Dirty Thursday

Today I visited a town called Brighton which is located on the English Channel directly south of London. It's known for two things, the pier and the Royal Pavilion. I, of course, visited both. Brighton is known as a resort town, sort of a getaway from London which people call "the dirty weekend". I was only there for Thursday, thus the post title.

I bought the coach tickets to Brighton sort of on a whim yesterday. I didn't check the weather. I didn't really read about the place. I didn't really think about it. I just did it. Well, turns out the weather forecast was rain. Everything else turned out fine. I got the coach at 9 am. It took about two hours to get there. It seemed like longer though. There were 3 or 4 kids in the back of it that played music loud and sang along. Or laughed incredibly loud. Or talked above a normal volume. In other words, they were annoying. I just turned up my music louder but I was really tired and my eyes hurt because I was stubborn and told myself that I would wear my contacts one more day before throwing them out and opening up a new pair (bad idea) so the fact that the kids were acting like that was frustrating. Oh well, we got there just fine. The bus let us off near right in between the pier and the Royal Pavilion. I told myself I would explore the pier and shore for a while, then go to the Pavilion, then explore more of the shore later on.

So my first destination was Brighton Pier (behind me picture 1). It was built in the latte Victorian times (1890s or so). It is a very long pier (I don't know how long). There is a roller coaster (picture 2) and other rides and stuff at the end of it. There are two different arcades with lots of video games and that sort of thing. The English Channel was looking very nice from the pier (picture 3). It was cloudy but the sun was shining through every once in a while and it was still kind of bright out. The only problem was the wind. Holy crap was it windy. I walked down the pier and then back up it. It was nice to other people doing the same thing. It was sort of depressing seeing all the rides shut down. It reminded me that summer seems close but not that close. From the pier I walked East along the beach. I use the word beach loosely because the beach here is basically a bunch of golf ball size pebbles or rocks. They were really hard to walk on. So I walked for a while and then sat down on the rocks and ate lunch. Yet another of my wonderful lunch spots in two months full of them (picture 4). It was kind of windy so it wasn't all that enjoyable. I started to walk back to where the pier was so I could go to the Pavilion and I passed by a mini-golf course (picture 5). If just take it all in and look at the Brad or Christine were with me (they are my usual mini-golf partners), we would have played. Since I was alone, I did not. It would look dumb if someone played mini-golf alone, trust me. I continued on my way.

The Royal Pavilion was built on the land that King George IV (though he wasn't King when he bought it) bought to have a place to hang out with his mistress. Also, at that time, Brighton was famous for the healing powers of the water. George soon became Regent (all the powers of King but not the title because his father was crazy, literally, so someone had to run the country) and had John Nash, the guy who designed Regent's Park in London, design a proper Royal Getaway. What he got was the Royal Pavilion, a building that looks like it could be picked up and placed and in India and still look normal (picture 6 is facing the back of it). The building is so cool to look at. I loved all the minarets and domes (picture 7 is of the front entrance). The interior is mostly designed with a Chinese style. There are bamboo sticks and dragons and snakes all over the place. It is truly magnificent. So I walked to the Pavilion and then paid the entrance fee. With the entrance fee, comes an audio tour guide. It was really well done. It has the same two voices as the audio guide at Stonehenge which was also really well done. Alas, no pictures aloud inside the building. The two most stunning and just jaw-dropping rooms are the Banqueting Room and the Music Room. The Banqueting Room was constructed to, well, banquet (table and bottom half of chandelier picture 8, internet). George would have friends come over and eat dinner with him. The chandelier hanging in it is thirty feet long with a silver dragon holding it. There are four more dragons around the corners each with a glass lotus flower coming out of its mouth. Stunning. The Music Room is also pretty self-explanatory (picture 9, internet again). The carpet in the music room was very luxurious and super thick. I could tell even through my shoes. Both rooms are a feast for the eyes with the chandeliers, gold trimming, drawings, furniture, vastness, all of it. Very impressive (that was the point). There was much more to the Pavilion but I don't remember some of it and I don't want to go into too much detail about it here. All I know, is that I was really impressed by it. The only problem I had with it was how much everything cost and what a waste of money it was when people were starving and stuff at that time.

I left the Pavilion but right next door to it is the Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. It houses mostly decorative arts and has an exhibit on the history of Brighton. I wasn't really in the mood and there were no tours. The museum went through a complete redesign only a couple years ago which included new ways of presenting the pieces of art. The most interesting thing about the museum was that throughout each gallery, some art pieces had bright pink tags. Each tag (and piece of art) had something to do with Love. On the top floor, there was a kissing booth (picture 10) that took a picture of two people kissing and then put it up on myspace! That is so cool, it's like you are part of the art. There was also a map of Brighton where people marked where there first date was, most romantic kiss (lots of dots on the pier), and where they met their partner. Very innovative and super interesting. Going with this theme, the special exhibit going on now is called "The Little Black Dress" and has about a hundred black dresses showing.

When I left the museum it was raining but I decided to forge ahead with my plan and walk westward from the pier along the water. This was not a good idea. It was incredibly windy, the pebbles were hard to walk on, and it was drizzling. Somehow I still liked it. The sound of the waves crashing and moving the pebbles around (it sounded like wishshshshsh) was enough to keep me happy. I saw the old West Pier, now just ruins (to the left of picture 11 with sail boats prominent). Next I walked up and into the town proper. There, I found a mall (picture 12). It made me think of home, like most insanely capitalistic places do here. Lots of stores and lots of people. The best part was that there were lots of attractive young females walking around. I don't think people work or have school here by the way. It was Thursday and the place was packed. I don't get it. I walked in some stores and sat around. I decided to leave and walk back to the pier and hang out until it was time to meet the coach. On my way, I walked through The Lanes. This is the old part of town where the walkways are narrow and there are lots of small boutiques and stuff. Not my thing.

I went to the pier and sat down in the dry part. At one of the stores in the mall, I found some Mike and Ike which made me think of when John and I would make Mike and Ike Bowls (buy a bunch of different kinds of Mike and Ike, combine them together in a bowl, consume). These were the first Mike and Ike I had seen since I left so I commemorated it with a picture (picture 13). I walked down the pier one last time and then waited for the coach. There was a lot of traffic so it was late. There was still a lot of traffic when we left so it took 3 hours to get back. I was feeling extremely tired and I think I fell asleep a couple times. I arrived back and took the bus to my flat. I ate dinner and caught up on the NCAA basketball tournament action. It is really sweet. CBS is broadcasting all the games free online so I am actually watching Kansas State vs. USC while I am typing this blog entry. Have I mentioned how much I love technology? I also washed clothes.

There was something about Brighton that reminded me quite a bit of Duluth. I know that Duluth doesn't have the same kind of Pier thing but it does have Canal Park. Also, none of my pictures show this, but Brighton is on a slope down to the water, just like Duluth (though Brighton isn't as steep). Also, Duluth is kind of a "getaway" from the Twin Cities you might say, just like Brighton. I don't know, something about the people and the water and the hills made me think of Duluth. I really enjoyed Brighton, even with the wind and rain. It was nice to be down by the water again and the Royal pavilion was mind-boggling.

Tomorrow morning I get to meet up with my mom!! WOOOOO! I am so pumped. It is going to be so cool to see her again. I miss everyone back home a lot. Have this weekend!