Brighton

Hi all!

Last night I got back to Emily's all ok, and Em, Lou and I had a fish and chip night and watched 'The Hunger Games 3'. 

Today i started the day by skyping Nan and Pa which was great! I then headed off on a pretty spontaneous day trip to Brighton in England's South! I wanted to make my last day in England as a tourist count before I head off to France, but I couldn't be bothered going into London! I have a list of London and UK things I wanna do and Brighton was one of them, and also Em's house is on the way to it so I figured why not!

So I planned my journey on my phone. But for some reason I completely mental blanked and got the wrong bus. Luckily with my phone I was able to figure out how else to get to Brighton, but every single train I got on today was late by about 15 minutes! So as a result I arrived in Brighton at 11.30 instead of 10.30. Never mind!

I walked from the station down the Main Street to the ocean. It's been a while since I've seen the ocean! Nearly a month ago in Rio. But today's beach was completely different to that of Brazil. It was sunny (I've been so lucky with the weather still!!) but quite cold. Everyone here keeps telling me it's quite cold for the end of March. I don't mind as long as the sun is shining! Anyway, the beach instead of sand had huge pebbles like Nice. I had seen photos previously so knew this would be the case. Thank god I wore runners, hard work walking across there!!

I walked (crunched) my way along the beach to the pier. But at this point a grey cloud was looming and my phone forecast sunshine later on so I decided to do some indoorsey things first. 

I walked to the lanes, a series of narrow lane ways in Brighton with cute little shops. I looked in sweet shops and a chocolate shops Rachel's mum had told me about yesterday called Choccywoccydooda. But I'm saving my purchases for Easter next week!

I did however buy some fudge and a cupcake - both delish! I went and sat in the Royal Pavilion Gardens and are them. There were French school kids everywhere. Now I think of it everywhere I've been recently there have been loads of French school kids! Guessing there's a lot more where that came from when I actually go to France tomorrow!!

I then went into the Royal Pavilion. It's a very strange building for England, more reminding me of buildings I've seen in Malaysia or somewhere in Asia. 

It was the dream of King George IV (Queen Victoria's uncle). In 1783 he first visited Brighton as the prince of wales. In 1787 he commissioned the pavilion, in 1820 he was crowned king and in 1823 the pavilion was completed. 

George IV was not loved by the public. As I saw on my self guided audio tour (couldn't take photos, I'll get some off google) the pavilion was very lavishly decorated and built as a pleasure palace for an unmarried king. Don't get me wrong, I loved the decorations. They were all Chinese theme including dragons, serpents and bamboo decorations. It was very colourful and detailed, especially the banquet hall and music hall. But the public saw it as a great and unnecessary expense. As well, as George grew older he got really fat to the point that he built tunnels underground from the pavilion to the stables so he wouldn't have to walk and be seen in public!!

In 1830, George IV died and his brother was crowned king. When his brother died and neither of them had any children to ascend to the throne, Queen Victoria was crowned queen in 1837. She described the pavilion as an 'odd, Chinese sort of place' that she didn't so much dislike, but more found impractical due to it not being big enough for her and her family, and being in a beachside town but not being near the beach. So she had all the contents removed in 1848 and in 1850 sold the pavilion to the town of Brighton. She returned some furniture and dispersed the rest throughout Buckingham and Kensington Palaces and Windsor Castle. 

Since then the pavilion has been open to the public except in war times when it was used as a hospital for Indian soldiers and then for limbless British soldiers. The lavish rooms were transformed into wards and the kitchen into an operating theatre. 

Today the pavilion has been really well restored. In 1975 there was an arson attack on the music hall and the restoration took 11 years. Immediately following this a 1.5 tonne stone fell from one of the minarets in a storm in 1987 and caused more damage. 

After visiting the pavilion I walked around to the back to take some photos again like Dad's that he sent me! Looks like I got lots better weather in spring 2015 than Mum and Dad did in summer 1990!

I then walked back to Brighton pier an strolled along in the sunshine. I walked through the arcade and played a few games, and went down the end to the rides. I then walked back to the beach and sat down and just took it all in and enjoyed the sun. Then those bloody French kids came back so I decided it was time to leave!!

I got the train back to Emily's (much more successfully than this morning!) and packed up my things. Her Dad then drove me to the station and I caught the 1.5 hour train to Luton Airport. The only airports EasyJet fly to bordeaux from are Luton and Gatwick, and though they're advertised as 'London', they're quite a way out! The initial plan was to sleep at the airport because no transport runs at 3-4am which is the time I would need to get from Sutton to Luton. But my amazing, kind, wonderful parents have booked me a cheap hotel room to crash in tonight and get some rest! I am so appreciative, thanks once again Mum and Dad xox

My flight to Bordeaux leaves at 7.20am and I've then got five weeks in France, Luxembourg and Belgium! Three by myself and two with my friend Troy who I'm meeting in Brussels. Can't believe this part of the year is here already! It feels so strange leaving England for such a long time but knowing I'm coming back. 

Love to all
Claire
Xoxox