Saturday, October 18th
So, today Cody, Rachael, Colin, and myself woke up early and took the tube to Kings Cross/St. Pancras to hop a train for an excellent day trip to Brighton. (Fun Fact: Kings Cross is where the famous Harry Potter’s platform 9 ¾ is supposed to take place, but it is actually in the Liverpool Tube Station where the scene is filmed).
We left ISH around 7:45am, and made it to Brighton just a little past 9:00am. Not too bad. The book I had planned the trip with said that on Saturday mornings, the town held a marketplace on Upper Gardner Street, so we decided to check that out. It was really small, and was the equivalent to an outdoor thrift shop, but it had some crazy items that made us laugh. Some of these included a little porcelin elephant that looked like it belonged to a board game from the 70’s, and a little figurine of a man punching a donkey… not quite sure the story there. Of course there were also old, broken electronics, books, flatware and china, among other common goodwill-worthy items. I bought a cool seashell, even though I am certain it is not originally from Brighton, but it looked really cool, and the city is right on the coastline, so I decided to just pretend…
We wandered around for a little bit more, and Colin was hungry so we decided to find a place for breakfast. After passing a few shops, we came across a small sit-down restaurant called ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ and the decision was unanimous. The four of us sat down, and had some of the regular breakfast items, in addition to a new exploration of ‘black pudding,’ and ‘bubble and squeak.’ Black pudding is really not pudding at all, and is actually just a little loafy slice of some sort of meat and bread and spices, or something… we never really determined if it had any of these things because it was so odd, but collectively decided that it was absolutely terrible. Bubble and squeak on the other hand is basically like a cross between mashed potatoes and hash browns with peas mixed in.
After breakfast, we left to head down to the famous Royal Pavilion, which was the main attraction of our visit. Here is your history lesson on this amazing place, that may be my favorite of the architectural splendor so far:
The Royal Pavilion was originally a simple farmhouse that George, Prince of Wales, rented when he first began visiting Brighton in 1783. The interiors are all decorated with Chinese influence, even though no one in the house had ever traveled to China, including the architect himself (it was common at this time to have oriental outside influences as artists were inspired by these new, exotic tastes and incorporating it into their work as they gained more freedom from their patrons). As George became Prince Regent, he employed John Nash to enlarge the building and this was inspired by Indian architecture. George used the Pavilion as his home for many years, but during this time he had many illegitimate children, and only one legitimate child, Charlotte, who preceded him in death, therefore unable to pass his estate on to her. It went instead to his brother, and then to George’s niece, Queen Victoria. Apparently she was too good for the Pavillion, and it didn’t meet the needs to house her 18 children, so she sold it to the city, whos control it is under till today.
The architecture and interior was stunning, partly because it is so different than anything we have seen on this trip so far. Walking into the banqueting room was stunning, seeing the amazing chandelier hanging from the ceiling. From the top of the ceiling is a dragon, elegantly tangled around the top of the chandelier which hangs down with layers upon layers of crystals. At the bottom as it bellows out, are more dragon heads protruding from the rim and lights coming from their mouths that are supposed to resemble fire. I tried taking pictures of this amazing room, as the attendant was distracted by another visitor and left the room for a moment… but it turned out too dark and I didn’t have the chance to take another one of the chandelier itself… sorry folks…
The music room was also quite impressive, and here I saw an organ with its pipes painted with oriental patterns. Very elegant and detailed. The King also hired musicians to play here, including the Italian composer, Rosinni. (another fun fact: solo ensemble in high school- I played Variations by Rossini)
By coincidence, we ran into some other students on our trip who had gone on the guided tour of Brighton for the day while in the gift shop. We chatted for a bit and then my company decided to explore the gardens and outside architecture of the Pavilion. Awesome. As we were walking around, we also ran into a man sitting on the road, burning incents and smoking ‘flavors of his choice’ and playing a Hindustani Sitar. I thought it was all rather fitting…
We then traveled around town, and making our way down to the coastline. For some reason I kept calling it the lakeshore all day, even though it is obviously not a lake. Just habit from growing up on the lake my whole life, and of course NEVER HAVING SEEN THE OCEAN BEFORE I guess… So beautiful. We got some ice cream and sat down in the rock filled beach. It was an absolutely gorgeous day; the weather was warm and it was rather bright and sunny. We looked around at some of the stands too, which were pretty cool. There were lots of shell assortments, and one art gallery that caught my eye of an oil painter. I really liked some of his work and it gave me some good ideas to contribute to my own.
