HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY: Brighton town of course
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Can’t think of a single thing
WORD OF THE DAY: Bangers and Mash
It was nice to wake to the sound of the waves on the beach this morning. That is how close my room was to the ocean. After a breakfast cooked up by Liz we caught a taxi to Kensington Gardens located in the quaint lanes of ‘The Lanes’. "The Lanes" form a retail, leisure and residential area near the seafront, characterized by narrow alleyways following the street pattern of the original fishing village. The Lanes contain predominantly clothing stores, jewelers, antique shops, restaurants and pubs. The North Laine area is a retail, leisure and residential area immediately north of the Lanes. Its name derives from the Anglo-Saxon "Laine" meaning "fields". The area that is now the Lanes was part of the original settlement of Brighthelmstone, but they were built up during the late 18th century and were fully laid out by 1792 which was after the supposed benefits of sea water had been made public by Dr Richard Russell of Lewes but before the Prince Regent made Brighton one of his homes by developing the Royal Pavilion. We hit the North Lanes first which contains a mix of businesses dominated by cafés, independent and avant-garde shops, bars and theatres. Once a slum area, nowadays it is seen as Brighton's bohemian and cultural quarter and I could see why. It was very alternate here and a great area to people watch, so we stopped at one of the local café’s and ordered a banana and wheat germ shake and watched the crazy world of people pass us by. There were all sorts from Nemo’s, tattooed bodies, fat bodies, super skinny bodies, heavily clothed people, not much clothed bodies, people with dogs, families and men and woman, men and men and women and women holding hands. What a glorious world we live in and for everyone to be accepted. Well in this part of the world anyway. I think a lot of places could learn from what Brighton has achieved and for everyone to be comfortable in their own skin. It is quite refreshing actually.
During the reigns of George IV and William IV and through the first quarter of the reign of Victoria, despite the grandeur of their Royal Pavilion, the North Laine section was known mostly for its squalor, abysmal living conditions and high concentration of slaughterhouses. By the 1860s, the city began to clean up the area, knocking down old tenement houses (population density in one slum neighborhood, Orange Row in the Pimlico slum district, was approximately 130 people to 17 houses) to replace them with more modern streets. Today North Laine is a bohemian shopping area popular both with locals and tourists. The first branch of Anita Roddick's Body Shop, later to become a multinational business, was opened at 22 Kensington Gardens. Typical retailers include art, antiques, architectural salvage, second-hand books, CDs, "retro" clothing, graphic novels, musical instruments and new age paraphernalia. There is a high turnover of boutique-style shops in North Laine in general. One of the less shopping-oriented streets, Upper Gardner Street, is closed every Saturday for an on-street market. Amongst the houses of this street are several antiques dealers.
We walked the lanes and popped into one of the antique shops and it was like stepping back in time and opening some-one else’s Pandora box. This shop was filled from floor to roof with ‘things’. This is a classic example of some-one’s trash is someone else’s treasure. The place was amazing. If I lived there I could have bought a whole wad of things with the most appealing item was an African head made of some sort of wood. It was incredible and the prices of things all seemed within reason. They had anything and everything from vinyl records, to jewelry, to Star Wars collectables, to glasses, vases, furniture, peoples black and white photos from the early 20’s and they also had a collection of mini diaries ranging from 1920-1932 with notes of what people had planned or had done. They were super interesting and I thought about buying one of them, but them what would I do with it, so along with many things I could have bought, I left the shop empty handed but what an amazing experience all the same.
