今朝はお友達の家を朝１０時ごろ出て、Fairlight (Hastingsの近く）というところに犬も一緒にお散歩に行きましたが、丁度着いたときに雨がざっと降ってきたのでおさまるまで車の中で待機。雨はほんの数分でおさまりまったのですが、風が強くて寒い！少しだけ歩いて退散しました。お天気が良いとフランスまで見えるそうなのですが、あいにくのお天気で残念でした。

We left our friends’ around 10.00am this morning in their car for Fairlight to have a walk with their dog, but it started raining heavily just when they parked their car in the parking lot.  We waited a little while until it stopped, but it was still very windy and cold.  Fortunately I had my down coat with a hood so it wasn’t too bad, but if I didn’t have anything to shield my face it would have given me a headache or ear ache, it was that cold.  Apparently when the weather is good you can see France from here, shame it wasn’t.

一度犬を連れてお友達の家に戻ってからそれぞれの車で Rye に出かけました。お友達の家からら２、３０分の距離、家からは１時間４０分くらい。Rye には１度ずいぶん昔に夫と行ったことがあります。はっきりとは思い出せませんが、多分、義弟のところに泊めてもらっていて、昨日泊めていただいたお友達のお家に遊びに行った帰りに寄ったのだと思います。古い街並みが残っている、とても素敵な街。

We went back to their house to take the dog back, then we left in our own cars for Rye.  It’s 20 or 30 minutes from our friends’ and an hour and 40 minutes from our house.  My husband and I had been to Rye together many years ago, but we cannot remember why, we think we must’ve visited these friends and stopped at Rye on our way back.  It’s a beautiful little town, full of old buildings.

１１時ごろに到着したので、すぐにカフェでコーヒー（わたしはジュース）、イギリスの人はほぼ必ず朝１１時にお茶（最近はほとんどの方がカプチーノなどのコーヒーみたいですが）を飲む習慣があるようで、わたしたちはお昼を早めに食べるので（１２時から１時ごろが多い）出かけたらランチまで休憩しないのですが、どなたとと出かけても必ず１１時ごろに「コーヒー飲みましょう」という流れになります。みなさん、ランチは２時ごろなのかな。このカフェで休憩しました。

We arrived at Rye around 11.00am so we stopped at a cafe for coffee (I had juice).  Most English people have tea (well, these days more people have Cappuccino or some sort of coffee than tea) at 11.00am, so we often stop at a cafe almost as soon as we arrive at a destination – although my husband and I don’t do this when we are just two of us as we have lunch around 12.00pm.  I guess those who have coffee at 11.00am have their lunch around 2.00pm??

このあと、ぐるっと街を案内していただいて歩きました。と言っても小さな街なのでぶらぶら歩けばざっと見ることが出来ます。中世の建物がたくさん残っていて、どこでも写真を撮りたくなります。古くからの石畳も残っているので、歩きやすい靴を履いて歩くがお勧め。

We then walked in this beautiful town, which takes you back to medieval time, with our friends’ leading us.  It is very small so you can just wonder around, though.  Buildings look lovely and old, make you want take photos everywhere.  You do need to wear comfortable shoes as some of the streets are also very old cobblestoned.

 

 

そして、１２時少し過ぎに軽いランチ。

Then we had a light lunch around 12.00pm.

わたしは、ローストトマトとペストソースのチャバタサンドにしました。中身は塩辛くて酸っぱくて量も多かったのですが、パンはとても美味しかったのでほぼ中身を出して食べました（笑）。パンに残っていたペストソースだけで塩分は十分でした。添えてある赤キャベツのサラダがまた酸っぱくて、これは全員残していました。

I had a Ciabata sandwich with roasted tomato & pesto – but there was so much filling, which was very salty and sour.  I took most of the filling out because just a little was salty enough but the bread was very nice so I enjoyed it.  The red cabbage salad was also very sour, none of us had much of it.

夫とお友達は、ハルミチーズのラップ。美味しかったようです。ご主人はコーヒーだけ。

My husband and his friend had Halloumi cheese wrap, which they said was very good.  Her husband had just coffee.

そうそう、途中で、スノードロップも見かけました！可愛い〜！２月には、スノードロップの絨毯が見れるところがあるらしい、見に行けると良いな〜、と楽しみです。

Oh, we also found some snow drops!  Such lovely and cute flowers!  I read that you can see carpets of snowdrops in some places in England, I hope we can.

 

今の時期は寒くて雨も多いのが残念ですが、そのため観光客が少ないのが良いところです。夏には観光客でいっぱいになって、車も停められなくなるそうです。

Although it’s a shame that it’s very cold and often rainy this time of year, it does mean that you can walk in the town without a lot of tourists around you.  Apparently in summer it’s full of tourists and the car parks get full quickly.