Kingston Upon Hull - Youtube Style

Kingston Upon Hull

Youtube Style

Youtube rocks, I love to watch others videos, particularly quality ones like this.

An excellent production giving a great representation of the city I live in. Out of all the videos produced about Hull I think this one gives a wonderfully fair all round view, including all the worthy areas of interest. Although a little dated the video has allowed for the passage of time and thoughtfully included digital imagery of future developments.

Gwenap, Princes Avenue, Hull

"Sex in the City"!

Gwenap an institution, an icon in Hull, perched at the top of Princes Avenue, adjacent to the junction of Spring Bank.

A place that has 'always' been there as far back as I can remember, just a little shop in the background of my youth until I reached adulthood.

Our social circles at the time would talk teasingly about Gwenap and what they sold! I discovered that Gwenap was a high class knicker shop selling kinky trinkets and naughty underwear. Over the years the shop displayed large provocative banners across the entrance. Some very blatant and all to see very clearly whilst waiting in cars for the lights to change onto Princes Avenue. They are still doing so today, just like the picture above alternative words used in the past such as:- "Knickers to the lot of you", "Bent Politicians welcome here"!

In the eighties apart from Midland Street sex shop, Gwenap appearred to be the only other shop selling anything 'sexual'. Several times over the years I noticed the windows were broken and boarded. Perhaps angry feminists on the rampage felt Gwenap was inappropriate for the times. In all the years living in this area, I can only claim to have shopped there once. I bought chocolate nipples, hilarious at the time! Something like these!

Gwenap can claim they are the longest established retailer of underwear, pleasurewear and adult items in the country. They have their own website, presumably in a way of replacement for the oh so famous Gwenap Flyer, Hull's own adult contact mag many moons ago.

Today sex shops seem to come and go, the largest to my knowledge is on Mount Pleasant, sort of supermarket set up, car parking and 2 floors of goodies.

The laws of the land and the economic climate keep changing effecting every shop in different ways, Gwenap appear to be no exception, I was rather distressed to see the current banners in the window. What does this mean?? Is Gwenap closing for good? I would be surely sad if they do, not because I shop there but because Gwenap is part of Hull's heritage, has survived many social setbacks over the years, and is still here to tell the tale.

Da Gianni - A Great Place to Dine in Hull

.....a culinary pleasure in Italian all round dining

Da Gianni - 48 Princes Avenue,

Kingston-Upon-Hull HU5 3RX

I had not really noticed this place before, tucked away on Princes Avenue. Hannah, our good friend and babysitter had mentioned Da Gianni in the past but I had not really paid much attention (shame on me!).

By pure coincidence, the Saturday evening we had arranged for Hannah to babysit, we spent that morning with two of the restaurants' employees....who just happened to be parents of one of Raffi's nursery school friends, lovely Melanie. We had chatted in the morning about the restaurant and I thought it would be perfect to take Eric there for a meal. We both adore Italian food and this place was not to far from home and fortunately they had a table available for us.

My first impression was WOWWW, really, the sight that greeted me can only be described as ten foot leaping flames either side of the entrance door. Spectacular and certainly a "head turner" for the numerous people frequenting this cosmopolitan area of Hull. Always known for its cafe bar culture, many pubs and general rowdiness and increasing at an alarming rate. The crowds were overspilling onto the pavements giving an almost Mediterranean feel (apart from the weather that is!!). Great for the regular diners and drinkers but I guess not so great for the locals living close by.

Da Gianni have got it just right. They ARE imitating the Mediterranean outdoor eating, cafe bar culture, and successfully beating the weather with huge magnificent outdoor heaters. Absolutely perfect for free advertising as people have to look..well done Da Gianni.

Once inside, ten minutes earlier than our booking time of nine oclock, it turned out to be no problem for the staff and sat down immediately at a spacious table near the bar. The restaurant operated 2 sittings, one at seven and one at nine. The seven o'clock diners were just finishing, there was a warm level of noise with piped music and gentle chatter.

By nine thirty the place was virtually full of noisy yelling people. It was a nice atmosphere but not really good for intimate conversation.

The service excellent, as was the food, certainly worthy of A class Council rating, not B class as quoted on the door!

The waiters, very attentive, all male, but not Italian!

