated to Pope John Paul II.

They’re currently digging up the city’s main market square, another major development project to further improve the look of Poznan. This city has always had an air of confidence about it and it’s also one of the wealthiest cities in Poland and has the lowest level of unemployment, which is not far off zero.

The development work has somewhat changed the atmosphere of the square, it’s not quite as peaceful and relaxing to sit outside the restaurants and cafes now. But some of the cafes were still trying their best to carry on as normal.

The monuments around the square are being carefully protected and I like looking into the holes, to try and see the history of how the square developed over time. I couldn’t really see any interesting layers, it just looked like sand everywhere.

The colourful buildings will soon enough look out to a beautiful square.

A sign about the project, which as they note isn’t going to be completed until the third quarter of 2023, so this is a substantial period of change for the city.

I also don’t think that the project has been going for that long, given how much they still seem to be digging up.

They’ve marked on pavements where the city wall used to stand between 1253 and 1793. There are some parts of the walls and towers still visible, although they’re nearly all reconstructions. During the nineteenth century, Poznan also got an outer line of defences further out, when it became known as a fortress city.

Buildings being renovated everywhere.

The Children’s Hospital which was established in 1876, although I think this frontage belongs to the Holy Family Chapel.

The parish church of St. Martin, which signage at the site helpfully notes is the oldest on the left bank of the Warta river, so that’s most of Poznan. The oldest in the city is Poznan Cathedral, on the island of Ostrów Tumsk, which is also the oldest Polish cathedral.

The other end of the church, which was first built in the thirteenth century, before Poznan was even formally founded. The present building is from the early sixteenth century, but it had to be repaired in the 1950s as it suffered from substantial damage during the Second World War.

As this sign notes, the first monument in Poland commemorating Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855) was placed here in 1859, but the Germans removed it during the Second World War. That’s not really surprising, he’s known as one of the great Polish poets and authors, he didn’t quite fit into the Nazi mould and the sort of culture they wanted following their invasion in 1939.

Piotr Wawrzyniak (1849-1910), a Roman Catholic Priest and economist who was important because of his role in promoting the Polish national movement, although I’m not sure that the Prussians appreciated that effort at the time.

They’re digging up large chunks of the city, I suspect it’s going to make it much better when they’ve finished. The money that is pouring into improvements across Poland is impressive and using it for civic projects seems entirely sensible. Although I suppose they could also fund the creation of a Craft Beer Quarter if they had any money left over.

A quick look inside the Galeria MM shopping centre, which isn’t one of the most exciting and takes its name as the two streets that it is located on both begin with the letter M. As good a reason as any I suppose.

Some artwork relating to the Poznan Goats, one of the icons of the city.

It’s not too hot in Poland at the moment, much to my great relief, but this is one of my favourite installations as it helps in keeping people cool if nothing else.

It’s also quite attractive, so a public installation that’s appealing to the eye and helps them cool down.

It’s possible to walk through the middle of the arrangement, which I did on a few occasions as I’m easily pleased by these things.

I didn’t entirely understand this set-up, but it seems to be mostly little sheds selling a variety of food and drink. Like food trucks, but more permanent.

A statue and water fountain.

It was clearly too cold for most people to sit outside, but this is my perfect weather, sitting outside in the wind. I hadn’t had this beer before and perfectly acceptable it was too. The staff member at the stall I selected didn’t speak English, so I was fortunate my Polish language skills include knowing nearly every style of beer that I like. I can’t do anything useful like converse with people, but I can order beer. But that’s enough I think, no point overloading myself with complexity.

All the other customers enjoying the cold.

Pizzatopia and this was bloody lovely. It’s a concept based around craft beer and pizza, so that’s a winner straight away. The system is like Subway, you choose your pizza base, the sauce, the cheese, the toppings and so on, and it’s cooked in just a few minutes. The team members were very engaging and helpfully spoke English, although they’ve put the options in English and Polish which also assists matters.

One of the best pizzas I’ve had, with a very decent IPA to go with it. Very much recommended, this is one of my favourite pizza places and it reminds me of Blaze Pizza in Pasadena, Los Angeles, which had a similar set-up but which didn’t have the craft beer (although it might have done, I can’t remember). Definitely recommended, they’re a small chain at the moment, but I suspect they’ll get bigger quickly with this sort of offering.

And I went for a walk by the River Warta, enjoying that it wasn’t too hot. With the knowledge that Britain will be getting a new Prime Minister, it was a memorable day.

