4.11.07
Brighton
*
*
Despite being November, Laura and I went to the sea-side to see Brighton, and got a pretty good day for it.
Brighton has been, essentially, London-by-the-sea for the last 200 years, being a pretty upclass summer resort, patronised by royalty and brimming with Regency theatres, townhouses and palaces. This is basically what we were expecting to see, along with the old city centre,
which still has traces of the old fishing town.
However, the first thing we visited was the North Laine, an area of shops and 'counter-cultural' boutiques, where you can buy t-shirts of all your favourite communist dictators, incense, and healing crystals. Despite this, it wasn't nearly as annoying as its counterparts in London, or Toronto, and I ended up being tempted by a blue suit in a mod-themed shop. Might end up going back for it. After only that part of the visit, we both really liked Brighton.
Still to come was the Pier, a huge entertainment area built out from the busy shoreline. Most of the seafront is huge white hotels,
with fish-and-chips places built into the seawall. Along the pier are shops selling doughnuts, video arcades, restaurants, bars and, at the end, a full-blown amusement park. Unlike the west pier, a mile down the beach, the main pier is shiny, new, and busy, even now. Laura and I rode the haunted house, and I did the big spiral slide (apparently from the top, you can see the Isle of Wight, but I didn't know that until I got down). Anyhow, the whole thing was way more fun that I expected it would be.
After that, it was off to the Lanes, the old town, largely Tudor buildings which were now pubs, restaurants and hundreds of jewellers. A 1960s development dropped into the middle actually didn't disrupt things too badly, and adds some walkways and patios a level above the street which must be excellent people-watching. There were also some of the specialty pet-supply stores we from the Beaches know all too well.
And, although we didn't go in, the Royal Pavilion is striking no matter what angle you see it from, absolutely incongruous, but surprisingly good in the flesh. I always looked forward to seeing it, under the impression it would be faintly ludicrous, a folly like the Albert Memorial or Casa Loma, but it's not, really. The architect may be using Indian elements in a western layout owing a lot to neo-gothic, I don't know, but it really works for me.
*Despite being November, Laura and I went to the sea-side to see Brighton, and got a pretty good day for it.
Brighton has been, essentially, London-by-the-sea for the last 200 years, being a pretty upclass summer resort, patronised by royalty and brimming with Regency theatres, townhouses and palaces. This is basically what we were expecting to see, along with the old city centre,
which still has traces of the old fishing town. However, the first thing we visited was the North Laine, an area of shops and 'counter-cultural' boutiques, where you can buy t-shirts of all your favourite communist dictators, incense, and healing crystals. Despite this, it wasn't nearly as annoying as its counterparts in London, or Toronto, and I ended up being tempted by a blue suit in a mod-themed shop. Might end up going back for it. After only that part of the visit, we both really liked Brighton.
Still to come was the Pier, a huge entertainment area built out from the busy shoreline. Most of the seafront is huge white hotels,
with fish-and-chips places built into the seawall. Along the pier are shops selling doughnuts, video arcades, restaurants, bars and, at the end, a full-blown amusement park. Unlike the west pier, a mile down the beach, the main pier is shiny, new, and busy, even now. Laura and I rode the haunted house, and I did the big spiral slide (apparently from the top, you can see the Isle of Wight, but I didn't know that until I got down). Anyhow, the whole thing was way more fun that I expected it would be. After that, it was off to the Lanes, the old town, largely Tudor buildings which were now pubs, restaurants and hundreds of jewellers. A 1960s development dropped into the middle actually didn't disrupt things too badly, and adds some walkways and patios a level above the street which must be excellent people-watching. There were also some of the specialty pet-supply stores we from the Beaches know all too well.
And, although we didn't go in, the Royal Pavilion is striking no matter what angle you see it from, absolutely incongruous, but surprisingly good in the flesh. I always looked forward to seeing it, under the impression it would be faintly ludicrous, a folly like the Albert Memorial or Casa Loma, but it's not, really. The architect may be using Indian elements in a western layout owing a lot to neo-gothic, I don't know, but it really works for me.// posted by Jameso @ 6:47 PM 