We walked along some of the shops that equipped the shoreline, and contemplated getting our fortune read, however declined the idea due to the fact that it would have cost around 20 GBP (Great British Pounds… that’s about $40). It would have been interesting though…. Apparently Colin got his fortune read (by one of his friends or something) and he is supposed to get rich from a software company, and will have lots of daughters. As his fortune was read before he went into the field of software, I guess it is halfway true already… There was another lady later, who apparently had 43 years experience in the field, so it was rather tempting… but we still passed. I guess ill have to wait for the future to know what happens in my life…
After we walked around and had some delicious ice cream/gelato/im still not sure which it was… leaning toward gelato… we walked out to the famous Brighton Pier. It was filled with cut out figures for you to pose with your face, assorted food stands, and lots and lots of tacky games and rides. I had my fill of rides in Shakespeare Land, and decided I probably shouldn’t spend money on something like that- although flying all over the place, upside down over the ocean would have been pretty cool…
After checking out that scene, we walked around town in ‘the lanes.’ This area used to be an old fisherman’s village, but now is just a million little tourist shops. It reminded me much of the scene in Venice, with the narrow walkways and tons of shops. I ran into one store that was called ‘Long Tall Sally’ and laughed sooooo hard. My best friend back home is Sally, and she is 6’3’’. I took a picture for her. :)
We also ran into a church that was really an art exhibit showing the work of a photographer. When we walked inside, there was a huge banner, measuring 4 meters high and 18 meters long, filled with incredibly graphic images from the war in Iraq. The top is spray painted with the title “The Incommensurable, The Incommensurable.’ I walked through quickly because it was really hard to look at. It is crazy to see how much this war has such a global effect.
We left the exhibit, and looked through some more shops in the lanes and then decided to eat some dinner down by the water. We ate at the top of the pier, overlooking the ocean and the entire shoreline. It was cool seeing a guy surfing by holding onto a kite (don’t really know the technical term…) and some musicians as well. There were these two crazy guys with absolute musical identity crisis issues. They were on stilts, one playing a weird version of a sousaphone, and the other with a home made guitar made out of a gasoline can… they were playing all kinds of disco and old classic rock tunes to a regae beat, including ‘Welcome to the Jungle,’ ‘Rawhide’ and ‘I Will Survive.’ It was rather entertaining at first, and I was giggling uncontrollably for a while, but it all went downhill after ‘the YMCA.’ I also enjoyed the hippies dancing around them. Good times…
It was getting pretty late, and we basically hit up everything of interest in the town for the day, so after sitting and taking in the beauty of the coast for a while longer, we got back on the train and left back to London. I was really tired, so I came back to my room to relax for the rest of the nite, so here I am, journaling and chatting online with a windswept face and comfy sweatpants, lisitening to some Louis Armstrong. Mmm, good day. :)
So, today Cody, Rachael, Colin, and myself woke up early and took the tube to Kings Cross/St. Pancras to hop a train for an excellent day trip to Brighton. (Fun Fact: Kings Cross is where the famous Harry Potter’s platform 9 ¾ is supposed to take place, but it is actually in the Liverpool Tube Station where the scene is filmed).
We left ISH around 7:45am, and made it to Brighton just a little past 9:00am. Not too bad. The book I had planned the trip with said that on Saturday mornings, the town held a marketplace on Upper Gardner Street, so we decided to check that out. It was really small, and was the equivalent to an outdoor thrift shop, but it had some crazy items that made us laugh. Some of these included a little porcelin elephant that looked like it belonged to a board game from the 70’s, and a little figurine of a man punching a donkey… not quite sure the story there. Of course there were also old, broken electronics, books, flatware and china, among other common goodwill-worthy items. I bought a cool seashell, even though I am certain it is not originally from Brighton, but it looked really cool, and the city is right on the coastline, so I decided to just pretend…
We wandered around for a little bit more, and Colin was hungry so we decided to find a place for breakfast. After passing a few shops, we came across a small sit-down restaurant called ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ and the decision was unanimous. The four of us sat down, and had some of the regular breakfast items, in addition to a new exploration of ‘black pudding,’ and ‘bubble and squeak.’ Black pudding is really not pudding at all, and is actually just a little loafy slice of some sort of meat and bread and spices, or something… we never really determined if it had any of these things because it was so odd, but collectively decided that it was absolutely terrible. Bubble and squeak on the other hand is basically like a cross between mashed potatoes and hash browns with peas mixed in.
After breakfast, we left to head down to the famous Royal Pavilion, which was the main attraction of our visit. Here is your history lesson on this amazing place, that may be my favorite of the architectural splendor so far:
The Royal Pavilion was originally a simple farmhouse that George, Prince of Wales, rented when he first began visiting Brighton in 1783. The interiors are all decorated with Chinese influence, even though no one in the house had ever traveled to China, including the architect himself (it was common at this time to have oriental outside influences as artists were inspired by these new, exotic tastes and incorporating it into their work as they gained more freedom from their patrons). As George became Prince Regent, he employed John Nash to enlarge the building and this was inspired by Indian architecture. George used the Pavilion as his home for many years, but during this time he had many illegitimate children, and only one legitimate child, Charlotte, who preceded him in death, therefore unable to pass his estate on to her. It went instead to his brother, and then to George’s niece, Queen Victoria. Apparently she was too good for the Pavillion, and it didn’t meet the needs to house her 18 children, so she sold it to the city, whos control it is under till today.