July 8, 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
Thursday – Tuesday : Krakow Visit (Random Photos)

For anyone who wants to see some photos of Krakow in the searing heat, here’s a heap of them…. If they don’t auto-display above, visit https://flickr.com/photos/julianwhite-uk/albums/72177720300343973. A few random comments below as well, what a treat for everyone concerned!

I was intrigued by this building, which looked like it had an interesting heritage frontage. It’s now the Sheraton Hotel and there’s some serious allegations made about this, as it was constructed on the site of the Royal Brewery which was demolished in 2002. The brewery was a listed monument, but it was quickly pulled down and no archaeological investigations took place before the Sheraton was shoved up. The facade is also fake, designed to look like the previous brewery building, it’s an architectural disaster and it won the Archi-Szopa for the worst building design in Krakow.

Did I mention that it was too hot in Krakow? They had a lot of these set up to help visitors and locals, as well as having an entire water truck in the main market square. Poland is very forward thinking, Norwich doesn’t have these.

Love locks and that one in the centre makes quite a statement.

Krakow doesn’t have as many war memorials as cities such as Warsaw, not least because it wasn’t destroyed and flattened in the way that the country’s capital was. This one is in honour to Józefa Piłsudskiego and his infantrymen.

July 6, 2022
Tuesday : Nearly Missing the Bloody Train in Krakow, Finn Air to Heathrow and Ibis Budget

After a few days in Krakow eating pizza and complaining about the heat to anyone who would listen, whilst calming my overheated nerves with the large hotel breakfast every day, it was time to return to the UK. The old railway station is visible in the photo above, but they’ve built a new station building which is linked it to the Galeria Krakowska shopping mall. It was also surprisingly busy for a Tuesday morning at just before 09:00.

The new platforms are in this photo, the old railway station is behind me. Like nearly everywhere in Poland, it’s all very clean and organised.

There were no ticket machines to be seen on the platform which seemed odd. I discovered on the way out that passengers could buy tickets on the train, but I wanted to get this sorted in advance and so I bought mine from the PKP web-site. It’s a ticket that doesn’t need validation and is for a specific train, which is the one that should be leaving from the platform I was standing by after the 09:01 to Gdynia got out of the way. Anyway, the train didn’t move and I heard part of an announcement which was only in Polish, stating that my train to the airport was switching to another platform. I was moderately annoyed as that meant I had to rush, but obviously I didn’t want to run in the Krakow heat. Or indeed run at all, it’s exhausting.

I caught the damn train with thirty seconds to go, but I noted some others didn’t and were still on the wrong platform. They didn’t even check the ticket (I mean the ticket inspectors on the train, not the people on the wrong platform). Anyway, I arrived into the airport as expected, but could have done without the rushing about the place. Clean train and on-time, so I can’t really complain.

I was through airport security in under two minutes and so next was the non-Schengen airport lounge at Krakow Airport, which was small, although luckily I had given myself three hours to sit in it. It reached near capacity by the time that I was about to leave the lounge, and it does feel a little under-sized. Very friendly staff and there are toilets and showers within the lounge complex.

Lard and bits of pepper sliced up, it’s not exactly Greggs is it?

Now we’re talking though.

My starter.

The amuse-bouche. They had a couple of different beers, nothing exceptional, but sufficient for me.

In fairness the chicken salad was very lovely, so that proved to be a useful main course. I never had the lard.

There was a ten minute delay, but nothing too bad, for the return flight to Heathrow.

This was as clear as mud, with a Ryanair and British Airways flight departing at the same time, as well as separate queues for Groups 1-3 and Groups 4 and 5. I guessed the queue correctly when the Groups 1-3 were called, but numerous other customers didn’t, finding themselves in the wrong place. Anyone who tried to access the Groups 1-3 queue without having the correct number on their ticket was sent packing, albeit politely.

As with my outward journey, this was a British Airways flight that they’ve wet leased to be operated by Finn Air. It’s the Airbus A321 with registration code OH-LZN, which Finn Air have operated since the aircraft was new in 2017.

This annoyed me, it started to pour with rain just as I boarded. All week I waited for rain and the moment I get on board to come back what happens?

I’ve blurred this (again) by mistake as I was trying to rush, but I was the first to board. The person in the photo is flight crew and they were all exceptional during the journey, again Finn Air should be proud of their professionalism. Someone in my row seemed quite seedy in the way he was talking to the crew member, but she professionally batted him and his attempt to take her for an Indian meal away.

