Oh Cromer

When you think about England, one of the first traits of this country that would pop into your mind would be gloomy blah weather.  Yes indeedy, that may be true for 90% of the year, but the other 10%, believe it or not, England is a beautiful piece of sunny sunshine.  So when they are blessed with the presence of the summer heat, what do the Brits do?  3 things.  Go on holiday, go shopping (which is something they do all year round.  These people can shop, hence why I love this place so much), and go to the beach.

This past weekend, we were lucky to have about a day and a half of hot weather that went almost up to about 80 degrees.  It was great.  I meant, I was actually sweating, totally unheard of on this side of the pond.  So to celebrate the fact that we were able to dig out the summer threads and wear them, the hubby and I and the dog picked option #3 to take advantage of the weather.  We went to the beach in Cromer.

Cromer is a cute little town on the coast of England about an hour and a half away from our hood.  What was great about this place was that the scenic drive was one of the scenic drives that actually kept me awake and entertained.  There was so much "ooooo" and "aaaaa"ing with a bit of "look at that" and "ew, it stinks!"  There was so much to see, so many cute little towns and cool little country side sights to gawk at.  I mean, I was smiling the whole ride there.  I just kept thinking to myself how grateful I am to be where I'm at.

So then comes Cromer.  *sigh*  This place reminded me of Paris, only instead of seeing stylish Parisians speaking French with a ciggy hanging out of their mouth, Cromer was populated with pasty white Brits spackled with sun-burnt patches of skin, and speaking with English accents with fish n' chips dangling from their hands.  Again, I was smiling whilst walking through the town and shifting my head left and right  making sure I didn't miss anything cool to look at.

I loved the narrow cobble-stoned streets

They had a cool little Pier.  This part reminded me of Fisherman's Wharf in SF.  *sigh*

Cute little amusement rides for family fun.

Plenty of candy and sweets for tummy fun!

The food here was pretty great as well.  I had to give this place a Gold star for accomplishing such fresh Seafood.  The fish n' chips were PROPER.

The hubby quoted that the fish n' chips were real, because they tasted just like Long John's Silver.  Uh, negatory, I almost smacked him in his face with my fried haddock for saying such a thing.  But because I love him, I repressed that action.  So anyways, back to the seafood. Yes, the seafood was fresh.

One of the things you were able to do was catch your own crab.  That was like the "thing" over there.  If you were a true Brit, you would know that Cromer = Crabs (and I'm not talking about the ones you can obtain from another person.)  

 All around town little shops and vender carts were selling fresh cups of  mussel, clams, scallops,  shrimp, you  name it.  It was pretty much every person allergic to seafood's nightmare.

OK, now let's talk about the beach.  Uh, it was alright.  I mean, it's not Malibu or South beach, but it was a beach.  Actually, I would have to say it was more a rocky beach, rather than a sandy beach.

There were so many rocks, I just didn't know how people were able to walk along the water's edge barefoot with a smile on their face.  My feet were already feeling painful just looking at it.  But it looked pretty.  Also, the water looked pretty cold to.  I only saw one person swimming in it, and it looked like she was hyperventilating.

The lone swimmer.

Other people were wearing bathing suits and just enjoying the sight of the water.

So although the UK may not have the best reputation as the place to go to for a sunny Vacay....they try...and it's a beautiful effort.