The outdoor area with its leaping flames was truly amazing to see from the roadside. It was even better experienced close up. We stood outside and people watched whilst our food was being prepared, enjoying the warmth from the massive heaters. You could have imagined very clearly somewhere with sunnier climes, the only difference was that all the girls in their summer frocks were catching a major chill from the British weather in the pub outside next door!

Nice one Da Gianni what a great way to make the heads turn.

Now to the food, very quickly our plentiful food arrived, piping hot and looked extremely appetising. Although I did think the green salad was rather unimaginative along side such splendid dishes of Prawns, Mussels, Pate, Pizza and Lasagna. This was merely a minor point... the superb taste of all the dishes far outweighed this small niggle.

We drank red wine and vodka and our bill was under £50.00, very reasonable we thought.

I was pleasantly surprised at their professional website, their food certainly lives up to their quality advertising on and off the web.

http://www.dagianni.co.uk/

I would certainly recommend Da Gianni restaurant and I have heard the take away two doors down is just as good.

Enjoy your meal!

Adult Learning in Hull

Me and My Camera

Cherry Blossom

I have always enjoyed photography from a very early age, the age when you sent your films away in the post to be developed!

Beautiful Nerja, Spain

I have progressed through the years snapping happily, lots of holidays, special occasions, school functions etc etc.

Eric, The Man

At Christmas, Eric gave me the best camera I have ever owned, a Sony DSLR Alpha 350. My picture quality improved dramatically overnight with this wonderful camera.

Primroses in my garden

I have, in the past always tried to discover how to use my cameras completely, taking much time experimenting with them using all the dials and functions. This new camera however has way more gadgets and alien things attached!

Prawns in Bruge

Time to seek help. I enrolled on an Adult Education Course entitled Digital Photography, 10 weeks, but sadly has just finished.

The course was everything I could have hoped for and I learnt alot more than I expected. The course was a mix of practical work, taking photos, composing shots, learning how to look through the camera and then transferring photos to a PC and editing our creations with Serif Photo Editor. For some of the students the editing was too complex and the software the course used was too advanced.

The Mystery Machine

For me, I enjoyed learning again, discovering what more I can do with my camera. I know that what I have learnt I can apply to my own photography at home.

Photoshop Experiment

I am trialling Photoshop Elements 7 with the view to purchase. I certainly prefer this photo editing programme to Serif.

Scooby and Shaggy painted on Raffi's wall

My aim when I joined the course was to improve my skills, and I did, I am thirsty for more knowledge so will be enrolling for a more advanced course after Easter.

Spiderman is a big hero in our house

Adult Education in Hull is much and varied, looking online for local courses is a good starting point or just wait for the Adult Education glossy brochure to drop through your door like I did. I am glad I took a look.

Do you attend day time courses in Hull, it would be interesting to hear what you thought about your learning experience?

Thanks for reading.

Sue Raphael's Mum

"TOWER FOR AN HOUR"

The Tower Cinema.. into the 21st Century.

Did you know, The Tower Cinema is a Grade II Listed building?

Opened on June 1st, 1914, was designed by H. Percival Binks and seated 1,200 in the stalls and a single balcony.

The tower was one of the city's earliest and most luxurious cinemas.

The opening night back in 1914 consisted of an orchestra who entertained guests before they settled down to watch a black and white silent film. Sound equipment was introduced in 1929.

Sadly, in September 1978 the Tower closed as a cinema and was used for different ventures. By 1983 The Tower began its life as a busy nightclub and fun pub - both uses taking its toll on the once lush, extravagant interior.

Many people in Hull will remember those 80’s years of “Tower for an Hour”! “Grab a Granny Night”! and all the wacky outfits and ear bashingly overloud music!

Now in 2009, The Tower (renamed-Club Rio), has become a nightclub again, with dancing Brazilian-style carnival queens, palm trees and a 25ft waterfall cascading down behind one of the bars.


It is great to see “The Tower” is still entertaining the people, different time, different style but entertainment all the same. I have good memories of this building, spent time there, it was a wild place…male or female the place was, and I guess still is… a great place to go. As I have got older, I seem to be able to appreciate other things about this magnificent imposing building. There are some beautiful features worth mentioning.

At either end, there are large windows above exit doors. Perched on the roof are beautifully decorated domes of green and cream mosaics with bands of gold glass. They have not always been there. The twin domes were removed around 2005 as part of the Anlaby Road facelift. Hull City Council launched legal action against the owners of the listed building and the domes were replaced and restored to their original glory.