We walked through The Pavilions Gardens and this building is really quite impressive and looks like it has come straight from India. It is a former royal residence and was built in three campaigns, beginning in 1787, as a seaside retreat for George, Prince of Wales, from 1811 Prince Regent. It is often referred to as the Brighton Pavilion. It is built in the Indo-Saracenic style prevalent in India for most of the 19th century, with the most extravagant chinoiserie interiors ever executed in the British Isles. The Prince of Wales, who later became King George IV, first visited Brighton in 1783, at the age of 21. The seaside town had become fashionable through the residence of George's uncle, the Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland, whose tastes for cuisine, gaming, the theatre and fast living the young prince shared, and with whom he lodged in Brighton at Grove House. In addition, his physician advised him that the seawater would be beneficial for his gout. Being remote from the Royal Court in London, the Pavilion was also a discreet location for the Prince to enjoy liaisons with his long-time companion, Mrs Fitzherbert. After the death of George IV in 1830, his successor King William IV also stayed in the Pavilion on his frequent visits to Brighton. However, Queen Victoria disliked Brighton and the lack of privacy the Pavilion afforded her on her visits there, especially once Brighton became accessible to Londoners by rail in 1841, and the cramped quarters it provided her growing family. She purchased the land for Osborne House in the Isle of Wight, which became the summer home of the royal family. After her last visit to Brighton in 1845, the Government planned to sell the building and grounds. The Brighton Commissioners and the Brighton Vestry successfully petitioned the Government to sell the Pavilion to the town for £53,000 in 1850 under the Brighton Improvement (Purchase of the Royal Pavilion and Grounds) Act 1850. In 1860, the adjacent royal stables were converted to a concert hall now known as the Brighton Dome. The town used the building as assembly rooms. Many of the Pavilion's original fixtures and fittings were removed on the order of the royal household at the time of the sale, most ending up either in Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle. Queen Victoria returned to Brighton large quantities of unused fittings in the late 1860s. George V and Queen Mary returned more after the First World War. Since the Second World War, the municipality of Brighton has spent a great deal of time, effort and money restoring the Pavilion to its state at the time of King George IV, encouraged by the permanent loan of over 100 items of furniture from Queen Elizabeth II in the 1950s, and has undertaken an extensive programme of restoring the rooms, reinstating stud walls, and creating replicas of some original fittings and occasionally pieces of furniture. Today, the Royal Pavilion has around 400,000 people visiting it annually.
We had lunch next to the gardens at Al Duomo which Paul claims they have the best seafood pizza ever. I have to argue a little when the best pizza ever comes without cheese, but each to their own and we had a lovely lunch fresco-ing it outdoors with champagne in hand continuing to people watch as the world passed us by. Our next destination was through the South Laines which are more upmarket shops and jewelry shops in this section. I had explained to Liz and Paul that I was still trying to get my hands on the Lonely Planet’s Ethiopia Travel Guide and they said with confidence that I would be able to get it at Waterstone’s a UK bookshop. They seemed so confident I didn’t want to burst their bubble that I had been into like 3 of those book shops and left empty handed but I was pleasantly surprised when we made it to their travel section they had 2 guide books on Ethiopia so I snapped them both up and I was really shocked at the comprehensive amount of travel books they had and I think it is one of the best selections and biggest I have ever seen. So with some more reading material on what is to become my new home we made tracks to get home for a small rest before heading out tonight for dinner and a few caprihinyas to reminisce about our South America travels.
Today was just as good as yesterday and not one to waste some sun’s rays we sat on the balcony of the apartment with a beer in hand and just soaked up the sun on our faces and each other’s company. We had a lot to catch up on and it was great to hear how Paul had proposed to Lizzy and the romance to it all and the un-expectednance to my up and coming move to Ethiopia in January. We have all had quite a busy year and now they have a wedding to plan in December and I am so glad I am coming back to share in their special day. I am probably not help as I keep making suggestions for themes and idea for the day and even though I jest I am probably not helping matters too much but they are pretty funny ideas!!!!
