Our Trip to Brighton

Yesterday Priya and I went to Brighton. Brighton is a coastal town directly south of London. We used the national rail line to go there and it only took about an hour from the train station, which was nice.

Now this last week had been the first truly sunny and warm week here in London. It was finally spring. So when Priya and I were getting ready we simply got dressed as if the weather would be the same as it had been all week. Unfortunately we soon discovered that was not to be the case. The sun disappeared, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. By the time we got to the station to get on the train both Priya and I were wishing we had brought another layer of clothing for ourselves.

We got to Brighton just around noon and both Priya and I were hungry so as we left the station our first mission was to find a place to eat lunch. As we walked along we saw various types of restaurants but we decided we wanted something hot to eat because we were both quite cold. We found a Japanese noodle shop that looked promising so we went in. They gave us a table and we examined the menu. While we were looking at the menu a few other couples came in and got seats. We both figured out pretty quickly what we wanted but the waitress seemed to be oblivious to us being there. The restaurant wasn't particularly busy but I thought she might just have some other things on her mind. But while we waited she took the orders of the people who came after us and no matter how much I tried to get her attention, visually (I’m not one to yell out) she never came over. Finally the food of the people after us got delivered to them and we just gave up on the hopes of being served and we left the restaurant. We ended up at a burger restaurant that was quite crowded but hey we got served so it worked out.

After lunch we went back outside. It had just been raining so all the sidewalks were wet and the wind had really picked up making it brutally cold. We began to explore the streets around us and they were filled with numerous local shops with all sorts of strange stuff. Now as we were shopping it got to the point where Priya was so cold she wanted to buy a sweatshirt or sweater so she could have another layer to try and keep warm so we began to browse. After a long and arduous search we ended up finding a nice, inexpensive hoodie to buy and while it certainly didn't work as well as a true winter coat would have it did provide at least a little more warmth for Priya and caused me to be a little jealous of her new purchase.

It was only now after getting this new hoodie that we finally decided to go to the beach. As we got closer and closer to the beach each street became more and more like a wind tunnel as the gusts of wind got stronger and stronger. Finally we broke out onto the beach and could see the ocean. The beach appeared fairly dark compared to most of the beaches I've been to and once we got to the beach I found out why. The beach was made of stones not sand. Now Priya had told me before we got there that the beach was made of rocks not sand but it wasn't until I saw it that the large difference that made became clear. A beach made of rocks is not a place you find people lying on towels or playing volleyball rather there were just a few people walking around mostly near the water to watch the waves and throw rocks into the ocean. Sand beaches can often be difficult to walk across especially with shoes because of the unevenness and fluidity of the surface that changed as you stepped on it. Now a beach made of rocks presents those same challenges but then it adds a hardness that really leads to one getting sore feet fairly quickly. Walking on a rocky beach is a true workout for the calves and the soles of ones feet.

We got off the beach and walked down a large pier that went out over the water. The pier is one of the spots for tourists to visit though overall there wasn't much to do there. There were a few buildings that were basically just arcades for children as well as a few for adults with gambling games. Then at the very end of the pier there was a few carnival type rides such as a merry-go-round, spinning cars and some fairly small roller coasters. Most of the rides were closed because they didn't open until the night. Priya and I just walked to the end of the pier, looked out into the sea and then turned around and went back.

As we walked away from the beach we passed by the Royal Pavilion and the Art Museum. We didn't go inside the Pavilion because it cost money and we didn't feel like paying just to see inside the building though the building is quite lovely from the outside.  At this point we were starting to think about eating again not simply because we were hungry but also because we wanted to actually be able to get into a restaurant. The streets were getting quite crowded and the restaurants were soon to follow. During our previous walking around we had passed an interesting Mexican restaurant and we both thought it looked like a fun place to try. We got there just before 6 pm and the restaurant was already full and they said they wouldn't have any seats available until 9:30 pm. It looked like there was a pretty large party going on in the restaurant so I guess those people had taken over most of the place. So we left a little sad but more certain that we should find somewhere to eat sooner rather than later. We ended up going to an Italian restaurant. We picked it because it was the same restaurant we went to on the day of our wedding and we both knew we liked it.

After dinner both Priya and I were quite stuffed. It had been awhile since either of us had two large and rich meals in one day. With the burgers from lunch and the pasta at dinner neither of us was overly eager to go exploring the city any longer. Also the sun was setting and it was only getting colder. So we decided that we were going to go back to the train station and try and trade in our tickets back to London for an earlier trip. We weren't scheduled to depart until 9:50 pm and it was only 7:30 pm.

As we approached the train station we suddenly heard a loud commotion near us and when we looked over across the street there was a large crowd of men pouring out of a pub into the street and they were fighting.  Now it wasn't the kind of fight where just a few guys were circling around and taking some off balanced swings at each other while the rest of the crowd cheers them on rather it was an all out brawl. There were guys throwing beer bottles at each other, picking up chairs and large pieces of wood to smash against one another, violent kicking each other especially any person that hit the ground and all sorts of other scary stuff. I really couldn't believe what I was seeing it was one of those scenes where you couldn't help but look but the more you watch the more your stomach turned at what you saw. It didn't take long before I actually became worried we might get hurt because the brawl began to expand outward. The beer bottles were being thrown further and further as the men spread out to the point where they almost hit people all the way down the street who had nothing to do with the fight. Obviously neither of us wanted to get caught too close to the fight especially if they suddenly started tossing bottles our direction so we decided to move away. As we left numerous police cars began to show up. At this point most of the men scattered and started running away but some got grabbed by the police as they tried to end the fight. It really was scary to see how violently these men were going at each other.  I really had no clue what could have caused such a mêlée to occur but Priya thinks it was probably about nothing more than a football game. But looking at those men’s eyes and how they were going at each other it was just hard to believe that sports could be the cause of the fight but I’m still new here so what do I know.

Once we got to the station we found out that sadly our tickets could not be exchanged for an earlier ride so we found ourselves at the station with about two hours before our train was set to leave and nowhere else we really wanted to go. So we just ended up hanging out in the station for two hours and then got on our train and headed home. Once we got to our train station in London we had to take the subway back home, which took almost another hour so we got home just before midnight.

Looking back at the day I’m glad we went and I really liked getting to spend a day alone with Priya but at the same time the weather made the day a little less enjoyable than either of us would have thought it would be. We've included some pictures of the trip here so here’s a look at Brighton