Got my seat with lots of leg room again. The flight was near full, but the boarding was efficient and well managed. At this point we sat there for around 45 minutes, as the rain that I craved all week was now flooding the airport and so they had to temporarily shut down operations.

The chatty and friendly crew came around with the snack before take-off to ensure everyone remained happy. The water was served after we had taken off.

Safely back at Heathrow T3, ready to spend ten minutes walking around their slalom course. You could practice for an LDWA 100 walking around this.

I’m starting to feel that I know Heathrow T3 far too well.

The Central Bus Station, ready for me to pay for a bus to get me to the Ibis Budget on Bath Road since Heathrow have removed the Free Travel Zone. Yes, I will complain about that in every post for some months, there’s nothing like repetition to cheer the soul.

I had pre-paid for this room at a much cheaper rate, but this is a sign of the ridiculous prices in London. For an Ibis Budget which isn’t that well located to be charging £100 is far from ideal.

I stayed here a few weeks ago, it’s the former Travelodge they’ve converted into Ibis Budget. The windows here don’t open and I asked for a fan, which they said they’d bring to the room, but they didn’t bother. However, I decided the air conditioning worked sufficiently well for me to not traipse down again to ask where the fan was. The hotel though is still receiving deluges of negative reviews about the air conditioning not working, but it appears they should have it all fixed soon enough.

Not that I’m one for complaining, but just I got in the room it started to rain again. That weather is just ideal for me, cloudy and rainy, perfect for exploring a city.

July 6, 2022
Thursday – Tuesday : Krakow Visit (Zeera Indian Restaurant)

It was another hot day in Krakow and I decided the best thing to help me cool down would be a spicy Indian meal. Zeera is located near to the main market square and has some excellent reviews. It’s hidden away a little down a passage, but look out for the signage on the street and just keep walking to the end of the alley. The menu is quite extensive and not unreasonably priced.

It’s not a particularly big venue, there was a couple on a seat near me and there’s some external seating, but otherwise this is pretty much it. Clean and functional, without the need to be all kitschy about the design as some Indian restaurants are, albeit mostly in the UK.

I visit quite a lot of Indian restaurants and am always excited to visit more, especially when I discover that they have mango lassi. Any Indian without it makes me just slightly pre-disappointed about the meal. This one was smooth, cool and very mangoey, a delight.

I was pleased to see Methi chicken as an option, a creamy curry which has the flavour of Fenugreek. The helpful staff member asked if I would like the spice level increased or decreased, but I like lots of spice and so went for that option and I wasn’t disappointed. The curry was served as a generous portion, although used thigh meat which I accept is authentic, although I tend to opt for chicken breast. However, the meat was tender and rich in flavour, with no annoying chewy bits, so this was a good choice from the restaurant. The lemon rice was also suitably packed with the taste of lemon, which is quite important with, well, lemon rice. It all proved to be sufficiently filling.

The service was attentive without being annoying, as I’m not keen on over-attentive service, although accept it’s much better than not having a staff member around. It felt a welcoming venue and the food was as authentic as I’d reasonably expect to get in Poland. Everything was efficient and they didn’t rush me out, although to be fair, I was by that time their only customer so they hardly needed the table. The prices were moderate for Poland, but given their location in Krakow, that seemed reasonable and so this is another venue I’d merrily recommend.

July 4, 2022
Thursday – Tuesday : Krakow Visit (Old Synagogue)

One advantage in a repeat visit to a city is that I’ve likely gone to nearly all the museums there already, so coming back lets me be more selective about the things that I want to see again. This is the city’s old synagogue, originally constructed in the later fifteenth century by Czech Jews who had been forced out as part of the Prague pogrom. The stone memorial in the foreground remembers the 30 Poles who were executed in front of the synagogue on 28 October 1943.

Like many of these buildings, they were altered and changed over the centuries, which was true of this synagogue which was destroyed by fire on numerous occasions. It had fallen into a state of some disrepair by the beginning of the twentieth century, but it was repaired in the 1920s.

The interior and the Jewish bimah, the raised stage where the Torah is read and prayers are made. The Nazis trashed the building during the Second World War, leaving it effectively as a giant toilet with nearly everything inside destroyed or pinched by Hans Frank, who was executed following the Nuremberg Trials. Incidentally, Niklas Frank, the son of Hans, is still alive, although has condemned and tried to understand the evil that his father was involved with.

