Gambled... and Lost
Trip Start
Mar 06, 2009
1
4
11
Trip End
May 07, 2010
Where I stayed
Brighton, England, United Kingdom
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Shane says;
Today we went to Brighton which I really enjoyed. It was a beautiful day for the beach and I was in high spirits, despite having spent the better part of an hour on the train being ear-raped by a somewhat narcissistic homosexual fellow who was talking on the phone to what could only be a very bored journalist doing a puff piece about hair dressing competitions, bitchy models, and this strange and self indulgent thespian.
Anyway I was glad to be off the train and walking across the pebbly beach. There was an abundance of palm readers and psychics to the stars! On the boardwalk and the pier had a large theme park and gaming centre on it. Milli and I wasted way too much money trying to win a variety of stuffed animals and boogying our hearts of on the dance machine. I also spent 2 ponds getting electrocuted by an Adams Family video game. The object is to hold on to 2 metal rods, while the machine sends ever-increasing volts of electricity through your body. I was doing ok but had to let go when my heart started beating irregularly. And so began the day of excessive spending.
What was going to be only a day trip quickly turned into an overnight venture, some 65 pounds later (slight miscalculation on my behalf, I keep forgetting to convert everything from pounds to aussie dollars)
We were referred to a square in the city full of cool alternative restaurants and bars, so we pretty much spent the night playing electronic drums, eating and drinking and now I way much more, and my wallet much less.
We booked bus tickets back to London as the train was too expensive the next day (having forfeited our return tickets for the day before) and I vowed to come back again, albeit at slightly cheaper accommodation.
Milli says:
I'm not sure what Shane has said in this blog as I haven't read it. Sorry for confusion or doubling up of information. Well I'm not sorry but I'm certainly not happy about it.
We got very cheap tickets to take the train down to Brighton and all I really knew was that it was a popular beach destination - not in the fine white sand with coconuts version that Thailand can boast, but more the rocky, chilly but sunny British type. So I was kind of correct but I hadn't planned on it being gorgeous, interesting, funky and me loving it! Or us I should say. Unless Shane has not included me in any of his ramblings and then I whole heartedly take my inclusion of him BACK and he shall remain Nameless. That's harder though so....oh whatever.
We left early and got breakfast at Victoria station in London as its huge and the hub for national lines. We spent a lot and grumbled about the pound but I did get some yummy cookies from Millie's Cookies (they are everywhere) so it wasn't all bad.
We arrived in Brighton and it was a sunny warmish day, very lucky!!
We came out and there were cute little pubs and cafes and old buildings straight away. We followed the hordes and they correctly took us to the water. The area along the beach as far as the eye could see was built up but with cool old beautiful buildings, back from the road. The beach was lovely that day and yes, there were large rocks that made up the coast. We didn't really feel like laying on rocks so we wandered down beside them instead and came upon lots of seafood kiosk joints and little shops like art galleries.
We discovered there is a large need/supply of fortune tellers - Romany gypsies, though possibly just Betty from down the road with a scarf on her head - and basically everything came together as a seaside summer fair. This intensified when we arrived at the pier which was huge and had an amusement park, games area, cafes, bars and shops. It was like we stepped back in time and I had to go and buy some rock candy with 'Humbug' written through it. Yes, HAD to.
We went and got some tokens and played some games, though the pokies seeping in from the sides kind of took away from it. We also got a photo done in a booth but it ended up on paper and kind of was crappy crap crap crap. But we did play the dance game and got our exercise for the week! Yay us!
We then complimented that with a tequila shot and a pint of beer, very sound decisions I say.
Unfortunately the funpark at the end of the pier was under renovation so we wandered back to the shore. There we discovered a big old ornate hotel that we realised was part of a setting for the series Jekyll/Hyde!!!! We were super excited and then we saw rooms available from 40 pounds a night! Staying in this funky sunny place was a noice idea so we thought lets roam around and find a good deal! Then we went into a pub down the road and spontaneously asked them for a room. Unfortunately they were ONLY a pub and no rooms were given to us. But they did chuckle and say that everyone who visits wants to stay longer. That didn't help us so we grumbled into our pints and then left. We were on a mission to find a hostel of some sort and luckily the street we were on was full of little side streets that were chockers!
Shane got the pound/dollar confused and as we were both in a state of euphoria at liking Brighton and the sunny day (yes I put it mainly down to the sun, that miserable, evil orb that heats till we burn...wow, have I been in this room too long?) so we jumped at a 65 pound bed and breakfast that was in a gorgeous totally done up town house. It did include breakfast (that turned out to be really good) and the room had a TV and loaned DVDs, and our own bathroom and Twirls on each pillowcase and even free cookies in the lounge area, and cute cats roaming around....but the fact of the matter was we spent about 140 dollars.
We then proceeded to dumb our meagre belongings (we didn't have much as we were only coming for the day!) and had a look around the area. This included going into a gay bar at about 3pm and having another tequila shot and a pint. Not much happening on a Wednesday afternoon but we soon realised the area is very much like Daylesford in Victoria in that it has beautiful old heritage buildings and the gay community has come in and given it some love and money and now it is quite expensive but a gorgeous day/weekend away to spoil yourself. Obviously it's quite a big city with all facets of life, but in every second shop window there was a rainbow sticker, not least our guesthouse with the two guys running it.
We were advised by one of them who detailed on a map for us to visit one area that was very down to earth, funky and environmentally friendly and we loved it! (Funnily enough). Lots of cafes with soy sausages, bars (one called White Rabbit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAD to have a drink there), music and book shops, and little quirky streets! We then tried another area recommended that had lots of little alleyways and yummy restaurants - it reminded me of Split's windy palace ruins and Barcelona alleys too! A few too many boutiques though. But we did have more drinks and a yummy Italian dinner
! Getting there we passed a summer palace for old royalty, that had become a museum - it was unusual in that the design was quite middle eastern with turrets and domed tops. Absolutely opulent and gorgeous, especially as the sun went down! I managed to read the top 50 things to do in Brighton while in the guesthouse lounge - glass ceiling, sumptuous old brown leather couches and a rooftop outdoor area - and there were so many things it was never ending! Well, 50 actually so it did end.
We definitely want to come back! All in all a great time, but as you can probably guess the pounds were racking up. And up. The next day we had a semi freak out and organised to go home sooner than we had planned - though that in itself cost more to change. So we arrived back to our Mile End house with our eccentric posse of flatmates and realised sheepishly we had spent about a years wage in Brighton. No more Brighton.
