March 12: Brighton!



The Royal Pavillion



Today we went to Brighton. We met the bus at the door at about 9:30, and had a lovely ride South. The areas we passed were green and pretty and there were lots of flowers blooming. It was pretty rainy but oh well, it is England. It does that here. When we arrived at Brighton, our wonderful guide, Britt, showed us the layout of the city and pointed out a few notable places, like the house owned by the Prince Regent(George IV)'s mistress/secret wife (now a YMCA, which is sort of funny) and the rocks where fishermen used to sell their catch before the town became fashionable. She took us through "The Lanes," narrow little "streets" (more like tiny walkways) with lots of jewellery shops, and then to the crazy, spectacular, strange Royal Pavilion.

Not what you usually see in England

The Royal Pavilion is a sort of pleasure palace built by the Prince Regent in the late 1700s. It was designed to look like an Indian palace or mosque from the outside, and a Chinese palace on the inside. The outside is made up of lots of the bulbous Indian-style domes, with minaret-type structures all over. It's so out of place in quaint seaside Brighton. Inside, you walk into a long, narrow room painted bright pink with teal-colored bamboo and birds painted on. The panelling and furniture was bamboo or English beech shaped and painted to look like bamboo. The furnishings resembled what the prince and his decorators imagined to fill the Chinese Emperor's palace, so there were lots of painted vases, lacquered mirrors, and jewel-toned lamps. This long room leads to the formal dining room, and wow. Just, wow. It's a huge, high-ceilinged room, and upon walking in, the first thing you see is the giant chandelier in the center. It's absolutely gigantic, with a big painted dragon at the top, looking like he's clutching the chandelier and might let go at any second. The thing was lovely, with lots of smaller dragons, and truly beautiful patterns. Above the dragon, the ceiling was painted to look like a plantain tree, and it's pretty darn realistic. There were other, smaller chandeliers in the four corners that were also lovely, and huge paintings of Asian people and landscapes. Everything was so opulent, I didn't know where to look next. Our guide took us into the kitchen to see the state-of-the-art cooking appliances the prince had (apparently this man liked to eat and eat well. His menus would usually have dozens of courses, sometimes hundreds). Then we went into several sitting rooms to see some beautiful furniture, and into several rooms with decor covered in gold plate. I have to say, I was astonished to discover that these rooms are currently being totally re-done, so all the gold is being replaced so it can be shiny and new and not tarnished. I can't imagine the cost of that. For example, one golden room contained literally hundreds of gold "bells" that were about 4 inches high and 2 inches wide worked into the other opulent decor. The guide announced (proudly) that each bell needed 3 "sheets" of gold to cover it and each sheet costs 18 pounds. It was going to take 7 artisans 7 months to replace that one room alone. To me, as much as I love preserving old art and architecture, this just seems ridiculous. Next we visited the incredibly grand music room, hung in dark red drapes, with a ceiling of gold-plated "dragon scales." I loved the chandeliers in this room. There were 6 or so, I think, and they were painted to be like lotuses, so they had big glass "petals" painted in green and pink and yellow stripes, with intricate flower designs on the biggest petals that were different for each one. I liked visiting the palace, but the waste I saw there really stuck with me. I love beautiful, expensive things, but this was just too much.

"The Lanes"

Some friends and I headed to a church-turned-pub for a fish and chips lunch (since yesterday was Friday and I was bad and ate chicken at the Bombay Brasserie, I figured I'd make up for it on Saturday), which was very good. The mushy peas were better than any others I've had. Then lots of my friends headed off towards Brighton Pier, where there is a permanent carnival, but I wanted to explore the town more, so I took off on my own and went back to the Lanes and the jewellery stores. There was so much to see! Antique jewellery was everywhere! Some of the pieces in the windows were going for tens of thousands of pounds! I found exactly what I was looking for in an antique silver shop, a little four-leaf clover charm. I'd been looking for over a year but hadn't liked any I'd seen till now. It's just in time for St Patrick's Day, too! I also went into an old-time style candy shop called "Fizziwiggs" that Erin would have loved. It had lots of candy that I'd never heard of but of course had to try. I filled a bag with things I thought looked good, and I'm saving them for when Erin comes. I also got her (and me) a few pieces of "Brighton Rock Candy," which is apparently the best known product of this town. It's strange, a long pink tube that's kind of hard but not like rock candy hard, with a softer center with the words "Brighton Rock" written so they go through the whole stick. It's peppermint flavored. I liked it, but it's hard to describe.

Brighton Rock Candy



A very old tree, entirely supported on
the inside by wire



A plant I saw in a garden. Maybe some
kind of spurge?

             

Brighton Pier

Me on the beach, which is not sand but pretty good-sized rocks and shells

Amanda and I enjoying our "Candy Floss"

Then I met my friends on the pier and we took pictures and got cotton candy (or as they call it here, "candy floss") and walked on the rocky beach. I was very sad to leave Brighton. I wish the day had been less wet (it made my cotton candy melt almost as fast as I could eat it, just from the heavy mist) but it was still wondrously fun. I really would like to go back, and soon!

Silliness with Pa and Pa Nhia.