New Year...more blogging...

Pappa Cod must apologise for his lack of blogging but well the end to 2009 was all a bit fraught and now the start to what is now commonly known as "Twenty Ten" has been challenging for a number of reasons... The UK has certainly not seen snow like we are currently seeing for many a year and with a good coating of the "white stuff" still linger half way through the month it has put paid to a kick start to the year that seemed to be on the cards. We can only hope it begins to thaw and allow life to get back to a semblance of normality.

Some highlights to the end of 2009 for this old fish was a dinner at Le Cafe Anglais...much enjoyed for a starter was a fish quenelle that was a classic - a light earthy flavour and delicate texture had me enraptured.

Then just before Christmas I paid a visit to Zurich in Switzerland that enabled me to visit some old stomping grounds and partake in some Swiss hospitality and efficiency! One place that had me amused was the equivalent of Harrods on the infamous Bahnhofstrasse in central Zurich - Globus... Here they were having a special promotion that was a British Christmas throughout the store... what amused me most was the Cafe menu that is shown above...

You will have to read it carefully but suffice to say the locals were tucking in with relish but at 10:30am in the morning it was not my ideal breakfast!

Someones research had not been totally thorough and correct.

Anyway Pappa Cod will promise to try and blog a shade more frequently and enlighten you more in "twenty ten" honest....

From spice to something just nice!

It has been some time I know… well I have failed to perform as a good blogger and keep up to date with my postings… no excuses other than too many distractions and not enough discipline!

Well I have been searching for a topic that I think could be a good way to make a comeback to blogging and well I think I might have come up with a topic that is quite topical but also just that little bit quirky that could get some comments going…

Its summer time and well like many parents a visit to a tourist attraction is pretty much required to keep the youngsters amused… it ideally from and adult’s point of view needs to be both educational and also exciting.

Well I was all excited when I came across an article in my local French paper L’Independant whilst on holiday. The headline read “The Curry Sausage Museum in Berlin”. This admittedly was not on my doorstep but my god how could I have overlooked such an innovative and fascinating subject. The article went on to inform me that 800 million currywurst a year are consumed in Germany – this is 1,500 per minute. The currywurst was the brainchild of Herta Huewer in Berlin on the 4th September 1949…well on checking out their web site at http://www.currywurstmuseum.de/en/ there is a wealth of information and I discovered for just eleven euros entrance fee I could discover the world of the Currywurst… My next visit to Berlin is assured of my visit.

It was however an article a few years ago in a UK paper on Bekonscot Model Village that found me recently making a visit to this 80-year-old tourist attraction here in the UK. http://www.bekonscot.co.uk/ Located in a residential area of Beaconsfield just minutes from the M40 I found myself stepping back in time with what is the UK’s biggest and oldest model village.

It was fascinating to see something so old fashioned and traditional be attractive to so many generations. One family on entering (from Canada) were made up of four generations from the age of seven to seventy plus…amazing when you think of it.

The simplicity of the exhibits with the model train track and miniature houses for many would be not high tech or interactive enough but it seemed to fascinate all ages and raised a smile when you saw the name of the coal merchants delivery lorry “W.E. Humpitt & U. Burnett” or the Vegetable shop owned by “Chris. P. Lettis”

What also amazed me was the low-key commercialisation of the place. There was catering with a café of sorts but visitors were encouraged to bring their own picnics and a storage area provided to visitors whilst they wandered around. Prices in the café were not inflated and even the souvenir shop had plenty of good value pocket money tack for little ones.

It surprised me to see on departure the number of visitors to this attraction has now exceeded 14.5 million over the last eighty years… that curry museum in Berlin has got to go some to top that…