Day 9 The Channel Island of Guernsey

Today we woke up in Channel Islands on the Island of Guernsey with a call letting us know our breakfast was on the way. We had decided on room service just for something different. I had written our selections on the card and put on our cabin door the night before. There is no additional cost for room service and I wasn't being a piglet, but did make several selections. When it arrived it took two ladies to carry the tray in. I took a picture of the stacks of covered plates. Ok...it's not as bad as you are thinking. Everything came on a separate plate. Our cheese omelets were pretty good size, but for instance an order of French Toast was one slice of bread and bacon was two slices. Each came on it's own plate. I did have a strawberry smoothie and it was a pleasant surprise. Yummy.

With our bellies full we headed down to get a group number assigned to a tender (the little boat that will take us to the port) because the ship is too big for this port. It was about a 20 minute ride from ship to shore. I was excited when we got on our little boat as there were still spots to sit on the top - outside. It is cold and foggy and not the most popular spot, but for me it was! Better than crammed inside with about 50 other people. So we headed for shore and I took some pictures. They won't be good, but will document how foggy it was. Every day has been that way. Day and Night. In fact, last night and again tonight the ship blows it horn frequently. All night long. All. Night. Long. -- So when we reached the shore we had about an hour and a half to look around the town before catching our tour at noon. The port town was cute with lots of book shops, pastry shops and even a Dollar Tree. It wasn't an American Dollar Tree, but basically the same thing only everything was a British pound. As I was finishing up some post cards, Guy went it and was telling me about it. Yep, everything for a British buck. :) We knew our tour was from noon to 3:30 and there was no lunch involved, so we stopped at a pastry shop and got some local cuisine. Supposedly it had the world's best Cornish pasty, which was like a little flaky dough pocket filled with goodness. Guy had cheese, leek and bacon while mine was filled with veggies. It was warm and tasted like a hand-held chicken pot pie without the chicken. I was pleasantly surprised. The staff there was busy and cordial, but certainly not too friendly. We ate inside and then headed out to find our tour.

The town has a lot of French architecture or influence and was wonderfully quaint and a little bit hilly. The roads were narrow and with the cold foggy day it just added to the ambiance of this seaside village. Supposedly it dated back before Christ at about 500 BC, but that was guessing from carbon dated bones found on the island. The castle that guarded the people of Guernsey has been there since 1206. It was first occupied by the French but then later the British. Hence the French influences on the buildings. It is famous for its German occupation from 1940 - 1945, this learned during our tour which started from the pier. There we met our driver, Tom, a blonde blue-eyed kid who swore he was old enough to have a drivers license. We were wondering. :) He was funny and put on a headset and narrated as he drove. First we went to the German Occupation Museum which opened in 1966 and gives guests an idea of what life was like in Guernsey during the occupation. Over half the island evacuated, but for those who stayed, they faced strict rules and near starvation.

From there Tom took us to a part of the island where the Germans dug trenches and had built concrete bunkers. It was at the top of the island and the guns could shoot 360 degrees. It was a beautiful location as it was on the cliffs above the east side of the island overlooking the English Channel. Guy had a good time walking around under the ground while I stayed up top and took some pictures. As we headed out from there (it was an extra stop along the way) we headed toward the German military underground hospital. As we drove there, Tom spoke of modern day life on the island, types of sports they do, how expensive it is to live there, schooling, medical care, etc. It was interesting. Also, the cows on Guernsey are very special and the dairy farms are owned by the local government. They have an extremely high content of fat in their milk making their milk, butter and ice cream especially creamy. So now everyone on the bus wanted ice cream. Ha Ha. The pound was also unique in Guernsey. It can only be spent there. If you took it with you off the island, it was just as a souvenir. Same with the stamps from the post office. They could only be used on Guernsey.

As we got to the underground hospital, we all went in together and Tom took us around. It has 7,000 square meters of tunnels all completely camouflaged. It is virtually invisible from the surface. The tunnels are mostly empty, but a few hospital beds and kitchen supplies still remain. It was also a huge storage spot for ammunition. The interesting thing was it took 3 years to build (some of the tunnels you can look in are unfinished) but after all that hard work it was only used for about a year before the island was liberated in 1945. Hundreds of German soldiers were brought there after the Normandy invasion. There was an X-ray room, an operating room and room after room of hospital beds. It was cold and wet inside and the ceiling looked like it had these little stalactites hanging down, but really it was the salt from the concrete coming out, which tells us they used sand from the beaches to make the concrete. It was a little bit creepy and there were signs all over pointing you where to go. But I could see someone getting confused and turned around inside. Just in case, I never got too far away from Tom.

After leaving the hospital were were just a few minutes ahead of schedule so Tom drove us to the smallest chapel in all of Europe know as the Little Chapel. Probably the smallest in the world, it was started by Brother Deodat, a member of The Brothers of the Christian Schools who ran the college in Guernsey. After WWII it was finished by Brother Cephas to carry out the dream of Brother Deodat. It is decorated inside and out with a combination of shells, pebbles, glass and broken china. It is currently covered with scaffolding on the outside as it appears to be cracking and sliding down the hill a bit,but you could still see the entrance and go inside. It was pretty awesome. While I was exploring the chapel, Guy ran for some of Guernsey's famous ice cream so we could try it. It was good...be still not gelato. ;) Heading back to the ship, Tom said he'd have to put his foot down a little (on the gas) to get us back on time. The last tender left the port at 3:30. We were cutting it close, but we know the ship won't leave without us being just a few minutes late. Overall this was a very interesting tour and very worth it. You got time to see the town on your own, then a bus ride around a portion of the island. Tom was really great and we learned a lot in just a few hours.

The tender pack to the ship was another cold and damp ride up top, but the brisk air felt good. It took a bit of time to get back on the ship as the waters were just a tiny bit choppy and there was another tender ahead of us to unload. Back on the ship we dropped our things in the room and headed up for a snack...then back to the room for a quick nap before having to get ready for dinner. We did the same thing as last night. 8pm reservation and took in the 7pm show. Tonight's entertainment was 4 tenors that were singing classic rock 'n roll songs. They were really good and that was pretty fun. Nobody was talking next to Guy tonight, so that was nice. Then to dinner to see Ilyana and eat MORE food. Of course I took my phone to take some pictures, but it died right after I took a picture of my meal. Guy's meal and our desserts are only a snapshot in my head. LOL. As usual it was very good.

Back to the room we sorted some laundry that needs cleaned and I started the blog. Oh yeah, today in the town the local library had free wifi so we popped in just for a second because I needed some information from a text on my phone. While I did that, I checked on my book that would never completely download on the ship and it downloaded in like 2.5 seconds. I'm. Not. Kidding. Wifi on the boat is frustrating me, but is better than nothing. Still...I didn't think to upload my pictures there because we were in a hurry. So again...no pictures until I can park myself in decent wifi for a bit. Just know they are coming and will be fun to see.