The past two weekends I’ve been here have been pretty chaotic, trying to fit everything in before we leave in two weeks (seems so soon!). The first weekend was filled with many London sights, the second with Wales and Ireland. This weekend was a little less hectic, at least for me. Saturday was a day trip to Brighton, and as we rode in the bus there, I just hoped the whole time that it would be nice weather, given the fact that Brighton is located right on the coast. Luckily, I got my wish! It was a little cloudy when we got to Brighton, but it cleared up as the day went on, and it actually turned out to be a lovely day. First we went to the Royal Pavilion, taking a little tour of this beautiful palace. It was interesting, but the tour didn’t really take us all that long. Then we walked around the pier, thinking about going on some rides (since it’s basically like a mini fair), but decided not to, given it was a little on the expensive side. So we walked up and down the beach, which was a rocky beach instead of a sandy one and that was a little strange to me, being used to the sandy beaches of Lake Michigan. Not many people were swimming, given that it’s pretty cold, and the air temperature wasn’t all that warm either. After thoroughly exhausting the amount of things to do at the beach (there weren’t really that many if you weren’t looking to spend money), we made our way over to the Lanes, the shopping district of Brighton. It was there that we stumbled upon a market, where we found a bookstall, which would proceed to be my downfall for the rest of the day. At the bookstall, I found all three Lord of the Rings books and the seventh Harry Potter book, which made me excited! I thought I was done for the day when we found another used book store that had the fourth Harry Potter book. So I bought that…and found the fifth one at another store and bought that. Now all I need are books 3 and 6 in order to finish my collection, which I’ll probably end up buying somewhere.
A Quieter Weekend
Anyway, after the book buying extravaganza, we stopped for some ice cream, killing time until we had to get back on the bus to Surbiton. Of course, when we went back to the bus, it started down pouring, so we were all soaked for the bus ride back home. We got back and dried off a bit before venturing back into town for dinner. There’s this restaurant here called Pizza Express, and they are everywhere! We decided that we finally had to eat there, so that’s where we went for dinner, not really knowing what to expect. It was delicious! They had all kinds of pizza, and you could see them making it as you sat at your table. Pretty cool!
The next day (today, really), we got up early in order to get to Hampton Court Palace before it got too crowded. The Palace was really, really beautiful, especially the gardens! When we visit places like this, sometimes it’s unbelievable how long these buildings have been there, especially since we don’t really have anything close to it in the United States, being a relatively young country. Everything here has so much history, and it’s really cool to be able to see it all. The rest of the day has been pretty relaxing, catching up on things I needed to do. The rest of the week should hold some fun adventures. Until then, happy reading! 🙂