Brighton is a beach town that hosts two universities. Although it's history as a small fishing village stretches back about a thousand years ago, two events helped it eventually gain some level of fame. One Doctor Richard Russell began to espouse the use of drinking seawater as a tonic to many ailments, leading many people to head to this ocean town. But there is also a royal building constructed here. The Royal Pavilion is a massive building built in a similar fashion to many stereotypical Indian palaces; onion domes top buildings alongside small thin towers. It stands out in a bizarre manner to the rest of the town.
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| It's like stepping into Arabian Nights. |
It was built by George IV, the Regent Prince. During the end of his reign, George III had gone a bit insane, and George IV was named the Regent Prince to rule in his name, though he was not technically king.
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| King George IV. |
This was built as a beach side house for him to stay in. And wow, was it extravagant.
The entire interior is constructed in a Chinese/Asian theme; well more like how the British envisioned China. Wood and metal were painted to look like bamboo. Iron serpents held back curtains, and the curtains were detailed in Oriental scenes of nature. But the most impressive room was the dining room. A long table sat underneath the largest chandelier I've ever seen. Glass water lilies hung from this behemoth, while six dragons sat along the edge, while glass around their mouths that once held oil lamps, giving the impression that they were blowing fire. And at the top a massive dragon held the chandelier in it's claws.
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| The dining room. |
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| The dragon holding the chandelier. |
Apparently this was so terrifying, some guests refused to eat at the table. The kitchen was as large as our entire flat, staffed by some of the greatest chefs at the time, serving food off of a menu consisting of over a hundred items. Other signs of the splender of this palace were evident; hidden passageways allowed servants to scurry throughout the building, serving guests undetected, and the King's bedroom itself had a secret passageway to a bathroom, with around six different bathtubs, one of which is so deep it required stairs to enter.
Previous generations of royalty used the house less and less, until it eventually became a museum, so it was open to the public. After touring this for about an hour, we were free to explore the town. After picking up food from Harry Ramsden's, which apparently has the most famous fish and chips in the world (didn't taste that amazing to me,) some of the girls opted to go shopping, while I instead decided to walk to their marina. What seemed like a deceptively small walk turned into a half hour hike, but I did get a better look at their beach. Imagine white, soft sandy beaches. Now imagine rocks. Big brown rocks everywhere. The beaches were ONLY rocks.
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| Grrrooossssss. |
It was very jarring to not see sand. The water looked nice enough, but the beach put me off way too much.
The marina was quite interesting. It was built with multiple shops, gyms, ect. There were even a couple of put-put courses. It pretty much had everything one might need at a time. The biggest difference was that there seemed to be more boats with sails than engines.
Short on time, I opted to take the train back to the meeting point. Along the shoreline was a small train running between the beach and road. As the world's oldest electric railway since 1883, it slowly runs up and down Brighton between the marina and the pier, saving me valuable time from walking. The pier in particular I was talking about is also kind of a landmark of the city. Rather than allowing for some simple fishing, this giant pier has a funfair, small roller coasters, restaurants, and arcades crammed onto it's space.
Getting back a little bit early, I decided to grab a scoop of ice cream. After getting my ice cream, I happily walked back towards the meeting point for the bus when I heard a rustling sound behind me. Before I could react, a seagull swooped right over my right shoulder, and grabbed a chunk of my ice cream, leaving a triangle beak mark in my perfect circle of vanilla ice cream.
I was stunned. The look on my face must have been incredulous, because people around me began to laugh. Including Peppy, my tour guide, who was on the phone. Still a little shocked, I began to ate around it, while seagulls tried two and three more times to steal more. With every rustling I heard, I would cradle my ice cream like a child to save it from any more thieving. One family found this particularly funny, and decided to stop and watch me while laughing.
After eating around the beak-mark and finish the remains of my treat, we got back onto the bus and I napped on the way back to London. Everyone was tired so we stayed in the rest of that night.
The next day we had another general excursion, this time to Kew Gardens. The Kew Gardens is one of the Royal Botanic Gardens, but it was located quite a ways out of London. So we rode for almost an hour on the metro until we were out in the middle of nowhere. The long trip had fractured our group, but after a little waiting, we had regrouped and walked a short distance to the entrance.
The Garden itself is massive. At around 300 acres large, it holds trees, shrubs, flowers, and plants from pretty much every continent and ecosystem. Trees that could survive in the British climate were grouped into sections like the Redwood and Japanese areas, while sensitive plants were placed in giant glasshouses. We decided to randomly stroll through the park, first going through the Mediterranean, admiring the nearby olive trees. One of the first landmarks we spotted was the Temperate House.
At over five thousand square yards, it is the oldest Victorian Glass structure in the world. Entering the glasshouse was literally like stepping into a rain forest; trees and leafy vegetation were everywhere. Small koi ponds stood alongside exotic flowers. A small staircase lead to a walkway around the edge, letting one peer down into the forest below.
After finishing here, we spotted a huge Japanese pagoda, and headed towards it.
Unfortunately we could not climb it, but we decided to start heading towards the Redwood Grove. Along the way we spotted a colorful distraction.
There was a random peacock just strutting around. After further exploration I found more exotic species of birds I could not identify. I have no idea why they put peacocks in here, but it was neat.
After leaving the peacock, we found the Redwood Grove. Already massive, it was fascinating to comprehend that this tree would still be here when my great-grandchildren came to visit.
We also found a small glasshouse with waterlilies, which was really neat to see after their likeness was made at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton.
After so much wandering and traveling, we decided to visit the Princess of Wales Garden. Setup after her death, her area was composed of desert plants, but nearby there was a large garden of various flowers we looked at, as well as a student organic garden.
After half a day of walking we left Kew Gardens and traveled the hour back home.
After such a long day, we took the long metro home.
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