The architecture and interior was stunning, partly because it is so different than anything we have seen on this trip so far. Walking into the banqueting room was stunning, seeing the amazing chandelier hanging from the ceiling. From the top of the ceiling is a dragon, elegantly tangled around the top of the chandelier which hangs down with layers upon layers of crystals. At the bottom as it bellows out, are more dragon heads protruding from the rim and lights coming from their mouths that are supposed to resemble fire. I tried taking pictures of this amazing room, as the attendant was distracted by another visitor and left the room for a moment… but it turned out too dark and I didn’t have the chance to take another one of the chandelier itself… sorry folks…
The music room was also quite impressive, and here I saw an organ with its pipes painted with oriental patterns. Very elegant and detailed. The King also hired musicians to play here, including the Italian composer, Rosinni. (another fun fact: solo ensemble in high school- I played Variations by Rossini)
By coincidence, we ran into some other students on our trip who had gone on the guided tour of Brighton for the day while in the gift shop. We chatted for a bit and then my company decided to explore the gardens and outside architecture of the Pavilion. Awesome. As we were walking around, we also ran into a man sitting on the road, burning incents and smoking ‘flavors of his choice’ and playing a Hindustani Sitar. I thought it was all rather fitting…
We then traveled around town, and making our way down to the coastline. For some reason I kept calling it the lakeshore all day, even though it is obviously not a lake. Just habit from growing up on the lake my whole life, and of course NEVER HAVING SEEN THE OCEAN BEFORE I guess… So beautiful. We got some ice cream and sat down in the rock filled beach. It was an absolutely gorgeous day; the weather was warm and it was rather bright and sunny. We looked around at some of the stands too, which were pretty cool. There were lots of shell assortments, and one art gallery that caught my eye of an oil painter. I really liked some of his work and it gave me some good ideas to contribute to my own.
We walked along some of the shops that equipped the shoreline, and contemplated getting our fortune read, however declined the idea due to the fact that it would have cost around 20 GBP (Great British Pounds… that’s about $40). It would have been interesting though…. Apparently Colin got his fortune read (by one of his friends or something) and he is supposed to get rich from a software company, and will have lots of daughters. As his fortune was read before he went into the field of software, I guess it is halfway true already… There was another lady later, who apparently had 43 years experience in the field, so it was rather tempting… but we still passed. I guess ill have to wait for the future to know what happens in my life…
After we walked around and had some delicious ice cream/gelato/im still not sure which it was… leaning toward gelato… we walked out to the famous Brighton Pier. It was filled with cut out figures for you to pose with your face, assorted food stands, and lots and lots of tacky games and rides. I had my fill of rides in Shakespeare Land, and decided I probably shouldn’t spend money on something like that- although flying all over the place, upside down over the ocean would have been pretty cool…
After checking out that scene, we walked around town in ‘the lanes.’ This area used to be an old fisherman’s village, but now is just a million little tourist shops. It reminded me much of the scene in Venice, with the narrow walkways and tons of shops. I ran into one store that was called ‘Long Tall Sally’ and laughed sooooo hard. My best friend back home is Sally, and she is 6’3’’. I took a picture for her. :)
We also ran into a church that was really an art exhibit showing the work of a photographer. When we walked inside, there was a huge banner, measuring 4 meters high and 18 meters long, filled with incredibly graphic images from the war in Iraq. The top is spray painted with the title “The Incommensurable, The Incommensurable.’ I walked through quickly because it was really hard to look at. It is crazy to see how much this war has such a global effect.
We left the exhibit, and looked through some more shops in the lanes and then decided to eat some dinner down by the water. We ate at the top of the pier, overlooking the ocean and the entire shoreline. It was cool seeing a guy surfing by holding onto a kite (don’t really know the technical term…) and some musicians as well. There were these two crazy guys with absolute musical identity crisis issues. They were on stilts, one playing a weird version of a sousaphone, and the other with a home made guitar made out of a gasoline can… they were playing all kinds of disco and old classic rock tunes to a regae beat, including ‘Welcome to the Jungle,’ ‘Rawhide’ and ‘I Will Survive.’ It was rather entertaining at first, and I was giggling uncontrollably for a while, but it all went downhill after ‘the YMCA.’ I also enjoyed the hippies dancing around them. Good times…
It was getting pretty late, and we basically hit up everything of interest in the town for the day, so after sitting and taking in the beauty of the coast for a while longer, we got back on the train and left back to London. I was really tired, so I came back to my room to relax for the rest of the nite, so here I am, journaling and chatting online with a windswept face and comfy sweatpants, lisitening to some Louis Armstrong. Mmm, good day. :)
1 comment:
glad to see you're having a good time jennay!
let it be known that I'm 10,000% jealous
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