Isle of Guernsey

Dear Family and Friends,

Our final stop on our cruise was in St Peter Port, Guernsey.  Guernsey is part of the Channel Islands, located just north of Normandy, France.  The Channel Islands are a part of Britain.

It was a heavily overcast, rainy day when we were there.  According to our experience this type of weather is common at this time of year all over the U.K.
On the bright side, it was never HOT.

There were tons of boats at the dock.  It looked like everyone in the town owned one. 

The city of St Peters Port is not large.  We walked around the city center in about an hour. 

Here is a statue of Prince Albert. 

We went into the local library where we saw this very creative bench.  It looks like an open soft bound book.

We decided to take a local bus and get off if the stop looked interesting.  We rode awhile and I saw a thrift store.  That hooked me, we hopped off the bus and started exploring.  It turned out to be an area having several thrift stores.

In the U.K. these stores are called Charity Shops.  It helps to know the local lingo. When we were in New Zealand, they were called Op Shops.

I love exploring these stores when we are in other countries because it gives me a look inside the lives of the locals.

I remember when I was small that some little boys in the U.S. had these toy soldiers.  I haven't seen them in 50 or 60 years in the U.S.  I saw bins of these soldiers in more than one charity shop.

World Wars I & II were tragic for Britain.  Seeing these toys just now being tossed away tells me that the British children were playing "army," a generation or two after the U.S. children.

Do you remember these?

While looking around in the charity shops, we asked if they could recommend a near by place for lunch.  They recommended a restaurant in the next block.

It was a terrific place for lunch.  It was a "Mom and Pop" restaurant with good local food.

Here is a picture inside.

Chuck waiting patiently for his lunch.

Here is Chuck's lunch of roast lamb.

My lunch of a meat pie.

After lunch, we looked around the area a bit then went to the bus stop to get back to the port.

We had a nice relaxing day.

We boarded the ship for the last time.

After the ship returned to Southampton, we took a bus to Cardiff, Wales.

I will share about our adventures in Wales in future posts.

Love,
Nancy