You might have noticed a pattern in these holiday posts – an exerting day requires a bit of a rest day afterwards. So after our trip to Herm, we spent the rest of the day afterwards lazing around our apartment and swimming in the pool. But Roo and I both get restless if we stay still too long, so I suggested a evening out to Cobo Bay to get some chips and watch the sunset. The apartment owner had mentioned it was a prime sunset watching spot and indeed it was:
Which also meant that every other tourist on the island seemed to be there as well. There was a queue at the Cobo Chippy out of the door and stretching across the outdoor area. But it only took around 25 minutes to queue and get our food (chips, battered sausages, chicken strips and halloumi fries). We ate at the picnic tables rather than on the beach itself as the wind was insane and I thought we might get sandy chips very quickly on the beach. Plus, the view from the chippy was pretty good too:
They also did the best chippy drink for 90s kids:
There was a little Morrisons nearby so I went there to get some dessert and was excited to see they had Little Moons. See, I told you Guernsey had plenty of dairyfree options. I bought some ice cream cones, some shortbread and some mini cupcakes as well…and some wet wipes. Wet wipes are always handy for beach picnics.
Then we took up a spot on the beach and waited for the sun to go down. While we were waiting, we played some games of Noughts and Crosses and Hangman in the sand:
Sadly this meant I took my eye off the snack pile and predators were circling:
I wish I could tell you that there was a happy ending to this bit of the post but alas no. A seagull spotted the unattended box of shortbread and managed to pick the whole thing up in its beak before spilling the biscuits all over the sand. It was a sad loss but we learnt a good lesson. Those birds are not be trusted. And they have surprisingly strong beaks.
But the sunset was nice and the chips were good so, yknow it was mainly a successful trip. Oh, and VK drew a version of Rowlf in the sand:
The next day was a trip that we were all excited about – a guided tour of Hauteville House, which had been the home of Victor Hugo during his exile. It wasn’t easy to get tickets – there was nothing available on the website until the end of August and when I e-mailed I was told to call the house and try to book over the phone. There were a variety of opening times on the internet, which suggested that it was closed on lundi or mecredi or possibly both. Did I mention the team running it were French, because it was owned by the City of Paris? So when I did phone, I had to say hello in my limited French and then switch to English in a slightly embarrassed fashion. If only I’d spent the last few months studying French on Duo instead of Italian but hey, remember that pivot we talked about?
Still, the phone call did the trick and we were booked in for 10:30 on the Thursday. It was walkable from our apartment, even though the last bit was up quite a steep hill, and my usual overbudgeting on time meant we were there more like 10:00 than 10:30. Luckily, we were allowed to wait in the lovely gardens until our time slot.
I should explain that booking is essential and the house is only accessible via guided tour. Bags and water bottles are not allowed but there are lockers provided in the first room so we could stash everything in there. The house is preserved in the manner that VH left it so it’s strictly hands-off and there is no sitting on the furniture once you get past the first room. The good news is that under 18s go free, so it was a very affordable trip. Adults were £12 each so it was £24 for the whole family. Of course, VK would have paid almost anything to get in, so it was definitely a bargain.
And it is quite the experience. To call the decor eccentric might be understating it. One review said that the house gets crazier the higher you go and I would agree with that. But when even the ground floor involves a Tapestry Room, a Notre Dame Sideboard and an Ancestor Throne, you know you’re in for a treat.
Plus there was a Billiard Room! I’ve never seen one of those in real life before. We very nearly got the full Cluedo set – if only there had been a ballroom.
The Dining Room in particular had loads of detail. As well as the aforementioned Ancestor Throne, there were also tiny paintings representing Victor Hugo’s political beliefs and church pews where the local pauper children used to sit when they joined the Hugos for dinner. Yes, the inspiration for Gavroche probably perched on those benches to eat more than a mouthful of bread.
We didn’t see a kitchen, where the urchin food might have been produced but we did get a look into the Tiled Hallway where the china was stored. Not the china that anyone used for eating, obviously…that would be far too logical. Instead, it was ceiling decoration.
The next floor up delivered just a little more craziness, as promised. There were two drawing rooms – one blue and decorated in the “oriental” style and the other was decked out in theatrical red:
Apparently this was where the Hugos welcomed guests and the kids put on plays. VK was most certainly getting ideas about the kind of rooms we needed at home.
The views from this level were beautiful as well:
On the next floor up, VK was wowed by the library, which was contained in glass cabinets on the landing:
And we saw the most insane room yet:
The Oak Gallery is wood-panelled and contains a large bed as well as a solid wood desk with three chairs set behind it. What makes this room insane is that it’s huge but it was never really used. While Victor’s wife and children lived in bedrooms at the front of the house (which are now closed off for staff use), Victor himself slept in a tiny cubby hole in the attic and never utilised the bedroom which stretched the entire width of the house. Our guide (who was excellent, by the way and very fluent in English) said that the room was thought to be a funeral room, which never came into use for the simple reason that Victor Hugo didn’t die before leaving the house. So the grand lying-in-state chamber room lay empty while Victor lay upstairs. I told you this house was unhinged.
So then onto that attic suite where Victor basically lived. First, we saw the Lookout, which contained the actual desk he stood at to write Les Mis. And yes, he wrote that entire book standing up. I will never understand that man.
I also can’t understand how it’s possible to be in any way Misérable with the views that VH would have had while writing but I realise he is a deeper thinker than I am.
I didn’t take any photos of his actual bed, which was a tiny foldout thing in a small room a fraction of the unused room downstairs. But I did get a photo of this fairytale illustration:
Although most of the family weren’t allowed in Victor’s attic hideaway, his two grandchildren were and he made these illustrations to go with the bedtime stories he told them. The princess on this one symbolizes Victor’s daughter Léopoldine, who died as a teenager around a decade before the move to Guernsey. There is so much detail and meaning to every bit of this house that it’s quite overwhelming to take in.
So after the tour ended, we went for coffee and lunch to try and process all we’d seen. I still keep remembering bits of it now because there really was a lot to take in. Luckily, we found a lovely little cafe called Cibus near the bus stop, which provided coffee and milkshakes and even the VK special (chips, hash browns and halloumi). I had the Korean chicken and Roo and Nathan had variations on BLTs if I remember rightly. It was all great and the staff were lovely.
It was an exhausting morning, with all the stair climbing and walking up the hill so we caught the bus back and stayed home in the afternoon to do some more swimming and reading. Then we planned for our last few Guernsey hours. Yes, there will be a Part 4. But worry not, it is almost over…
