A day in Brighton

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A nice day trip to Brighton, its less than an hour and a half from London Bridge plus the tube trip from home it took us less than 2 hours each way. We managed to pick a really great day to go, although it was also sunny in London as well, but it was really nice to get out of the city and get some sun and fresh air. I almost feel like I might have got a tiny bit too much sun today infact - which is a nice feeling after months of being cold.

Anyhoo Brighton - where to begin. It was really busy and reasonably packed with people even though I dont think its officially spring yet (I might be wrong), I can only imagine how crazy it will be there in a couple of months time. The place was teeming with people. Had a walk down Queen's Street to the beach and had a filter coffee (dont even get me started on that one) and a hot dog from the "Beach Hut" - which is up on the Promenade and roughly halfway between the Brighton Pier (www.brightonpier.co.uk) and the Old Pier (West Pier). This proved to be an excellent vantage point from which we could issue our judgement on the people on the beach below - muwahahaha.. I found it odd somehow, it wasnt that warm (probably about 12 degrees-ish) and yes the sun was out, but it wasnt that warm, it didnt stop a couple of people from going for a swim though.

We had a walk along the Promendade to the Pier, the promenade has a bike part and a foot part - though the lines were blurred - at one point Baz was "belled at" (as opposed to tooted at) by an irate cyclist when he stepped across the "white line" which was supposed to segregate the wheels from the feet, of course this was recieved with much amusement on our part.

Someone once described the Brighton Pier to me as an "extravanganzar" and i have to say - they werent exaggerating. Had a quick walk inside and was greeted by rather a large amount of noise and flashing lights, not to mention the noise of the screetching children. So didnt spent any time in side, wandered up the outside of the Pier to the end and checked out some of the rides. I have to report that we didnt go on any of them, not even the carosel (this was out of service for maintenance - I would have otherwise been okay with going on that one).


After our perusal of the Pier we headed further into the town, in search of alcoholic sustenance (what can I say it was a warm day), which of course lead us to Walkabout - we've decided a side-mission for all of our trips is to visit every Walkabout we come across. This one was a bit different from the others we've been too (Putney Walkabout is still my favourtie), it was quite large and had a really nice beer garden). As usual we managed to find a bunch of weirdo's to entertain us. Then it was time to go "castle" hunting again - i really wanted to see the Royal Pavillion (www.royalpavillion.org.uk), which I'd heard all sorts of stories about. it was designed and built for the Prince Regent back in the 1700's and is unbelieveable. All these crazy turrets and archways - sort of indian in inspiration - reminded me a bit of the spire thing on the Taj Mahal. We decided not to go inside (10 pounds a person!!!), but the inside is apparently full of all sorts of decadence.


Another trip to the beach and this time we were lucky enough to see some random people playing beach volleyball and some attempts at breakdancing (rather 80's and nothing to write home about to be perfectly honest)...


All in all, Brighton is a pretty cool place. One of the places I have liked the most over here, its busy, a tad on the gaudy-side, but that can all be forgiven when you see the beach and get to spend a day sitting or wandering around in the sun!!

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Photos

Random Surfboard guys
I suspect it was a "practise" or demonstration rescue of some sort as two other people swam out a certain way and these three went out and bought them back on the boards.

Brighton Pier
Look at how sunny it is!!!!

Royal Pavillion
interesting architecture eh...