The interior of the synagogue was repaired in 1956 and the project was funded by the Polish Government, although it was intended to be used as a museum rather than for worship. It remains as a museum to this day and it seems to attracts a large number of visitors who want to see the building and find out more about the Jewish traditions.

A remnant of the stone dating from 1621.

This is one of two areas where the original polychrome decoration has survived.

Outside is a memorial dedicated to the 65,000 Jews from Krakow who were killed during the Second World War. This synagogue is in Kazimierz, the suburb of Krakow where the Jewish community lived, although they weren’t in isolation, they lived alongside the ethnic Poles before 1939. The area is something of a tourist destination now and has a vibrant atmosphere, although the connection with the past feels like it’s becoming fainter. That’s not through a lack of effort from the synagogue or the Jewish community, but it all feels modern and so different from what it must have been like 100 years ago. Although, perhaps that’s the ideal given what has happened, a part of the city that is moving forwards but also remembers its past. But it’s hard to get away from the knowledge that the Jewish community in Krakow is today just 1,000 strong, whereas it was nearly 60,000 in 1931.

July 4, 2022
Thursday : Heathrow T3 to Krakow with British Airways (operated by Finn Air)

After the excitement of being at Heathrow T3 through the night started to become marginally less exciting, I decided to walk through the bright lights of the walkways to get to the main terminal. It’s surprising how quiet Heathrow is at 03:00…..

I was ready. I was ready around 835 minutes before the flight to be fair.

They could probably do with some more seats on the first floor, but it was starting to get a little busier before the security lines opened at 04:30. I was confused why around 40 people were standing in what I thought was an odd place for the security line, at an overflow area. I decided these savvy travellers must know what they were doing, but I was hardly in a rush, so I stood in the normal place. Fortunately, I managed to find myself at the front of the queue and so was the second person (or second non-staff member to be more accurate) to enter airside.

Peace and quiet at duty free.

I’ve never really understood who buys all this stuff, it’s a huge retail area and nothing seems particularly good value to me. I don’t know whether it’s a mix of people buying presents and those who just get excited when they see alcohol for sale. Now, if they had a decent craft beer selection then I might be interested.

Slightly blurry, but there’s no shortage of seating if you go to the airport early. Who needs a hotel? An unnecessary decadence.

I have no idea how I’ve managed to take such blurry photos, but there’s the very quiet oyster and champagne bar or whatever it is. It’s not somewhere I’ve felt the need to spend much time. Actually, as an aside, I don’t really understand it, it’s expensive and I’d have thought if you can afford to go there, you’d likely have airline status to go to a lounge. And it’s a very open place to sit. But there we go, perhaps people like being seen when they’re being decadent.

I’d arrived before any of the shops had opened as well.

The BA lounge opened at 05:00. Well, it’s meant to, the bouncy and happy staff member went to open the First Class section at 05:00 and then she realised there was no-one at the main entrance. At 05:05 an harassed member of staff turns up and the lounge whirs into action. Fair play to her, what a time to get to the airport and the staff have to go through security every day, it must be tiring. Anyway, the First entrance is to the left and the Club entrance is to the right. Two of the customers in front of me were entirely the wrong place, they were going to the Aspire Lounge or whatever it was, and seemed annoyed at BA that they hadn’t made clear it was the BA lounge. The signage on the wall is a clue.

I must have been tired, these photos are dreadful. Anyway, the BA lounge main seating area.

Looking towards the rear, the little business section is to the right. No beer again in the lounge, just Heineken.

The BA order to the table app seems to have been removed, everything is on display again and it’s fair to say that’s it’s beautifully presented when no customer has mauled it all about.

The sausage and bacon rolls, which seem to be a waste of food if I’m being honest. A fair number of people ditch the rolls, including myself, to eat the bacon and sausage. The muffins were soggy and the rolls were hard and inedible, it just seems a waste of BA’s money. They must be able to deliver something better than this. I’m not specifically complaining, well no more than usual, for me, just that they’re spending all this money and delivering a product which is evidently inferior to the lounges around them (although I’d add the First section of the lounge is better, but I haven’t had access to that for years).

I asked a couple of times when the showers would be opening with no-one being sure, and the lovely lady on the First desk (not that I had access to that lounge, it’s just next to where the showers are) was confused why they were shut. She went off to find out and came back very apologetic to say the showers were closed for the week, but she hadn’t been told. I appreciated her help and assistance, but fortunately, there was a solution to this, the Cathay Pacific lounge which opened at 05:30. The staff try so hard in the BA lounge, but the airline doesn’t always seem to want to help them.

