Grits to Crumpets: Great Weekend

We had a great weekend in Hastings. Since arriving in England a month ago, I have been focusing on getting to know my way around our stomping grounds of Bury St. Edmunds and Woodbridge and haven't ventured out farther than that. So this was my first trip out of town other than to Cambridge and I was surprised at how different Hastings is from where we live. It almost felt like a different country. It is a seaside town with lots of lots of tourists, antique shops, candy shops, a little carnival always up and running and always busy and completely different architecture than we have here. I found it very charming and interesting and it was nice to have a local show us around. It did have a feel of a city that is a bit past it's prime and from what I gather it used to be a real vacation destination but not so much anymore. We spent the weekend wandering around the antiques shops, took a day trip to Rye (which was wonderful) and celebrated my niece Matilda's birthday. On the way back we took Nani to the airport and said a sad good-bye, then stopped at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford where I had a lovely nap in the car and Alex and Eric spent hours looking at airplanes. Now it really feels like real life again with routine, work and school for Eric, which starts on Thursday!