April 17th, 2024
Great day today. We both slept well although Denise will have this cold for a while I think. We were up, ready to go by around 9 AM. We went to breakfast and then came back to the room to plan the day. The plan was to go to The Little Chapel by taking 2 buses to get there. We would then walk to the German Underground Hospital and tour that. After that, we would take buses to the Guernsey Candle store to make candles…just up my alley being the artsy kind of guy that I am. After that, we’d catch at least 2 buses to get back to our hotel from the candle making shop. Well here’s how the day played out.
We caught the first bus fine. Upon getting on the bus, I asked the driver if he could tell me when were to arrive at the stop when we’d switch buses (93 to 71). I gave him the name. He looked at me like I was from Mars. I must have been saying the name wrong. He said to just go to the airport and catch it from there. Well the stop that Google had given me was just before the airport but close. I chose to get off at the stop using Google Maps as my guide. Upon getting off, we noticed a sign that bus 71 would not be stopping at this stop for an indefinite period of time. Bummer…no worries…we will hustle to the airport and take 71 from there. As we were walking into the airport, a bus was leaving. After waiting there a few minutes, I determined it was 71 and I missed it. Now these buses only come every hour. So we decided we’d just walk the 25 minutes to The Little Chapel. It was a lovely walk. Cool, everything green, slight breeze. We found The Little Chapel with ease. And it was worth the walk. It is 16’ by 9’ large is all with an upstairs and a downstairs. As wall coverings, inside and out, it is made up of china (plates) and cups fragments. The whole place is built that way. We were told that 7 marriages had been done there recently. So it is popular. But I think only two others could fit into it beside the Priest, Groom and Bride. So small.
Our next stop was the German Underground Hospital Museum. It was a 20 minute walk with walking being the only option. So off we went. Another nice walk. We arrived there to find out that it is not open on Tuesdays - Thursdays until May. Man…what a bummer. We rested a bit there and then set out at a frantic pace to catch the next bus that would start to take us towards the candle making shop. Google said the bus would arrive at the bus stop in 20 minutes but it was a 17 minute walk to get there. So off we went walking very fast. Now, the walking in the area was up a bit and down a bit. And to close out this walk to the bus stop it was an uphill climb. I took off a bit ahead of Denise to try and hold the bus if it came while I was there. However, we both got there with plenty of time to spare, both sweaty and tired though. This bus took us into St Peter’s Port and from there we’d catch the 31 bus out to the candle shop. We had a decision to make as the connection times were going to be close. It was around 12:15 PM, our candle activity wasnt’ until 2:30 PM and the bus ride out to the candle shop was going to be about 20 minutes. Well, the bus coming into town that we were on was a bit held up and I wondered if we’d make the connection. Fortunately the bus drive radio’d ahead and asked the bus driver of our next bus to wait. And He did! So rather than get lunch in town, we went off to the candle shop to find food near there and to take our time getting to the candle shop. This all worked out.
We found the shop and told them we were here and that we’d be back. The candle maker was not going to be there until 2:30 PM anyway. So off we went to find some lunch and we ended up in a Pub…named…The Pony Inn. Wow…it was a very nice lunch. We split a plate of Carbonara with some garlic bread. It was really, really good. The pub closed at 2 PM. So at that time, we headed back to the candle shop. About the time we arrived, on foot of course, the candle maker also arrived. He had been out to lunch with his ailing daughter. He was a wonderful, older than me man who jumped right in and got all the materials and things set up. There were many examples on what designs we might do with our candles. He showed us how to dip and put layers of many colors on our candles. We did that for about 10 minutes or so. Once that process was done, we were given some dull knives to cut through the soft wax to make the design of our choice. Denise’s turned out quite great. Mine…well…maybe in 2000 years they will think it was a great piece of work. But today…leaves a lot to be desired. Nonetheless, this was really fun activity. We were wishing our grandkids could have been with us.
Lastly, we waited a bit and then caught a bus into town and then transferred to another that would take us to our hotel. It was about an hour or so journey and the connection worked out great. It seemed to be around the time when schools were letting out and the 2nd bus filled up with school kids heading home. I would say these kids were 7th to 9th graders. And I’m always amazed by their language. Makes me sad.
We are flying to London tomorrow morning on a 7 AM flight. A taxi is to pick us up here at the hotel at 5:30 AM. We shall see how this goes. Tonight, the hotel is providing dinner for us. I may have said this but we are getting this room for only £100 for 3 nights which includes breakfasts and this one dinner. And we are across the street from the sea. Sweet deal for giving up our sea view room!
This will probably be the end of this England blog as I don’t plan to blog while in London as we’ve done London so many times. But so I remember, we have tickets to 4 West End plays…Mousetrap, Frozen, Hadestown and Phantom of the Opera. Mousetrap and Phantom are ending their runs here in England this summer. I think Frozen is too. Anyway, should be a fun filled stay in London. We head back to the temple on Saturday (20th) after the matinee of Phantom of the Opera. Well…cheers!
Pictures:
An old, very old, water pump that we saw along the side of the road. It was pretty cool!
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