Brighton in pictures

Another day, another 24 hours spent not doing the work I desperately need to apply myself toward. It has been quite the eventful weekend, but not because I've done anything worth getting good grades for. On the other hand, I've come to believe that an experience is worth the strain on my blood pressure that will occur tomorrow and during intervals throughout the rest of the week. Because today, I got to go to Brighton. I wish I had known the beauty that existed there before now, but at least I discovered it today. I hope you will enjoy as well.

First, I must confront you with a little glimpse at my walk this morning. On the way to the center where we planned to meet to board our bus to Brighton, I followed this lovely construction working man on my typical route which I use to go to the local Sainsbury's and to my university. It is quaint, no? No. But I digress.

Skipping all the hullabaloo in the middle, our group of American students (on tour with the university facilitating our study abroad program) ended up in Brighton by 12:00 pm. My friend Danielle and I set off walking around the beach and grabbing pebbles from the ground as part of our wonderful exploration.

We admired the rusty undercarriage of the Brighton Pier and stumbled ever-closer to it as the light waves crashed onto the pebble shore.

And then we climbed and touched the rusty railing with our shoes and our palms in an attempt to become a part of Brighton Pier, if only for a moment.

We kept wandering - and I apologize for sharing so many photos of this same location with you - along the beach enjoying the scenery before heading off to the Royal Pavilion where a tour had been organized for us at 12:30.

In the Royal Pavilion gardens, we encountered this musical performing group who were selling CDs outside to passersby. Then we headed into the place for our tour. Unfortunately there will be no photos of that due to photographic restrictions within the palace (sad face).

After the Royal Pavilion tour, we walked toward North Laine. But before arriving there we found this hippie van where they were sharing samples of scents from a store called Lush that sells handmade cosmetic products while eagerly spreading their message about not partaking in animal testing (yay!).

After the stopover at the hippie van, we went to North Laine where there were rows of eclectic shops and stalls (and a ton of people as well). It was a bit crowded, but a lot of fun - and it only spurred our interest in returning to Brighton as soon as possible.

Walking back in the direction of the beach, we went past some mural art. The colors were vibrant and there was one that involved Smurfs. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of the smurf mural. But I'm sure you can imagine its greatness.

We kept walking and I happily encountered this boy who was playing with some sort of string juggling toy on the side of the street. He was quite talented and quite fashionably dressed as well.

After a brief stint through the South Lanes (I don't remember the actual name of the area, but it was in essence another small selection of boutique shopping streets), we went back toward the Pier to head to the bus for our trip back to London.

What felt like way too little time in Brighton was spent exploring a new city and gaining a new appreciation for the various environs of London-town and England in general. There really is so much to see in England, and after planning an extravagant voyage through Europe, and preparing for a trip to Edinburgh next weekend, it was nice to step back and look at my own country for a little while. After all, this is my country now. I really believe that.