Fort Isabella Bellissima

Today we went to visit Elizabeth Castle in St Helier, which is at the end of a long causeway. It's possible to walk across but today the tide was in so we had to take one of the amphibious vehicles which go back and forth. When we parked in St Helier we didn't have a parking ticket so we asked a passer by where we could buy them and he very kindly gave us two tickets, further proving my theory that Jersey people are very nice indeed. Across the bay we went on the "Charming Betty", the weather was so warm that we had to take off our jackets. On the way there was music playing which must have been chosen as appropriate: the James Bond theme tune (presumably because of adventurous aspect of being in an amphibious vehicle), the Captain Pugwash theme tune (nautical?) and the theme tune from Jaws (a bit worrying, that one!) We had a stroll around the castle, which dates from the very end of the 16th century; its first governor, Sir Walter Raleigh, called it Isabella Bellissima after Elizabeth the First. We joined a tour by the Master Gunner, who told us some interesting tales of the history of the castle and set off the cannon at 1 p.m. He told us that if Hitler had used all the troops that were pointlessly occupying Jersey and had stationed them on the north coast of France, the defences against the D Day landings would have been doubled and the landings might well have failed, thus prolonging the war. Apparently Rommel tried to persuade Hitler of this but he wouldn't listen. We had lunch in the cafeteria and further explored the castle, you can tell which bits were added by the Nazis in WW2 because they liked to use a lot of concrete! On the way back in the amphibious vehicle we heard a news report on the radio that Colonel Gaddafi has been killed in the town of Sirte in Libya.
We headed back to the hotel in the afternoon and James and I went to Grandma's room for a coffee and we all enjoyed looking at her lovely view of the promenade and beach. Then Ally and I went for a swim and a jacuzzi. The jacuzzi smelled a bit funky, I hate to think what algae have been breeding in there! However we went in anyway and had a really good chat and a laugh, when Ally isn't angry with me I think we really enjoy each other's company! Grandma was waving to us from the window of her room. I had a bath afterwards to make sure that I was properly clean. Dinner with Grandma later and a relaxing evening.