Jersey 2019

Day 1 - May 20th, 2019 

We had a quick flight over to Jersey and were greeted at the airport by Duncan. The three of us caught up and had tea, while Judy finished off her music lessons for the evening.

After she was done, we went down for dinner at the beach at a lovely restaurant called La Bouge (?). It was a wonderful evening with good food (especially the calamari which was really fresh!), nice wine and a beautiful view as the sun was just starting to set.

After dinner, we took the scenic route back and had an early night.

Day 2 - May 21th, 2019 

After breakfast and a quick stopover by Katie, William and Charlotte. Ben and I were dropped off at Gags'. It was so nice to see her and she seems to be in great spirits and health, still doing her exercises twice a day!). We sat and caught up before going a nice walk in the sun up to the top of the carport and back. It was quite warm, but we all had hats, sunglasses and sunscreen. After our walk, Gags seemed to be getting a bit tired and wanted to make sure we saw all the sights so Ben and I headed out to catch the bus. 

From her place, we went out to Mont Orguiel castle. The tide was on the way out and we managed to get quite spectacular views of the Island from the top. 

(DSC_257-282). 

After a couple hours of wondering, we hopped on the bus and headed back into town for a quick bite to eat. We both tried Cornish Pasties for the first time, veggie for me and traditional for Ben, which was really good, although we were later informed that they could not have been as good as Gags'. I told her I would get the recipe from Judy and attempt my hand at them. 

After a stroll around town, we decided to walk back along the water in order to earn some Jersey ice cream with a flake. I can tell you it was worth the walk!

Upon returning home, Judy was in the middle of lessons, so Ben and I decided to play some tennis. Although it took some warming up, I think we eventually started to get some rallies in. 

Dinner was a nice salad at the house with just Judy, Ben and I as Duncan was out for work. 

Day 3 - May 22nd, 2019 

Ben and I went to see Gags again this morning and went for another stroll. It was a bit nicer of a day for her as not quite as sunny. After spending almost two hours, she suggested we go off an explore so we decided to check out the Jersey War Tunnels. I can't remember if I had done these before but we both really enjoyed them, so much history. According to Judy, they were revamped recently so it was a good time to visit. 

Once we had been through the tunnels, we had a small snack before walking back to the house. Ben had a short nap as he is suffering pretty badly with hay fever and I worked on catching up on the blog. 

London 2019

Day 1 - May 17th, 2019

And so our adventure begins ... with a pint and some dinner at the airport. I decided to get into the spirit of the trip with some fish and chips and Ben decided on a burger, as he figured he may overeat fish and chips on our travels.

The flight wasn't too bad, we had somehow been upgraded to the exit row from the back of the plane so we had lots of leg room and it was just the two of us in the row. We both watched a movie on our phones and got in a bit of sleep before landing in London.

Day 2 - May 18th, 2019 

Welcome to London (or really Gatwick Airport I suppose)! This is Ben's first time exploring in the UK so we had to try to fit as much as London as we could in just two days. Our adventure started with a quick train ride into the City. We both snacked on our apple, hummus and cheddar sandwichs that we had packed for the journey.

                             

After arriving at Victoria Station we walked with our packs over to Buckingham Palace as we couldn't check into our Airbnb until 3pm. We saw lots of the infamous pink gravel and got a few distance pictures with the guards.


Next, we were off to introduce Ben to Big Ben (although I had forgotten to tell him that it was under renovations for the next few years!) On our way we walked through a lovely park with lots of ducks, swans, squirrels, pelicans and even a Canada Goose! Ben quickly discovered that the squirrels in London are quite friendly, especially if they think they are going to be feed.

We stopped for a short break (the bags were starting to feel quite heavy, especially with little sleep) before continuing on to Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben.

As you can see from the photos, Ben was not too impressed with the state of the clock tower.

After some brief exploring, we started the trek over to our flat in Chelsea. On our way, we passed some cricket players, who looked very posh, not like the ones in orange jumpsuits at home. It took us about an hour and lots of steps before we finally arrived at our home for the next two nights. Although the studio was quite cozy it was perfect for what we needed.

We rested our feet for about 45 min and enjoyed one of the scones we had brought from Pure Bread. It was good timing as while we were relaxing there was quite a downpour outside but we stayed nice and dry.

(Photos DSC_0180-182)

After dropping out bags, we want out again, this time to try to find someone to repair Ben's glasses. Unforuntaley on our way over one of the arms had come off. We headed in the direction of Hyde Park and stopped in at every glasses store we saw, on try number four someone was finally able to put them back together. At this point, we were getting quite hungry and thankfully managed to stumble upon a lovely little Italian Resturant not too far from our flat. I had a delicious mushroom pizza and Ben had a seafood pasta.

After dinner, we set off in the direction of our place and found a beautiful courtyard where we sat and had a drink before heading home to bed for an early start the next morning.

Day 3 - May 19th, 2019 

We woke up fairly early after a decent nights sleep. We were both up for a couple hours during the night thanks to jetlag but all and all we woke up feeling rested and ready for a day of exploration. The first stop was the underground station near our place, heading back towards Westminster. It was a quick 5 min stroll from where we were staying and we got to see some of the preparation for the Chelsea Flower Show. Most of the storefronts were getting decorated with flowers shaped like different things you might find under water, including an octopus, fish, sea horses and coral.

After a few stops on the tube and a couple wrong turns, we finally arrived at the breakfast place Ben had selected called Bill's which was delicious.

(DSC_183-188)

After breakfast, we headed off towards the downtown core of London to see St. Paul's Cathedral, where I tried, somewhat unsuccessfully to harness my newly learned photography skills.

(DSC_189-205).

From St. Paul's we walked down to the Thames to follow the water to the Tower of London.

(DSC_206-213).

Although I hesitated to go into the Tower, both because of the high price and the memories of Jo being terrified of Jack the Ripper, I am very glad Ben convinced me. We had a great time exploring and reading all about the goings on at the Tower. We were very surprised to learn that a number of exotic animals were kept there over the years, including ostriches (one of which died after being fed nails as it was believed they needed them as an iron source), a polar bear (who was chained but able to reach the Thames to fish), monkeys and lots of lions.

(DSC_214-247)

We did check out the Black Tower (the torture one) but I think I might have been remembering a different part of our trip as there was no mention of Jack the Ripper but instead just some replicas of the different contraptions that were used back then, none of which look very pleasant.

After exploring the Tower, we crossed over the Tower bridge as we had tickets for the Globe Theatre to see Henry V. We stopped at a bar along the water and shared some traditional fish and chips as well as sat outside on the Thames and enjoyed a bear before the play.

(DSC_248-256)

Although neither of us knew what to expect as we forgot to read the SparkNotes before going, we both really enjoyed the play. It was funny and surprisingly not too dark.

From the Globe, we started our walk back home, seeing the Cathedral at night as well as passing a number of sights we had missed during the day. We walked back to Westminster Station and trained to Chelsea. We were quite beat after a long day and almost 30km of walking!

Day 4 - May 20th, 2019 

Our last day in London! We packed up all our belongings, as we had to check out by 10 am and carried our double bags toward the station to have some breakfast. Ben wanted to see the Royal Courts which are near the theatre district, which also happens to be the spot of another Bill's. Since we had enjoyed breakfast so much the day before we thought it would be an easy choice. 

After breakfast, Ben went in to explore the courts while I sat outside guarding the bags as they weren't allowed in. 

From the courts, we walked back to the station and headed for Gatwick to catch our flight to Jersey. I was a little over prepared and we had more than enough time before we departed.