A Day in Brighton

On Saturday, July 10, 2010, two young women traveled approximately 120 miles from their summer residence in Cambridge to England's first sea side city of Brighton to soak in some sun and tour the city. The day started early as the two made the 15 minute walk to the Cambridge train station and were introduced for the first time to English public transportation. Lacking the resources to print the itineraries, the girls had to “wing it” and figure out their route on their own. While traveling, Rachel Brown seemed to recall the word “Finsbury,” and so in an uncharacteristically decisive move, she convinced Meg that Finsbury Park was the correct stop and the two made the switch to the underground subway system. Luckily for Rachel, her memory was correct and the two made yet another switch for the final leg of the journey on a train from Victoria to Brighton. The two emerged an hour later in the town of Brighton!

Upon arrival, there was a flurry of activity as people jostled throughout the train station. The girls started walking toward the water, figuring that would be the best way to get oriented. A ten minute walk led the girls to the water front and the two witnessed something that neither had ever seen before: a pebble beach. The sun was out and the beach was crowded, but the slight breeze and the fun atmosphere generated enthusiasm for the day. For an early lunch, Meg and Rachel ate at the “Beach Hut,” and then went to find the Royal Pavilion. After some wandering throughout the city and really getting a sense of the environment, the girls ended up at the Royal Pavilion, a miniature Oriental inspired palace built by the eventual King George IV in 1787. The royal residence had been converted into a museum when Queen Victoria sold it to the town of Brighton, and Meg and Rachel followed the audio tour through the palace. “It was absolutely incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it before. The decorations were so lavish and extravagant, and I am sure I could go back 100 times and still not see every detail in the palace! Pictures just don’t do the palace justice,” reported an awestruck Rachel in a later interview. Meg was most excited by the idea of walking in the same place as Queen Victoria, her historical idol.

Next on the day’s agenda was wandering through “the lanes,” a street of antique and independent stores that provided some fun window shopping. Their wanderings led them to Brighton Pier, which was reminiscent of the pier on the hit Nickelodeon show, “Rocket Power.” The pier was filled with food stands, arcade games, slot machines, (Meg’s favorite!), and it had about 10 rides at the end. While the rides did not particularly appeal to the girls, the milk shakes at Moo Moo certainly did. Rachel was thrilled to find a milkshake that combined some of her favorite desserts and got the “Malteaser,” a shake that combined Maltesers, (Whoppers), toffee crumbles and whipped cream. The rides lost even more appeal for the girls after drinking the shakes, but the girls still walked to the end of the pier to look at them. After touring the pier, the girls continued along the beach, and in need of a break from all the walking, they sat on the striped lawn chairs on the beach before realizing that it cost £2 to use the chairs! Having had enough rest, however, the girls pushed on and continued toward the other side of the beach.

Luckily, the girls stumbled upon a motocross stunt competition that provided a half hour of entertainment. After watching the motocross stunts, Meg and Rachel were content sitting on the beach , (on a blanket this time!), and people watching. Meg classified the styles of the people of Brighton by stating, “People here dress to the extreme. There are the very classy and stylish people, and then there are the people who can’t match at all!” Rachel added to this description by pointing out that she and Meg might be the only people on the beach without tattoos. They did take style pointers from the Europeans when it came to fun spring dresses and fun strappy sandals with Rachel commenting that, “My sister would love to see the styles here!” After sitting on the beach for a while, the girls made their way back to the train station, stopping along the way at Subway for an early dinner. They learned that getting to the train station early does not count for much when they tried to get on the train, only to find that all of the seats were taken. They ended up having to stand for the first leg of the journey, but luckily they were seasoned veterans on the public transportation system after a successful journey earlier in the day. They arrived home in Cambridge around 11 pm, met up with friends for an hour to relive their experiences from the day and then went to sleep, exhausted from a day of walking, touring, observing and having fun!

July 10