Travel Log: Brighton, England
So, cienna and I , both having time off, as we're students and share the same reading week, but also, both being students, were strapped for cash, decided to take a nice, fairly cheap, daytrip to Brighton this past Wednesday. And we had a marvelous time.
Meeting up at Victoria station at the unbelievably early hour of 10 am (that's right, I got up before noon, hell, before 10! Voluntarily! Go me! ^_^), we took the 50 minute train ride down to the coast.
After a bit of back street wandering, we came across the Royal Pavilion (it's kinda hard to miss):
But, with the heavily overcast skies, we chose to hold off going inside until we went down to the beach for a bit. (Luckily, we avoided any real rain, and it even started to partially clear up as the day wore on).
Down by the shore, we found a nice boardwalk, with this cool metal sculpture:
Also got a nice view of the pier, which we walked out on later in the day:
Being a cool, overcast, Wednesday in the middle of November, there was almost no one about and we had the beach practically to ourselves...
Also, being mostly overcast, the bit of sun peaking through the clouds made for some spectacular light-play over the Channel:
(What can I say, I don't get tired of looking out over the water...)
Feeling nippish, we wandered our way to the Lanes, an area of small shops and restaurants:
Where, after a nice Italian lunch, we headed to this little bakery specializing in cupcakes, for dessert. With so many varieties, we couldn't narrow it down and wound up getting four to split:
After lunch, we headed back to the beach, to walk the pier:
As well as wander the beach a bit more, giving me a chance to do my usual craziness, ie dipping my feet in the water, no matter the time of year nor the weather:
Whaaat? I can't help it! I mean, the English Channel, new body of water...how could I resist? ^_- (Also, walking on those rocks in bare feet? Not an easy feat, lemme tell you! ^_-)
Following that, we headed back to the Royal Pavilion to take the tour. Sadly, there was no interior photography allowed, which was pity because the place was spectacular! If totally ostentatious and over the top...but in a crazy, faux-Chinese, late 18th century kinda way! Especially the Banquet Hall, featuring an amazing chandelier, clasped in the claws of a dragon, and the music room, with another crazy chandelier and these gorgeous murals of snakes and dragons.
A few pictures can be found on the website here if you're curious.
After the self-guided audio tour, during which there was much snickering at the blatant innuendo about how King George liked to..."entertain" at the pavilion, we headed back down to the beach to catch the sunset...or what we could see of it behind the heavy cloud cover.
And that was our day at Brighton Beach. The weather held, the company was great fun and it turned out to be a fantastically fun day trip!
"Hi from Brighton!"
Meeting up at Victoria station at the unbelievably early hour of 10 am (that's right, I got up before noon, hell, before 10! Voluntarily! Go me! ^_^), we took the 50 minute train ride down to the coast.
After a bit of back street wandering, we came across the Royal Pavilion (it's kinda hard to miss):
But, with the heavily overcast skies, we chose to hold off going inside until we went down to the beach for a bit. (Luckily, we avoided any real rain, and it even started to partially clear up as the day wore on).
Down by the shore, we found a nice boardwalk, with this cool metal sculpture:
Also got a nice view of the pier, which we walked out on later in the day:
Being a cool, overcast, Wednesday in the middle of November, there was almost no one about and we had the beach practically to ourselves...
Also, being mostly overcast, the bit of sun peaking through the clouds made for some spectacular light-play over the Channel:
(What can I say, I don't get tired of looking out over the water...)
Feeling nippish, we wandered our way to the Lanes, an area of small shops and restaurants:
Where, after a nice Italian lunch, we headed to this little bakery specializing in cupcakes, for dessert. With so many varieties, we couldn't narrow it down and wound up getting four to split:
After lunch, we headed back to the beach, to walk the pier:
As well as wander the beach a bit more, giving me a chance to do my usual craziness, ie dipping my feet in the water, no matter the time of year nor the weather:
Whaaat? I can't help it! I mean, the English Channel, new body of water...how could I resist? ^_- (Also, walking on those rocks in bare feet? Not an easy feat, lemme tell you! ^_-)
Following that, we headed back to the Royal Pavilion to take the tour. Sadly, there was no interior photography allowed, which was pity because the place was spectacular! If totally ostentatious and over the top...but in a crazy, faux-Chinese, late 18th century kinda way! Especially the Banquet Hall, featuring an amazing chandelier, clasped in the claws of a dragon, and the music room, with another crazy chandelier and these gorgeous murals of snakes and dragons.
A few pictures can be found on the website here if you're curious.
After the self-guided audio tour, during which there was much snickering at the blatant innuendo about how King George liked to..."entertain" at the pavilion, we headed back down to the beach to catch the sunset...or what we could see of it behind the heavy cloud cover.
And that was our day at Brighton Beach. The weather held, the company was great fun and it turned out to be a fantastically fun day trip!
"Hi from Brighton!"