Vindaloo and Wine

I'm here! It's so great to be back in Jersey. My dad and I spent well over 24 hours traveling from Boynton Beach to Fort Myers to Charlotte to Gatwick (London) to Jersey. It was so hard to sleep on the eight-hour plane ride squished between my dad and another guy in the middle of a Boeing 747. I tried falling asleep in so many different ways, but I could only get about 30 minutes of shut-eye in before we landed. Once we got to Gatwick we had a three-hour wait to board the 35-minute plane ride to Jersey, which really only felt like 10 minutes. On the plane from London to Jersey I could see the coast of France from my plane window on the left and five minutes later I could see Jersey with its rolling hills of lush green grass and the beautiful architecture of the houses and churches dotting the island. As we were landing I spotted a field of Jersey cows lying down indicating that it would rain later on...and as the cows predicted, it rained.

Gyles and his dad, Chris, greeted us at the airport. It was the moment I'd been looking forward to for the past 24 hours, and giving Gyles a big hug made me the happiest girl in Jersey. I'd also like to take credit for being the most tired girl in Jersey too.

Once we left the airport Chris drove us to have lunch in Gorey Village, which is a stunning part of the island. Gorey Castle sits right on the edge of the coast along with a row of shops, restaurants and pubs. We sat down to eat at a restaurant called Feast, which overlooks the Gorey Harbour. When we sat down the tide was out and by the time we finished eating the tide had crept back up and filled the dry harbour with crystal-clear, cold seawater. Jersey is known for having one of the world's largest tides that goes out twice a day exposing the bottom of the sea floor and leaving boats in the harbours to rest on the sand.

At lunch we started with a bottle of Rose and fish soup followed by our main course. I wasn’t that hungry because I was so tired, so I ordered what I thought would be a small meal—a bucket of prawns, or as we Americans say--shrimp. Little did I know I would have to behead the prawns and remove their legs before enjoying them. I was a bit scared! I've never had to remove the head of a cooked shrimp, so luckily I had Gyles to show me how. Of course when he removed the head to show me the shrimp's juices splattered all over my face. It was a great start to my trip. It rained a bit during lunch and by the time we finished the sun was shining through the gray clouds.

After lunch we all went back to have a kip, or a nap as I would normally call it, but I'm on their turf now...so I had a kip. We then went to pick up Gyles' uncle, Dave his son Aaron, and Dave's interesting friend Wayne. Dave and Wayne were visiting from Australia and Aaron was visiting from Brighton, England. After spending just 20 minutes with Dave I could definitely tell he was Chris's brother--he's hilarious and a very great guy. We picked them up from the harbour where people traveling by boat to Jersey arrive and we headed to Kaiyum, an excellent Indian restaurant in town. Six bottles of wine later we were all having an absolute riot. I loved it! I had curry, which is the medium level of hotness. While my dad ordered a vindaloo--the hottest curry on the menu. To say the least we all had an amazing first night in Jersey. Now I'm off to bed on my third day here...lots to do tomorrow to prepare for Beth's big 18th birthday party on Saturday. I'll be meeting her and her friends in town tomorrow around noon for a pint or two, or three. I'll have more updates and photos soon! Love you all! Miss you all! (I love you, mom & Laur!)

xx
Lindsay