Wednesday, September 19, 2012

BRIGHTON.

I spent today in the beautiful coastal town of Brighton!
Kingston took a group of international students down in a double decker coach (which was super cool) and we were able to walk around the city, eat lunch, and tour the Royal Pavilion.

So, when we first arrived Cat, Kelly, Kalee, Kelsey, and I went straight to the pier. We all really wanted to see the ocean and the coast, which didn't disappoint at all.


The pier had a lot of snack shops and two huge arcades, with some carnival rides as well. We bought a "flaky cone" at one of the ice cream stands, because my best friend Meagan told me I had to try one while I was here. It's basically vanilla ice cream (which does taste different than vanilla ice cream in the States), with a soft chocolate stick inserted in it. AND IT WAS DELICIOUS. We headed out to lunch then and stopped at the All Bar One restaurant. Thank GOD we did, because there was an Adam Levine look-a-like waiter working there. Not kidding, he was so attractive. 

Next was the tour of The Royal Pavilion! The Royal Pavilion was King George IV's "party palace". Up until last century, Brighton didn't have the best reputation in England. So, naturally for the notoriously over-indulgent George, he chose Brighton as a place he wanted to have a home. So he bought a little house when he was young and as soon as he had the money to build, he began to build this beauty.


The Royal Pavilion is said to be one of the most exotic places to visit, because of the clash of cultures. The exterior was greatly influenced by Indian architecture, but the inside was influenced by the Chinese. However, since none of the people working on it had ever BEEN to China... they failed on some of the details. Regardless, this is still the most beautiful building I have ever seen. We weren't allowed to take pictures, and I can't even begin to describe the beauty of the interior. So many colors, so much gold, so many chandeliers, so many dragons, so many details... it's absolutely stunning. As a history major and British history fanatic... this was one of the coolest things I've done so far in England. 

After the tour we walked around for a bit more and then ended up sitting on the pebble beach, which was quite different than Lake Michigan beaches, but still very beautiful. Actually, the pebbles were much dirtier than I thought they would be! 


We headed home afterwards, which was fine until I realized that the girls sitting behind Kalee and I were the definition of a vapid American girl. It was really frustrating (and almost insulting) to listen to them discuss their sex lives, drug and alcohol use, and how daddy pays for everything!

Not too much planned for the next couple of days but I'm visiting Greenwich on Saturday so expect a blog then! :) 


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