Brighton in November

On Saturday, we took the train down to Brighton--the first time I've left London since my arrival.




I had a window seat on the way down, so I saw a bit of the countryside. It's adorable and quaint--really--and the pastures and forests look beautiful. I think I need to get out of London more...

We arrived in Brighton after an hour or so on the train, and as we could see the ocean from the station, we walked straight down to the beach. Brighton is like White Rock, BC--I have a feeling all seaside resort towns look about the same--but bigger and a little flashier. We had fish and chips--sadly, not wrapped in newspaper--and walked along the beach for a while, enjoying the never-ending view.

The beach is covered in rocks and the water was kinda cold. I got splashed halfway up to my knees while taking a picture, and my jeans took all day to dry. Along the beach are stores, food vendors and pubs, as well as the pier. The old pier is still there, tho it's mostly fallen apart. I vaguely remember that part of it burnt down or something, and they never bothered to demolish it.

The new pier has an amusment park at the end of it, which was really fun. One ride twisted and turned around so it looked (and felt) like you were going to go sliding off into the sea. There were also roller coasters, a log ride (Neha and I were the only ones on it--they had to start it up for us...) and trampolines, which my friends, for some reason, absolutely loved... they were giggling and bouncing around like it was the best thing ever.




After doing the rides, we went shopping in the Lanes, a touristy/shopping district set in tiny, narrow alleys. Very cool, and Anne and I found an Everything Under 15£ shoe store, and I bought cowboy boots. Never owned cowboy boots while in Calgary, but I buy them in Brighton--go figure.

Then, as it was Guy Fawkes day, Kate, Neha and I wandered the city looking for the fireworks. They were both hard and easy to find... We couldn't find the official ones, because we kept listening for and trekking towards the unofficial ones. At one point, fireworks were going off pretty well all around us. So, we sat in a churchyard watching fireworks for a while, then met up with the others for drinks and food before heading home...

What we did in Brighton was a lot of fun, but I have a feeling we missed a lot (maybe because we stayed in a ten-block radius the whole time). Definitely worth a trip back... maybe this Feb with Nat and Daorcey...?

First batch of photos are here: http://njkobie.dotphoto.com/CPViewAlbum.asp?AID=1938499