Eastbourne: Tourists!

Our first full day in Eastbourne and Dad, David and I were the first ones up. We decided to go for a quick pre-breakfast walk.  Mostly in search of dad's past again :)

My mum used to work here.

And I really liked the look of this store. It was on the back of the Grand Hotel.

Which is where my dad worked when he first came to England. For a wealthy general who used to keep a horse at the hotel!

Then we went looking for all the places dad lived when he was here.

Another store on the back of the Grand Hotel.

And a great big view of the hotel. Dad says this parking lot used to be lawn. I bet it was impressive.

 Mum...is this where Grandpa worked too?

Look! A dollar store!

And then we walked up Terminus Road to the Eastbourne Train Station.

Wimpy Burger! We had one on Union Street on the Isle of Wight. I have a memory of being in Ryde at the Wimpy Burger with my mum and being so distracted by a couple at a table near us that I missed my mouth with my straw and shoved it up my nose! Mum said it served me right for being so nosy!

My pictures seem to be out of order. Here we are at the Eastbourne station again.

After we'd walked around a bit, we went looking for a double decker tour.

And we got on the bus half an hour early to make sure we could sit on top!

As you can see, we all had different ideas of where the best spot on the bus was!

This beautiful car is a taxi!

The tour took us along the sea front and up towards  Beachy Head.

And there was a recording that explained everywhere to us as we went along.

This is the pathway that leads from the end of the beach, up to the downs. It's steeper than it looks.

Then the bus went up to the downs.

Look at that view!

We hopped off the bus, and wandered around  on the cliffs. Remember those recordings I was telling you about? They stressed over and over again how dangerous these cliffs are. They're chalk for one thing. And eroding constantly for another. Not to mention they're steep and if you're too close to the edge trying to get a good shot, you might lose your balance.

My mum and brother were quite worried about me and my tendancy to get snap happy. But I'm not crazy. I'm terrified of heights!

Elisabeth, on the other hand wanted to grab a hang glider and jump over the edge.

There they are. All the people floating above the edge of the cliff.

This is the pub where we had lunch. I had to go up to the counter and place my order, just like in all the murder mysteries I read!

We sat on the patio in the sunshine. It was lovely.

After our lunch, me and the kids slipped inside the Beachy Head museum. It was very interesting. Next time we'll spend more than ten minutes in there.

This is the creepiest thing I've ever seen: a clear plastic face with a real talking one projected on to (inside?) it.

We hopped back on the boat and continued our tour.

I think this was right around Birling gap, there were huts along here. Apparently there used to be more, but they keep falling in the ocean!

All around there was farmland. Absolutely gorgeous.

Then we turned away from the coast and into town. I think we sort of made our way around old town.

It was a fantastic way to get to see some of Eastbourne we wouldn't have seen otherwise, since we were without transportation.

And of course, then the kids insisted on having 99s! The joys of social studies projects where you learn about traditional foods!