Paul wanted to know if I wanted to go for a swim and I have been saying just how warm it has been but I think a dip in the ocean is a little crazy. In saying that there were plenty of people swimming in the water but I was not to be won over. Instead Lizzy and I sat on the pebble beach with books in hand as Paul dipped in the semi arctic water of the ocean. Brighton Beach is a pebble beach of the larger variety and at first glance you wouldn’t think that they would be that comfortable but with a towel and a simple rearrangement of the rocks you can get surprisingly comfortable. Why is the beach pebbly and not sandy I hear you ask. Well in short, geology! For a sandy beach you need a good source of rocks that can be broken down into sand by erosion. Much of the coast of South-East England is Chalk. This does not break down into sand, the soft limestone crumbles, and either makes a limey mud, or dissolves. The hard flint in the chalk provides the source for the pebbles; almost all of the pebbles on beaches in this area are flint. Some of the flint will break down mechanically into sand, and the lower part of the beach, exposed at low tide is sand, but the upper beach is pebbly.
In Australia we have a lot to be thankful for and one of those things is good weather. I have found travelling around the world to countries that have a proper winter, whether it be snow or just temperatures that don’t top 3C during the day, when they get a sunny day they are outside making the most of this occurrence and I found Brighton no different. It was past 6pm now and there were groups of people on the beach with disposable BBQ’s all cooking up a feast with drinks in hands and the sound of laughter in the air. Couples came down with fish and chips and there were children still in the water this late and families all over the place. It was a great vibe and I really felt at peace here with the last of the sun’s rays as it moved across the sky till it left the beach and it started to really cool down. We made our way home to freshen up and then I was in for a sausage treat.
It may not sound like a big deal but to go to a pub that is renowned for its Bangers and Mash menu is a dream for me but it is extra special when I am going there with 2 of my most favorite vegetarians in the world. Sound strange well they also had 4 varieties of vegetarian sausages for Paul and Liz to choose from so I didn’t feel too bad that we were heading there for dinner. It was a pretty cool pub called The Shakespears Head and you had a choice of 10 flavors of sausage ranging from pork and garlic, cider and herb, venison and wild raspberry and then the traditional English and pork varieties. A sausage LOVERS dream. You then had to pic what mash you wanted and there were 8 flavors to choose from including: plain, garlic and herb, horseradish and chive, mustard and parsley, cheesy, champ, crushed potatoes and baked bean, yes baked bean mashed potato. This is now Bangers and Mash HEAVEN. And the final ingredient that makes bangers and mash what it is the gravy and guess how many flavors we had of that to choose from? FOUR. Proper meat gravy, red wine gravy, caramelized onion and whole grain mustard and honey, hmmmmmmmm my mouth is watering all over again. What a plethora of chose and it was a difficult one but I managed and it was amazing! Thank you so much P and L for bringing me here, it was a great way to spend a Saturday night dinner.
From here we decided to walk the 10 minutes into town to help with our digestion, it was a magic meal and was good to move a little to let it all settle. We were off to find a bar/pub that served caprinya’s to have a few as a toast to our travel stories and to all our friends that we made in South America. We ended up at one of the ritziest bars/restaurants in town called Havana. As the name would suggest it was like we had stepped back in time into Cuba into a sugar cane house, it was beautiful. The caprihinyas were amazing and after 2 each we decided to walk one of the main streets of clubs for me to see what the place looks at night time before catching a taxi home. Lizzy was saying that Brighton is currently big for Stag and Hen’s nights from London and this was in evident proof as we walked the street. We started counting the Hens and Bucks as we walked and when we got into the cab we had seen 13, and that was what was just outside, imagine what numbers laid within the clubs!!! The men I think are always a little more resourceful than the women at these events as I think the woman still want to look good where the men don’t give a toss. The best one we saw for the night was a super hero congregation and they had all gone out and looked fantastic.
So that was my second day in Brighton and I think I am in love with the place. I can see why Paul and Liz make this special part of the world their home. Tomorrow we are meeting up with another South American traveler Mike and heading out into the country tomorrow. I love going to sleep hearing the ocean, even if it is mixed in with the noise, cars, people and sirens of a Saturday night on the go.
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