A day trip: Brighton

12:05 PM

Again, too many pictures but I have to post before days or weeks go by!

Taylor's associate went out of town on business so we took advantage and headed south to the sea! A quick 50-minute train ride from the London Victoria station down to the seaside town of Brighton. 13-09-14

I was thrilled just by the idea of getting to see this historic town that I have read about in Jane Austen novels. When Taylor found out there was an amusement park on the pier, he got onboard with my day trip idea. 

We arrived at 9:30am which is about 2 hours before everyone is out and about! The pier doesn't open until 10 and the rides start at 11. 

The Brighton Wheel
At £11 a pop, we decided not to ride it because we got some pretty great views from the rides on the pier. 

We got an unlimited pass for the rides for £15 each. Extremely worth it since we made up the cost of the pass with 3 rides. We rode almost all of them (too much spinning in one day is not good...to be explained) 
Also, I don't know if it's like this always, but we had to wait in ONE line the 3 hours we went there. And the line was about 4 minutes long so... 

A gorgeous day. 

Our very first 'ride' was this surprisingly fun slide. Probably meant to appease young children in a place where they can't ride very many rides but we loved it!  Probably because of the view you get at the top. 

From the window of the slide (pictured above) 

The view at the top of the slide. I made a video of the ride (the whole 12 seconds) and it's on my Instagram 

The Horror House. Taylor closed his eyes the whole time. His whimpering made me giggle except for the brief moment we were genuinely terrified by something falling on our heads in the dark. Otherwise a very lame scary ride. 

We didn't ride this. Mostly disinterest but I'm also secretly afraid of these. Not such a secret anymore. 

Can't get over how beautiful it is! 

We only went on this once. See how it turns you upside down? Yeah it keeps flipping you around and around and then switches direction mid turn which is sickening even on an empty stomach. Little kids who spend a lot of time upside down on monkey bars will be just fine. We were not. 

Shortest log flume ever probably. It was right up my alley though because Taylor would have ridden alone if that was an steeper/longer. 

Favourite ride of the day. We rode it three times! Most rides like this are terribly jerky and uncomfortable but this kept us laughing so hard, we cried! So entertaining and can't complain about the view we got at the top of the climb! 

Looking over the rides to the west. 

Looking east. 

Don't let the blue sky fool you. It was so windy at very short intervals that the sun would be covered one minute, casting a gloomy gray day, and the next minute it would look like this again. Hot, cold, hot cold. 

Worst. Ride. Ever. It had a promising loop-de-loop and some good drops but it  was so incredibly bouncy that we were shaken so hard it hurt. Painful to the point of drawing blood! Since we went upside down on the ride, it had that restraint that goes over your shoulders and in front of you. You know the kind? So I'm short and my ears sit where other people's shoulders might be. Therefore, when getting jostled HARD, instead of hitting my shoulder, my ears and earrings got shoved against the restraints. The dull back of my earrings hit the tender skin hard enough to cut me. 
Might be easy to conclude that one ride was enough for us on the terrible, terrible ride. 

We read about The Lanes and wanted to go check it out. Wouldn't you know that everything we went to Brighton to see was all in the same general area, right along the coast? 

Bakeries, boutiques, jewelry and more can be found all squashed together in The Lanes. Pen shops, dress shops, joke shops for window shopping at its best. 
Best of all was FatFace. My new favourite shop where I will be buying all my clothes. It's a UK brand for which everything is fabricated right here in Britain. That and Joules. I'm obsessed. 



I was taking a picture of the menu (classic British banger and mash) only to step back and get this shot of all the loveliness of the outside of Druids Head :)
 
After wandering so much, we ended right back at the pier. Got a tasty milkshake from Moo Moos and laid down on the rocky beach for a rest. 

Our first experience of having to pay to use the toilet! I knew this would eventually be part of the package of travelling around Europe but still, a first is a first. 
It was very fitting considering the day before we had been talking about how there are so many shows we want to see here (if you don't know Taylor, you should know that my husband is a huge theatre buff. Even took the stage as the lead role in a few high school productions. Had he not changed his mind, I'm sure his name would have graced the lights on Broadway.) Anywho, we happened to be in Central London for dinner Friday having this discussion about shows right in front of the theatre where Urinetown is playing. Taylor told me the premise of the show and we laughed about it. How silly would that be, we thought. To pay to pee?....

20 pence later, I have to say it was the cleanest and best smelling bathroom we used all day. 

Getting on the train heading home. Word to the wise: unless you plan to see a show at the Theatre Royal or catch a late dinner, you don't need to stay in Brighton past 7. Everything worth exploring closes down at 6:30ish. The Lanes were all packing up and the museum and Royal Pavilion were closed long before the sun went down. We had return tickets for 9:15pm....we watched a movie on my phone in the passenger lounge at the train station :) thank goodness for free wifi! 

First day trip and we learned a lot! 
Check out-- www.365tickets.co.uk --for some great deals or just to save a pound or two when booking tickets to attractions. Usually you have to print out the voucher in advance so be prepared. We didn't use it this time but next time we'll know better where to research. 

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