Today was another wonderful day! Janice prepared another lovely breakfast; this one a bit smaller. It consisted of hard boiled eggs. We each got two and she made the yokes runny so we could dip our toast inside. I've never seen hard boiled eggs done that way. It makes me want to call them slightly runny boiled eggs. They were yummy nonetheless and we headed off straight away for our wonderful adventure outside of London!
Scott and I made our way to the Victoria station where we would catch a coach to Brighton. This little trip is Scott's baby. He's been talking about making our way out there since we arrived! I read the play "Brighton Beach Memoirs" by Neil Simon but, that took place on Coney Island. I didn't even know about Brighton England but it was apparently the place to be! It's where London's best and most elite would go to spend their vacation time
! We planned on heading out on an earlier coach but didn't anticipate having such trouble finding the actual coach station. I felt like we wondered around in a few circles before actually reaching the place! Interestingly, coaches are one of the cheaper ways of travel around Europe. You pay less to hire a private coach than you do to ride a train which sounds like a deal to me. Coaches are usually pretty comfy! Our tickets all the way to Brighton were only around 12 pounds which is about half the price to take a train. Deal! We had just missed this other train so we had to wait for about an hour. We just decided to walk down Buckingham Palace Road and check out the palace. We actually didn't make it there in time! I got distracted by this hat making shop! I'm so glad Scott puts up with my vanity....I'm only a little vain. Finally we reached the train station and Scott was so excited about this little adventure that he planned that he fell asleep on the coach. :) The hour ride was a much needed rest though. Scott told me "If you see anything cool just wake me". About 3 minutes later, I was also asleep. I woke up with saliva dripping onto the lapel of my coat. Eeew. Does that make me a drooler? Sure hope not. I'm going to assume that was a one time thing.
Scott and I woke up at around the same time, arriving into Brighton was so exciting. This was an adventure. On a whim and almost unplanned, here we were in this lovely seaside town! Interestingly, Brighton is now known as the Gay capital of Europe thus, Scott and I were not surprised to see an all male sauna/ day spa thing. ha. The coach brought us to a station just across the street from the beach. I could not have been happier with the weather that day! It was incredible...so incredible that we wanted to buy swimsuits so we could fully enjoy the warmth of the sun on our Provonian bleached skin! What I mean to say is, my flesh is in desperate need of some healthy color since I've been hiding in the winter cave that is Utah. Well, the only swim shop nearby sold one type of swimsuit...the string bikini and I mean string. This thing was so much money for so little fabric and besides there is the whole modesty issue so, we decided to forgo the swimwear and just take a little nap on the beach. The sunshine was like a gift from the heavens. We walked down the pier and down the beach front shopping area. There were so many fun things to see! One of my favorite moments was when we passed this maritime museum. Across the path there was a little shack with a sign on it advertising it. I thought the shack was the museum! I thought "it's no wonder the admission is free". The town is preparing for their mackerel festival and there was a sign above the museum that said "Holy Mackerel". I thought of my daddy. He uses that expression quite a bit. Then we passed a bar with a pretty large outdoor eating area and a live band playing ska and reggae music. I loved that!!!
Then we wondered around town. We had yummy 2 pound burgers! (as in they cost 2 pounds! haha) Janice suggested that we stop by this place called "the lanes" which is known for it's cool antiques and such. It was so much fun! There were similar goods as those we found on Portobello road only this felt more like diagon alley from Harry Potter! Narrow walkways and shops back to back. Scott found another manly store of course! It was full of weaponry and armour. There was so much testosterone in that shop! Naturally, Scott struck up a conversation with the shop owner and he had some interesting information to share and stories to tell. Scott determined that we needed to pay this place another visit but, we were headed out to see some more sights before everything closed!
There is this cool palace there called the Pavillion built by King George IV who was apparently pretty reckless in his youth. This extravagant home is actually referred to as his pleasure palace. I was amazed at the decoration in each room. The orient was considered to be very exotic and artists and designers were trying to create architecture that mimicked what they believed to be "oriental". With royal money at his disiposal, King George was able to go all out. I learned some interesting things at the palace. One is that there was a surprising amount of culinary innovation in his kitchen. There was an island where steam kept the waiting food hot. In the dining hall there was this metal sculpted dragon that was holding the chandelier in his claw or mouth or something. There was a huge mural of palm leaves painted on the ceiling and some metal leaves were fixed above the dragon to make the scene look more lifelike. The next room was sort of a sitting room or after dinner parlor sort of place. There were these stands with oval shaped face shields that were placed in front of the fire. Women's cosmetics during King George IV's time were wax based and if a lady's face got too exposed to the heat of the fire, her makeup would melt. This is thought to be the origin of the expression "why the long face"! Who would have thought! We really enjoyed the palace but had to leave because, like all things, it closed at 5.
Our next stop was this church that had been converted into an art gallery. Brian Eno, the producer, was the creator of this little project. The idea was to bring local and international artists together to show their work in the space. I had interesting feelings being in this church turned gallery. I thought, what an effective use of space but I also thought, what did you have to destroy to create this. After all, I decided that it was a worthy project and that what was created was worth while. I actually rather enjoyed the concept as I looked through the history of works that were shown there. It seemed like the kind of place that really brought people and their ideas together.
Scott and I found ourselves doing more wonderings. We made our way to this fountain in the center of town and just sat down to chat for a while. As the sun was starting to set, I had this idea to go get some hot coco and drink it while watching the sunset. We did just that. We wondered and found an Italian cafe. This little old man made us our drinks and filled our cups about half way. I got someone's attention and demanded a full cup! For 1.90 pounds I better get a full cup of coco! We brought those down to the beach and sat on this pier and watched the sky and the waves. The rocks on the beach glistened from the water and the setting sun. Hot coco warmed me. It was simply lovely.
Meanderings were next on our to do list. We wandered about some more and happened upon another small old church. There just so happened to be a flamenco dance/ Guitar concert that night. Scott and I walked in the first set of doors and sat in the entry way. A nice man saw us there and invited us in to watch the whole concert. We said we didn't have tickets but he invited us in anyway. I felt really cultured to be watching flamenco dancing in a beach town in England. ??? Wha? haha. It was kind of random but certainly entertaining.
By then it was time to head back home. Scott and I made our long treck back deciding that we simply must visit Brighton again!
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