London - Day Trip to Hastings by The Sea

Saturday June 3rd, we got up early, and after showering, I went to Costa Cafe, while Vee finished getting ready and met me there afterwards. Using the free wireless internet connection, we confirmed the train station we needed to use for catching the train to Hastings. With two morning newspapers in hand under arm, we took the tube to London Bridge and then the train for an almost 2 hour trip to the southern coast. The final stop was ours, Hastings, and it was a short, direct walk down into town where we immediately went towards the sea, and walked the stony beach for a while. Again, it was a beautiful day, warm and sunny, clear skies with a bit of a chilly breeze. We walked back up onto the sidewalk and continued on through the old town area, by the net houses, the boats, the shipwreck and sailors museums, and to a concrete outcropping and pier where we walked out towards the sea again and took some pics and video. On our way back towards town, we stopped into the Amsterdam shipwreck museum, and then outside, where the boats were, there was a woman showing off her 5 beautiful owls, so we hung out there for a little bit, admiring these funny, cat-like, birds with giant orange eyes and fierce talons. For lunch, we went into one of the many fish & chips shops and got a delicious order of cod and chips for ourselves, which we ate sitting on a thick wood railing near the boats with a miniature train occasionally running back and forth behind us. From there we explored the narrow winding streets of the old village. We stopped to gawk at this little yellow slice of a house called the mouse house (it resembled a wedge of cheese), and I said hello to a little old lady as she walked by. She stopped, looked at me right in the eyes, and said "I've met you before". I managed not to jump out of my skin, and instead emitted a nervous chuckle and said, "no, we just got here....we're uh, admiring the view." She continued, "oh, well I live right up here", pointing to a narrow alley just a few steps further up the street, "you should come have a look, you'd never know it was there...come on now!" with a great big smile and a happy kinda cooky glassy look in her eyes. Vee and I didn't know what the hell to do, but in the split-second we had to evaluate the situation, we must have both ultimately come to the same conclusion that there was nothing this little lady could do to hurt us, no matter how strange the situation was. So, we looked at each other, saw no obvious evidence for not continuing, and turned to follow the direction in which the little old lady was pointing. She said that if we follow the little alley, past her house, we would have the best view of the city. She followed us for a bit, then turned into her homes gated entrance, and pointed us in the direction to this supposed great view. Well, she was right, and we climbed a long, steep series of steps all the way up the side of this cliff, and on top, we were rewarded with a wonderful view of the English Channel and of Hastings below. We walked far up, through the lush green grass, and over to the other side of the hill for a fantastic view of the water. On our way back down to the village, closer to the little old lady's house, we reminisced about the strange episode with her in front of the mouse house. This is now known as our "Hansel and Gretel" moment, with our visions of being locked inside a gingerbread house and boiled alive. Back into town, we walked through a number of streets lined with interesting little shops, pubs and restaurants. Ironically, we stopped at a bakery for two little gingerbread cookies that were delicious. Needing a break from all the walking and climbing, we stopped at a cafe for some coffees and water, then headed out to the beach and read and napped for a few hours. We walked back up to the train station, but decided to walk back down into town for a dinner that would be much cheaper than eating in London, and we were right. For less than 13 pounds, we each had a drink, Vee had a roasted chicken platter and I had a pasta platter. We then made our way back up to the train station, and back to London and the hotel.