MAY 7, 2011
On Saturday, I had a nice reprieve from all the boring studying and hanging out - a trip down to the coastal town of Brighton through IFSA-Butler! Which means free! Brighton is a neat town along the southern coast of England known for it's pebble beaches, large gay population, and exciting night life! Although it was raining when we left London (early! like 8:30am! ahh!) in the morning, the sun came out for us when we arrived at the beach!
First look at the ocean and Brighton Pier!
Brighton!
After checking out the pier, we did a quick walking tour through a little of the town!
The Town Hall
Shops and alleyways in 'The Lanes'
Neat old church
Cool clock!
Busy today due to the beginning of a summer festival - today, kids playing instruments were having a parade! Didn't get to see much of it though..
Fountain!
First look at The Royal Pavilion
It was beautiful on the inside as well, but no photos allowed..
It was originally built as the royal residence of George, Prince of Wales in 1787, and was remodeled and extended in 1815 and 1822 to what it is today. The outside boasts a heavy influence of Indian architecture, while the inside is surprisingly outfitted with Chinese styles, paintings, and furniture - including a lot of fake bamboo and dragons! Wish I could have taken some pictures of the inside..
More of the town..
Final look at the Pavilion
Another old church
Hanging out on the (pebble) beach! Pretty different from the sandy beaches I'm used to!
I can almost see France from here!
Aaaaaand that was pretty much it for our fun day at the beach! Just walked around and took in the sights, ate some local food and ice cream, people-watched on the pier, and hung around down by the water! It started to get cloudy and windy towards the late afternoon, and we were tired from being up so early in the morning, so we were glad to pile back onto the bus when the time came - nap time that is!
Brighton was a cool sea-side town, but I would have like to have been there to experience the nightlife - there's only so much to see and do during the day, and we pretty much exhausted the centralized attractions while we were there. Or it would have been nice to have Brittney there with me to show me all the places to go, as she was there last summer at the University of Sussex!
Wasn't much going on when I got back that night - everyone was pretty tired.. So I ended up doing a bit of studying and watching the final Kurosawa film (also his own final epic!) of my little samurai binge: 'Ran', his 1985 epic based on Shakespeare's 'King Lear'. Good film, with some truly amazing battle scenes (unbelievable number of extras - I think it was the most expensive Japanese production in history at the time!) and great acting, but the film itself seemed a bit long-winded towards the end.. Still a good one though! There's a couple more actual Japanese samurai flicks that seem like they'd be pretty good.. but I think I'll move onto a bit of kung-fu stuff for the second half of this binge. I'll see those other films eventually!
Good music for the seaside:
The Morning Benders - 'Cold War', off their album 'Big Echo'
A catchy, beach-y tune perfect for the shores of Brighton!
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That's it for this post! Probably another update post coming up if I find some time between studying for exams.
Cheers!
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