Also to catch the eye, looking out from the top parapet, a bare breasted female can be seen watching the passing traffic.


Do you have fond memories of “Tower”? I would love to hear them.

Thanks for reading.

Sue Raphael's Mum

10 Tips to Improve Your Visit to The Deep Submarium, Kingston Upon Hull

Raphael's visit to the worlds only Submarium.

We had great fun, especially Raphael.

We were very pleased to see that The Deep had been presented with many awards.

Best UK Aquarium
Best Yorkshire Family Attraction

Best UK permanent Exhibition
Runner up Best New Tourist Attraction/Initiative

in the World.

The Deep is a conservation and educational charity which runs one of the deepest aquariums in the world.

40 sharks and over 3500 fish are housed in this public aquarium dedicated to increasing peoples enjoyment and understanding

of the World’s oceans.

These are just a few of the beautiful fish I managed to take pictures of.

The Jellyfish were absolutely stunning.

The Sea Snails were ENORMOUS!

The Dinosaur skeletons, very lifelike.

The Deep can boast Europe’s deepest underwater viewing tunnel.

A spectacular Glass lift rides through a 10 m deep tank.

The Deep was funded by the National Lottery’s Millennium Commission Project, and opened in March 2002. This tourist attraction can boast being the most successful millennium project in the Country to date.

10 Tips to Improve Your Visit to
Kingston upon Hull’s
~THE DEEP~

1. Check online before you go… currently 10% discount if you book online.

2. Retain car parking sticker to redeem in the café.

3. Don’t expect to be able to take flash photography, it startles the fish.


4. No need to take any food or snacks - The Deep caters well for hungry visitors.

5. You don’t need to buy a visitors guide, check out their website prior to your visit and print out their PDF brochure, saves yourself £3.00.

6. Take plenty of spare cash for the well stocked, colourful shop at the exit. On offer were good quality souvenirs especially targeted at the younger age group. "Original Shop Name"!

7. The Observatory, looking out over the River Humber is a good place to stop and eat. The Deep have thoughtfully installed a very heavy, external door leading to a small viewing area to capture the stunning views up and down the Humber. It does seem highly dangerous (sheer drop) and many children do visit the Deep, so this is a vital safety addition.

8. Children are encouraged to touch some of the animals supervised during a presentation. The presenter advised everyone to wash their hands after touching the animals. It would have been helpful if she had continued and told us all actually where to wash them? So, it would have been useful to take baby wipes with us, but will know to do this next time.

9. There were lots of seats all around the Aquarium for viewing the fabulous fish, all strategically placed for maximum observation. The whole exhibition took around 2 hours to complete and that included stopping a bit.



10. Finally, it’s a good idea to leave heavy outdoor coats in your car, The Deep gets very warm inside.

~~~

This is actually a picture hanging on the wall at The Deep,(outside the toilets) it fascinated Raphael so much, I had to take a picture!

I would certainly visit The Deep again and have no hesitation recommending this brilliant attraction in Hull. If you would like to find out more click the link to take you to their website.

http://www.thedeep.co.uk/

Dinosaurs in Hull?

Are There Dinosaurs in Hull?

Yes there are, in an excellent, privately owned Dinosaur Museum named DINOSTAR http://www.dinostar.co.uk/ in the old town of Kingston Upon Hull. The museum is housed in a former fruit warehouse and although small is packed full of things to touch and see.

Raphael is a big dinosaur fan, this photo was taken in the local garden centre cafe! They were kind enough to provide these as entertainment whilst we waited for our food.

Raffi absolutely loves anything to do with dinosaurs and I thought he would love a visit to Hull's only dinosaur museum. We found it on the corner of Humber Street and Queen Street, two-minutes' walk from The Deep, Victoria Pier and the Marina. So plenty of other things for us to do if necessary. Once inside there were plenty of exciting things to see and touch...

The skull of a T.Rex...certainly wow!

This is an Allosaur Skull that you can touch

Upstairs were more fascinating pieces

If you are visiting, and I would throughly recommend it, you should follow signs to the Fruit Market from Castle Street (A63).

Parking is available in Blanket Row "Pay & Display" Car Park or there is free parking in nearby streets with a two-hour limit.

Admission is £3 for adults, £1.50 for children and senior citizens.

Raphael and I spent a great afternoon adventuring at the museum.