Day Two Begins with Breakfast in Bed

I don't know how I didn't know this but Bill has never ordered room service!!!  What??  My first room service was when I was 13 in London with Whitney.  It was great.  I had never eaten a kiwi before.  I was in the land of the Beatles having kiwi brought up to my room by someone who sounded like the guys in Monty Python.  My life was complete.  Since then I have always had a special place in my heart for room service.  But I guess I always have it when I'm alone in a hotel.  So Bill and I decided to have breakfast in bed.

When we eventually got out into the cold, rainy world we stopped in at Candie Park.

The Park is right around the corner from the hotel and the Guernsey Museum is at the top.  We went in, bought a few postcards and left.  It looked a little too educational for us (lots of reading, not a lot of "things".) 

This did grab my attention posted on the outside of the museum!

Victor Hugo is the big name in Guernsey.  He lived here for 15 years when he was in exile from Paris and finished writing Les Miserables during those years.  Eventually the Parisians let him back in but Guernsey still claims him as their own. Since it was too rainy to hang round outside we headed to Victor's House.

Hauteville House looks pretty plain on the outside but is amazing on the inside.  Hugo was not only a writer but a painter and interior decorator.  He was ahead of his time with up cycling - - the fireplaces are made out of old cabinets, his four poster bed uses table legs etc.  There are so many pictures that we'll break this into two posts.

This is our tour guide, Lauren (pronounced in a very French way)  She explained that Hugo left this house to the city of Paris so when you are inside, you are actually in Paris.

 We were the only two for the English tour at that time so we had the rooms and Lauren all to ourselves.  This was the tapestry room.  Everything wood in this room used to be something else.  The table was a door.

 Hugo put these rice paper paintings in the window above the door so that it achieved a stained glass effect with the light shining through.  These two depict the beauty and the beast theme that is in many of his works.

 These plate are actually suspended in the ceiling.  There is thin wire holding them in now but in Hugo's day they were just hold by those wooden slats and would often fall out.

 He used the china to reflect the light and create a glow in this corridor.

Next was the tile dining room.  Hugo designed all of this himself.   The H above the fireplace stands for Hauteville House but there are plenty of other places where he works his own initials into the room.

Upstairs we come to the red room which adjoins the blue room - both have asian themes.

 The metal doo dad on the table is an incense burner given to Hugo by Alexander Dumas.

 This room had a great little nook in the corner with a sofa and a window  - perfect to curl up with a book on a rainy day.  

I'm going to save the next two floors for tomorrow so you can look forward to beautiful rooms and fabulous views.