Cathay Pacific had showers which were immaculate, so that was that solved. The staff try so hard in the Cathay Pacific lounge and the airline does seem to want to help them. It wasn’t busy, and indeed I was the only person in the lounge for a few minutes, this is the part of the self-service breakfast selection. Spotless as ever.

And the other bit. There’s a selection of sausages, bacon and the like for those who want hot items.

But, yet again, I decided I wanted to order from the chefs at the Asian food counter and got my standard order of Thai coconut and vegetable soup, the Mix Dim sum basket, Fanta and beer. What a time to be alive…. And compare and contrast to the BA lounge. The flight time meant I didn’t really enough time to visit the Qantas lounge for some calamari as it opens a little later, but I was refreshed and ready for the new day after leaving the Cathay Pacific lounge. I’m disappointed to say I won’t be back in T3 for a while, as the flights I had departing from the terminal have been moved to T5.

It was unclear whether there was a priority line at the gate, but I wasn’t going to go hunting for it. The man behind me didn’t have the same restraint, I heard a series of “I will go and look”, “no, we’re entitled to use it” and the like, as his what I assume was wife tried to calm him. He stomped over in the end and asked where the priority line was, before shouting back to wife “we can enter the priority line here”. I admire his determination to sit in the gate slightly quicker than the others, although I have to confess to them following him. I tried to look as embarrassed as the guy’s wife.

The flight was booked with British Airways, but they’ve run out of aircraft, so they’re using Finn Air on a wet lease arrangement. So the pilots and cabin crew are all from Finn Air, whilst the service standard is British Airways. This has the advantage of this seat with lots of leg room, which as far as I’m concerned is the best in the economy part of the aircraft. I think I dozed off for a chunk of the flight and there was no-one sitting next to me, so this felt very spacious.

The mid-flight snack, a smaller bottle of water and a Nutrigrain bar. There was a man in the aisle seat, and we must have both dozed off, as the crew had just left them on the seat for us. The crew were excellent, friendly, personable and engaging, Finn Air should be very proud. Apparently they spend five days in London being put up at hotels, which must be costing BA a fortune, before returning to Helsinki for a few days.

Oh good, a bus to the terminal. Not that it matters, I’m hardly ever in a rush. I noticed that it was too hot.

Although getting a bus did give me time to take a photo of the aircraft, which is OH-LZU, an A321 which Finn Air have operated since it was manufactured in 2018.

It didn’t take long to get through border control, and I decided to use my limited Polish to the border guard. He replied, in Polish, asking if I was Polish as I would have then been in the wrong queue. He soon realised from my garbled answer that I wasn’t. Here’s the front of the terminal and it was evident to me that it was already too hot. I may have mentioned that.

The train from the airport to the city centre, which is over twice the price of the one from Warsaw. That’s the problem with these tourist cities.

I bought a ticket from the machine and then waited excitedly to board. The train was quite busy and unusually, you can buy tickets on board despite there being ticket facilities on the platform. One person showed their bus ticket, but the train guard was having none of it, they had to buy a rail ticket.

I’ve visited Krakow numerous times before, but here’s a quick photo from the city centre as I walked to the hotel in the searing heat. Krakow is a beautiful city, but it is very touristy, so I prefer visiting other cities in Poland, but it’s nonetheless a delight to be back.

Grrrrr, I didn’t entirely like the room, it’s one of these damn Ibis changes to make it feel like a nursing home. I’ve stayed at Ibis Krakow Centrum before, and they had better rooms with a desk and chair. I did query with reception if they had any of the older rooms, but they said they didn’t. Their answer was “we don’t put chairs in rooms any more”. I’m not entirely sure how that is seen as a good idea, as although I understand not everyone has the same requirements as me, a chair isn’t beyond Ibis Budget, let alone Ibis. This is, I think, an upgraded room, as there’s a coffee machine. I didn’t understand the point of that as they gave me two coffees for a five night stay, but those two were delicious I suppose. There’s also water provided, which I appreciated as it’s too hot. The window opened so that was positive, but the air conditioning in the room sort of worked, not to make the room as freezing as I’d like, but sufficient to be comfortable.

I appreciated the note though, that was kind. I’m not really into red wine, but it was a gift and that was very nice of them, so I did drink it as I didn’t want to be rude. I’m selfless like that.

Wwith that, I was back in Poland, although I had some sleep to catch up on.

July 4, 2022