Eastern Poland: Revisiting Zwierzyniec Brewery

Was happy to get to get to Zwierzyniec brewery again recently:

You can drink great beer at an outside bar at the brewery.

Have just read that the brewery's history dates back to the 17th century, although the current building only goes back as far the 19th century.

At Kerry Airport

Saw this Dublin-Kerry plane come in while waiting at Kerry Airport to get on the plane to Hahn Airport in Germany (travelling to the Loreley 'Night of the Prog' Festival near St. Goarshausen).

Thomas Hardy's Dorchester: The Kings Arms

Somehow or other, I didn't manage to get decent shots of the Kings Arms last year, but did okay this time round.

Had to get some reasonable shots of the place because of its Thomas Hardy significance: being a central location in 'The Mayor of Casterbridge' where the mayor Michael Henchard does most of his official business and finally faces his debtors and creditors at a bankruptcy meeting there.

On both my trips to Hardy country, last and this year, I was surprised to see that the Kings Arms was locked up and unoccupied.  Have just read on the Internet that it will be renovated and reopened as something, but the date for this keeps getting put back.  Just hope this fine place survives as a building due to its deep Hardy significance.

St. Goarshausen: The Hotel We Stayed In

This is the hotel we stayed in when attending the Loreley 'Night of the Prog' Festival.  The quality?  Well, it was a case of swings and roundabouts, I think.

For the first three nights, we were given a top floor room with a balacony overlooking the River Rhine which was obviously great.  The only problem was that the hot water wasn't running, so it was a case of having a quick swill rather than a nice hot shower.  When we mentioned the hot water problem to the hotel management, it was discussed away with a kind of smile and a joke (this was done in such a way that we kind of felt obliged to laugh along with it ourselves, as crazy as this may sound).

However, our room was clean and comfortable, and the buffet-style breakfast in the morning was very good (porridge with yoghurt and fruit; scrambled eggs; ham and salami; tomatoes and cucumber; fresh orange juice; green tea etc.).  Indeed, the hearty breakfast kept me going for a good few hours into the day for which I was grateful.  It was possibly missing some kind of German sausage, but, you know, you can't have everything.

For the last two nights, as pre-arranged, we were switched to another room.  Thankfully, this one had hot running water.  It was at the back of the hotel with no great views, but, you know, the latter aren't everything.

Finally, another plus point was the hotel's location with immediate access to the St. Goarshausen-St. Goar ferry and the bus stop for the Loreley 'Night of the Prog' site.  It was also only a few minutes walk away from the excellent 'Little Norway' pub and a reasonable kebab place in St. Goarshausen.

Bury (Lancashire): St. Marie's Church Front

Like with Bury Parish (Anglican) church, I'd never realised just how beautiful the front of St. Marie's Catholic church is with its various statues and figurines:

Have a soft spot for St. Marie's as I've been to a few Old Latin Masses there.

Thomas Hardy's Dorchester: Maumbury Rings

Somehow or other, I managed to miss Maumbury Rings while camping just outside Dorchester last year, but thankfully made no such mistake this year:

Near the end of 'The Hardy Way' (page 201), Margaret Marande informs that Maumbury Rings lies "on the southern outskirts of the town", and that it was originally a "Neolithic henge from the New Stone or early Bronze Age".

However, when the Romans founded Durnovaria (Dorchester), they "heightened the banks of the henge to make an amphitheatre" which, for Hardy, was possibly "the very finest remaining in Britain" ('The Hardy Way', page 201).
   

Well over a thousand years on, the henge/amphitheatre "was used as a gun emplacement and fort" during the English Civil War ('The Hardy Way', pages 201 and 203).

In the 18th century, it "became a grim place of execution", with the gallows having stood "beyond the south west corner" ('The Hardy Way, page 203).

Finally, Margaret Marande reminds that Hardy chose this place for "furtive encounters in The Mayor of Casterbridge", with there being an "evocative description of it in the novel" ('The Hardy Way', page 203).

Bury (Lancashire): Carved Metal Heads on the Central Library Gates

Really like the carved metal head on the Bury central library gate above.  With the library gates being locked, this was the first time I'd really taken any notice of them. 

Having just looked at a picture on the Internet, there seems to be four such carved metal heads on the library gates (two on each gate, with a municipal coat of arms being in between each pair of heads).

Below, there are shots from a 'Bury Olden Days' site of the construction workers who built Bury Library/Museum and dignitaries at the opening of the place in 1901: