A lovely non-rainy day (finally!) in Brighton, England

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It was pouring rain in Cardiff when we woke up (what happened to summer, UK??) so we were a little worried about what the weather would be like when we got to Briighton. After breakfast we caught a taxi to the train station and then the 8:55am train to London Paddington Station. We got to Paddington at 11:02am and had 42 minutes to get the tube from there to Farringdon Station. The tubes run quite frequently so we only had to wait about 4 minutes for the Hammersmith & City (pink) line, and we arrived at the train station by about 11:30am, giving us time to spare. The train to Brighton was almost empty so we had plenty of room to relax (even though the view between London and Brighton isn’t exactly scenic).

We arrived in Brighton at 12:54pm (to white cloudy, non-rainy skies!) and took a taxi to our hotel. We had reservations at Gulliver’s Hotel (on New Steine Road, near the beach) but got there to find out we were actually going to be staying at their sister hotel two doors down (New Steine Hotel). I’d read reviews about this hotel before we left and apparently it’s a normal occurrence to be switched between the two hotels. The good thing is that the restaurant is at the New Steine, so we won’t have to go down the street for breakfast in the morning. Our room has a balcony (you have to climb through the window to get to it) with a lovely view of the sea.

We dropped off our bags and set out on foot to the Royal Pavillion (probably the biggest tourist site in Brighton). The Royal Pavillion was a pleasure palace built for Prince Regent (who later became King George IV), where he entertained both his friends and mistresses. The outside of the palace has an Indian theme, but the inside is decorated with Chinese décor (even though the king never actually went to China). The interior is quite incredible, full of giant elaborately decorated chandeliers held up by dragons and giant snakes lining the upper walls. The dining room alone is worth the whole visit. It is exquisite (sadly you cannot take photographs inside).

After visiting the palace we walked over to Shakeaway for a milkshake break (they have SO many flavors it is difficult to choose just one…I ended up having a Nutella shake) and then down Western Road past the Clock Tower to do some shopping. I made one last stop in Primark and then we walked back and wandered around The Lanes (more shops on a smaller scale) before heading out toward the beach. We were really lucky that it didn’t rain because it is SO windy near the beach. We walked along the water toward the old pier West Pier) and then turned back toward Brighton Pier to find something to eat.

We ended up at a pub/restaurant called Harvester, located across the street from the pier. We ordered fish and chips (of course!) and pints of Carling. The prices were really reasonable (4.99 for fish and chips plus unlimited salad from the salad bar) and the fish was REALLY good (it’s a toss-up between this and the fish in the Lake District…I can’t decide which was better).

After dinner we walked the length of the pier (filled with mostly arcade, casino, and amusement park games and rides) and then back to our hotel. On the way back we stopped to watch them filming something near the beach. It was a bus scene and the woman had to keep pushing some guy off the bus onto a padded landing. I don’t know how long it ended up taking them to film that one scene but we only watched it twice before getting bored and heading back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we head back to London for our final few days!

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