Brighton

Our first trip to the ocean! Brighton was a pretty typical little beach town, so experiencing it out of season was an extremely relaxing experience, helped out by the fact that the weather improved throughout the day. Our first stop, was the Royal Pavilion, former home of King George IV. This was really interesting because the exterior was designed with Indian influence, but the interior was decorated with Chinese influence. I have to say I didn't really know what to expect going into the Pavilion, but I was really impressed. Not only did I love all the dragons everywhere (the central chandelier in the Banqueting Room was awesome!), but for the most part, the building seemed much more livable than Buckingham Palace. While it clearly took a good sum of money to put together, I thought that some of the rooms were done very nicely without screaming exorbitant wealth, and actually somewhat reminded me of the atmosphere of my great grandparents' house. Unfortunately, photography wasn't allowed inside, but I did borrow two of the chandelier from the internet because I couldn't look away!

http://www.brighton-hove-rpml.org.uk/Pages/crystalcleartalksjan-feb10.aspx

The lights pointing upwards are being "exhaled" by small dragons, but up top...

 http://rpmcollections.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/murder-in-the-royal-pavilion-peter-james-not-dead-yet/

Was this beauty, a 12 foot long dragon, carved from wood, and then plated in silver and painted with reds and greens. The outside of the building was also extremely attractive.

It's interesting to think that all of this was built up from a modest farmhouse by the man who was the first King of England to not have rule over America.

In any event, from here, we traveled down to the shoreline to have some excellent fish and chips, and enjoy our first views of the British coast. The pebble beaches were made up of very smooth rocks, and sloped rather steeply down to the water. The new pier was still active even off-season, and the old pier was quite haunting, the burned remains standing about 100 yards off-shore.

As always, it was really nice to have someone on the trip who knew some of the history of the area, in this case one of our professors. He was able to point out some interesting areas such as the hotel where the Irish Republican Army attempted to assassinate Margaret Thatcher with a bomb.

As well as the cute little shopping area that clearly was named after this cute girl I know.

 Eventually, I found a nice fountain to site beside for a few minutes before wandering back through the shops, finding myself some secondhand books, and a nice loaf of homemade bread to enjoy back in London.

My lasting impression of Brighton is that it is a quintessential coastal town, complete with pier, beachside shops, and fish and chip shops with an ocean view. I think that it would be a nice day-trip visit any time of year, but I would love to see it in the height of summer packed with British families looking for their own piece of pebbled heaven.