Travel (?) Update: Brighton

Well, we took an official tour around Brighton today! We caught a tour bus at 2:00 PM (I woke up at 1:15, if you were wondering), and rode through some of the lovely little towns on the way. Apparently, Rudyard Kipling himself went to boarding school and vacationed in Rottingdean, a picturesque little town just a few miles outside of Brighton. A few of us decided we had to go back when it was sunnier (it was raining, of course), and I'll definitely pick up a souvenir or two for the Granny.

I learned that Brighton (originally Brighthelmston) was a fishing town that gained royal attention in the mid-late 1700's when a Dr. Richard Russell published his research on the healing properties of the salt water there. He held that the ocean around Brighton was restorative, and that by bathing in it daily and drinking a concoction made of seawater, milk, and bits of various crustaceans one could purify the body. It was this lore that attracted the son of the mad king George III, who decided that he quite liked Brighton and built the Royal Pavilion that still stands today.

We took a tour of that building, which was really quite pretty but didn't allow any photographs to be taken inside. I bought a couple of postcards, though, which I'll be sending around to various grandparents shortly! Here's a picture of the outside of it to whet your appetite for history and faux-Eastern style buildings.

Afterward a few of us struck off in search of coffee and a little entertainment. We found Brighton Pier, which was a nice taste of America in all the posh British-ness. It's basically an amusement park but out on a pier, complete with carousels and gambling. The only thing missing was a plate of funnel cake, or else I would have called the place home! It was nice to be surrounded by some good old fashioned hokeyness for a change.

Well, tomorrow is the first day of classes. Of course, I'm not exactly sure if I'll have class tomorrow, as I'm planning on switching out of the only class I would have on Mondays. When I actually do have a class, I promise I will let y'all know. Sarah, signing out!