jeudi, juillet 30, 2009

Jersey


On Sunday Miss A-C drove up from Caen to come visit and we headed to the beach. While lounging on the sand dunes catching those afternoon rays we started talking about Jersey (the island, not the new one!) that we could see across the water. I said that it's so fun to go there and in the summer they often have specials for the ferry. She said the last time she was in England was in 6th grade on a class trip to - Jersey and has always wanted to go back. By Monday morning the tickets were bought (50e round trip for an adult in high season) from Granville. Yesterday we both got up at the buttcrack of dawn and drove down to Granville to catch our 10:45am ferry.

Going through customs on these little boats is always entertaining. A few years ago when Mystery Guest and I went to Guernsey the French outgoing customs forgot to stamp my passport and really were scratching their heads when I came back... "how did you leave?" I guess it wasn't too funny when I said I swam..

This time the French customs were on fire... "Wow a beautiful American passport!" they declared for the whole boatload of people to hear. "So you were born in Switzerland? But you have an American passport?" ... er, yes I'm American. "So where are you living now?" V-town. "Oh la la la out there? What are you doing there?" I'm a student (didn't feel like saying I'm unemployed...) "So what do you study????" uhh.. French? After a wink wink and a nudge nudge when they saw my Amsterdam stamp (uh yeah people I landed there from Seattle, not too into coffee shops... but whatever) They finally let me go.

Arriving in Jersey wasn't any better, they were very stiff-upper lip and grilling me about why I lived in France, why I was coming to Jersey, how long I was staying etc.. But finally let me in, much to the relief of my fellow passengers still green from the very bumpy crossing.

Jersey was fun! Last time I was there with Benette was before I started this blog and we had a great time exploring the whole island by bus, this time A-C and I opted for bike rentals and scooted our way out to the west of St Helier. We found some adorable port towns and a secluded beach where there were just a few kids playing pirate. It was so warm and the water was crystal blue so I quickly got my bathing suit and went for a dip! On the bike ride back (the bikes had to be returned before 5pm) we noticed some nasty looking black clouds approaching so we made the most of our sunshine with a delish Jersey ice cream - one of the best ice creams I've ever had! Tasted like real homemade ice cream, with lots of... well.. cream!

We dropped the bikes off and walked around the shops before they closed (why do stores in England close SO freaking early???) and thats when the downpour started... Buckets I'm telling you! There was no point taking out my umbrella because the wind would have carried it away... so we just suffered through it and went to go for a drink. Thanks to Facebook I found out a couple months ago that a Swiss exchange student who was in my hometown for a high school exchange had recently moved to Jersey! So I contacted him (10 years later...) and asked if he would want to meet up while we were there. So we went for an after-work drink before our ferry. It was perfect timing to get out of the rain and get caught up after 10 years! Thanks Facebook! For that and for Bejeweled Blitz (another reason this MilkJam hasn't been posting much... haha)

Right so this turned into a novel instead of a post so bravo for those who were curious enough (or bored enough) to make it to the end!

To sum things up Jersey rocks! Although I think if I were to go back to the Channel Islands I would prefer the hikes and bike rides of a quieter Guernsey or Sark to explore :-)

3 commentaires:

benny a dit…

OH yeah !!! i remember Jersey !!! (when I insisted to get a stamp on my passport - at that time i didnt travel much !)
Les iles anglo normandes are really pretty, but I'm not sure about the best ice cream... did you try the one in ST Malo ?!?

MilkJam a dit…

hehe i totally remember that!! Mystery Guest did the same thing in Guernsey!
seriously though, some of the best ice cream... i don't remember the ice cream in st malo... i mean i always love ice cream but this one was a little different. anyway there can't be bad ice cream!

benny a dit…

oh !!! oh !!! and when you said "merci" to the bus driver !!!! that was hilarious !!!!

(by the way, jersey's stamp is still my proudest stamp on my passport !)