Brighton

The only thing I knew about Brighton was that the pier was featured briefly in Sweeney Todd.

Brighton is a beach town located about an hour and a half outside of London.

We were picked up by a coach at 10 am and a tour guide spent the trip down there filling us in on the interesting history of Brighton. She kept talking of this "grand pavilion" which I learned is actually a gorgeous palace where King George IV (the king before the king before Queen Victoria) lived.

The outside is gorgeous

The inside was breathtaking. Sadly they wouldn't allow us to take pictures. Most of the rooms were decorated with China in mind. There were lots of dragons and lotus flowers.

I highly suggest you google it to get a better idea (though the pictures will never do it justice).

After we finished our tour, we headed to the beach because I really wanted to see the pier. I love beaches and I love piers.

They did not disappoint.

The pier is so whimsical. We spent 20 minutes walking the length of it and taking silly pictures.

Ryan was impressed with my one-handed self-portrait skills.

I had my first official fish and chips on Brighton Pier.

It was actually pretty tasty.

After the pier, we headed down to the beach.

Instead of sand, the beach was made up of tons of smooth pebbles. It was actually very pleasant because we didn't have to worry about getting sand everywhere, and the stones formed to your body and movement so walking and sitting were very comfortable.

I could have stayed here forever.

We decided to head back into town and wander around.

Then it was 4pm and time to head back to the bus.

After we got back (it took 2.5 hours, thanks to traffic), I showed Ryan and Erika my flat, then I took them to Sainsbury's (my lovely grocery store) and Erika bought a bunch of food to take back to her place.

I have a bunch more pictures I will post of Brighton on Facebook soon, so look out for those :D

Tomorrow we are meeting at the Tower of London!