Two Days in Brighton

20- 21 August

After being really busy at work I wanted to take a long weekend to relax so took Monday and Tuesday of this week off. I had originally planned to go to Prague but being summer (altho it doesn't seem like it in London) the flights were really expensive and all the buses full but I had already planned to have days off so thought I may as well use them and headed down to Brighton for an overnight trip (one more thing crossed off the list!)

Took the bus down from Victoria (took a couple of hours but you cant complain when its only £8 return!) and spent the afternoon wandering around town getting an idea of what I wanted to see/do in my couple of days there. Walked along the Pier (opened in May 1899!) which has a whole pile of "fruit machines" (the gambling ones where you have to get the apples to match up), tacky carnival rides accompanied by carnival food stores, games and the odd souvenir shop specialising in "Brighton Rock"

The be honest the pier was a bit disappointing so I wandered away from the beach up into town via an area called "The Lanes" lots of narrow streets, alleyways and squares brimming with boutique stores and eventually made my way up through North Lane (kind of like a mini Camden) and was very impressed by the vibrancy of the stores, all the colours and of course the graffiti

That night I went to see the circus - never been before so figured it was a good chance to go and see it on a Monday night. Walked from Brighton to Hove (only about 5kms) to the circus ground along the waterfront which was really nice and stumbled across the remains of the West Pier. IT was built in 1866 and has been closed and deteriorating since 1975. In a storm in 2002 the walkway between the concert hall and the pavilion fell into the sea and in Jan 2003 another collapse saw the destruction of the concert hall in the middle of the pier and in March the pavilion at the end of the pier caught fire. Despite the setbacks they were adamant that restoration work would begin in 2004 it was decided to build the i360 - a 183m observation tower in the tradition and spirit of the west pier substituting the idea or walking on water with rising into the air. "The Eye can be seen as a unique vertical pier matching in quality and spirit the horizontal old West Pier" There were also some pretty cool boathouses along the waterfront, a recurring theme in Brighton seems to be a real mix between old and new

Well the circus (the main reason for my venturing out in the rain) was pretty interesting, there was a young girl (6ish) dressed up in a cowboy outfit with three little ponies who did tricks, a trapeze artist, a girl who juggled 5 soccer balls and tennis racquets, a gorgeous guy with silk knots, tight rope walkers, comedy skits involving the audience in food fights and air guitar showdowns, cheerleaders dressed up like Pocahontas, the ringmaster (about 60 years old) with trained budgies who climbed stairs and went down slides, 4 big horses prancing around the tiny ring, a ring acrobat and dancing girls in-between acts who had very little purpose. Bit tacky like the pier but a fun night out nonetheless

Tuesday I was up early for hostel breakie (with coco pops - nice to have a hostel right on the beach!) and headed off to check out the Royal Pavilion - now this place is amazing and it's definitely worth coming to Brighton just for this. There is an audio guide included in the entrance price and it gives you sooo much interesting information about the palace - not even going to try and include all the history in here but this was a great supplement to my day at Windsor on Sunday, for more info check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Pavillion. Indian in style on the outside the inside was almost Chinese in design, I walked through the most magnificent dining rooms with huge chandeliers hanging from the dome in the roof, a gianormous kitchen, dancing rooms and more - such a shame you can't take pictures inside but this place is definitely worth checking out!

The Brighton Museum and Art Gallery was right next door (and free) so checked that out, stoked to find some pretty cool modern art and views about what its like to live in Brighton and the history of the town. The even had some Maori carvings in the "World Art" section and some information about body modification and creating positive body images for women - pretty interesting place!

Took a bus open double-decker bus (my first! and just like taking Chris's convertible out to Stonehenge it got pretty cold pretty quickly but you stick it out for the experience) and headed out of the city through the countryside up to a small pub at Devil's Dyke for lunch, it was a pretty cool view but didn't stay long as it was quite chilly up there. But noticed that they had zorbing - crazy that something that originated in NZ had spread all the way to this random place on the outskirts of Brighton - I guess they thought it was a lot of fun!

My last afternoon in Brighton was pretty quiet, checked out the aquarium - there was quite a line to get in and lots of crazy kids and young mums trying to control them inside as its still school holidays here so a bit mental but enjoyed it as I haven't been to an aquarium in ages.

Sat on the beach and read a book for a little bit, although weird because its a rocky beach instead of a sandy one and I didn't see one soul swimming! Took the bus back to London at 5ish for a quiet night at home - nice to get away for a couple of days out of London and the craziness of work for a bit!