It was gorgeous! Manon and I went together, taking two trains and bus, until we made it. It was supposed to rain all day, and it was fine until we got off the bus, of course. Right as we stepped off it started to rain, but luckily we both had umbrellas, and it quit once we got into the main part of town.
It was a straight, downhill shot to the beach. The only thing is, the wind from the ocean gets sucked through the streets, "lanes" as they called them - so we were literally walking against a vacuum. We got to the beach, which wasn't the normal beach we're used to seeing in Texas - it was clean! Haha, no, no, it was rocks instead of sand. But it was really clean. I got some rocks - one for you, Jan! And a couple more for Christine and me. And then Manon and I walked around some more.
Both of us were getting hungry at that point, so we hopped into a pub (my first so far!) and ordered some hamburgers. We stayed in there to ignore the cold for a while, because, man, was it freezing out! When we finished and were warm enough, we went back out and explored this carnival pier that extended pretty far into the water. It kind of like Coney Island, but more British :). Most of the rides were closed because of the weather, but it was fun to look at. They had a carousel and two rollercoasters, a log ride, and other carnival rides. And inside a dome right before the outdoor carnival, was a huge arcade - with slot machines for the parents. I thought that was clever.
Once we were done there, we followed the signs through the lanes to a place called the Royal Pavilion. It was built for Prince Edmund as a getaway home - and it is probably one of the most luxurious places I have ever been.
(I didn't take that picture, but it sure is nice!)
We went in for 6.50 pounds, then toured most of the palace. It was really interesting to know it's history. Inside (we weren't allowed to take pictures) everything was made to look Chinese. The dining room had this amazing artwork that must have take years and delicate, steady hands. It also had the most ornate chandelier I have ever seen - weighing 1 ton with lotus flowers as lamps and crystals hanging from it with copper leaves and a dragon coming from the top. I couldn't find a picture, but, believe me, it was breathtaking.
After that - it took about 2 hours - we went into the museum, but our feet ached so much and we were just so exhausted that we decided to head back to the station and grab a bus, then a train, home. We got back around 8 p.m., watched some of The Office and headed to bed. It was a pretty great day.
Sunday was pretty lazy. I needed to go get a new battery charger for my camera AA's, so I found this place down the street, and Manon came with me to get them. Well, we didn't find the place but we did find this store called ASDA, which happens to be from the founders of Walmart! How great! I've actually missed Walmart and Target a bit, they have everything! But ASDA had clothes, my batter charger and food! It was amazing. I was way more excited than I should have been, haha. But anyway, we just went there and came home because it was so rainy out. But the good news was I broke in my rainboots - I even ran in them! So they're great. But that was it for Sunday. I'll save the next post for what happened today...so onto post 2 for the day!
P.S. Here's the link for pics from Brighton
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