London: day thirty-four and thirty-five

Firstly, I apologize for the brevity, tardiness and sporadic publishing of my blog posts this weekend; my concentration has been off because of being sick (almost better now though) and also just a lot happened so I’ve been really quite exhausted.

Yesterday, Hannah, Alyssa, Marissa and I went to Brighton. Much like our trip to Canterbury, we caught an early bus out of Victoria station and then spent the next two hours cruising southward through the English countryside. Fortunately I was the only one able to stay awake for the entirety of the trip there, and I’m glad I was. On our way out of London we passed by the Battersea Power Station and I managed to snap a few pictures before losing sight of it behind the buildings. For those who don’t know, Battersea is the building with the giant pig balloon floating between the front two smoke stacks on the front of the Pink Floyd album “Animals.”  The countryside was absolutely gorgeous on the way to Brighton; green as ever with the characteristically English rolling hillsides dotted with farms and traced by hedgerows. I even saw a fox – unfortunately, it was one that had been killed by a car – but even still, it was a reminder of sorts that even the wildlife are different here; foxes being much more common here than in the Pacific Northwest. As we drew closer to the coast, we began to see seagulls flying overhead, indicating that our destination was near.

The bus rounded a corner through a narrow gap in the hillsides, and on the other side, Brighton suddenly sprawled into view. We wound through the city before darting down a surprisingly narrow alleyway, the kind that makes you jump for the briefest second when, at first, you don’t think the bus is going to fit, before parking.  As we stepped off the coach, we were subjected to instant disarray as the wind greeted us with a gigantic blast. Immediately, my hat was nearly blown from my head and my coat tried to turn me into a kite. This wind never let up the entire day.

The four of us didn’t need to do anything but cross the street to find ourselves on the boardwalk. After some photos, we descended the stairs and made our way across the rocky beach toward the water. The waves were massive and crashed against the sea wall and the pylons of the pier, and stroked the beach with long sweeping breaths. It was at this time I took the opportunity to put my feet into the water so that I could say that I had been in the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. This was my first time ever being at the Atlantic Ocean (I had only seen it from a plane before), so I braved the cold, and had my friends snap pictures as I checked another item off my bucket list. They thought I was nuts. And probably rightly so as it WAS quite cold. But at least I have now been to the Atlantic Ocean.

After I had shoved my numb toes back into my boots, we continued along the beach for a bit, walking away from the pier. Anytime I am near the ocean I find myself in a state of wonder at the beauty of it all, and am especially fascinated by what one can find on the beach itself. Even after living in Tacoma for nearly three years, I STILL come back from the beach with a handful of shells and stones every time I go. So you can imagine how many shells I was lugging around by the end of our day in Brighton; especially since the shells that wash up on the beaches here are entirely different than any I have ever seen on the beaches of the Pacific. We eventually reached a sort of sea wall that jutted out parallel (yet not as far) to the pier. The four of us walked out onto this as far as we could and spent some time admiring the beachfront and the crashing waves. When we tired of this, we followed the boardwalk back the way we came and brought ourselves to the pier. After a brief stop at a churro stand which looked too good to pass up (and it definitely was), we went out onto the pier. 

From here, we got a beautiful view of the beachfront part of Brighton which sprawled in either direction along the water. To the left (when facing the end of the pier) along the shore, way far in the distance, just barely on the verge of being obscured by the fog, one could see where the ground rises up and the green grass outlines great white cliff-sides. I am certain that these cliffs mark the precursors to the Straights of Dover, which is indeed not far to the East of Brighton. I imagine, that from the cliffs I could see, they only get bigger and grander until they crescendo up into what we know as the White Cliffs of Dover. My friends and I are planning a trip to Dover, but until then, I chose to take a white rock from the beach which seemed to be made up of the same sort of stone as the cliffs, to remember them by. On the pier there are a variety of carnivalesque activities including an amusement park at the end of the pier, but also a large building which houses about a hundred different carnival and arcade games as well as gambling machines. Alyssa even decided to get her cards read by a Tarot reader. While she claimed that he was accurate, I couldn’t help finding him the slightest bit peevish and even though I was curious, I didn’t find his generalized answers worth paying ten pounds for; I’m too much of a skeptic anyway. We walked all the way out to the end of the pier, taking pictures as we went and stopping occasionally to watch the waves or stare out into the horizon.

After we had walked the entirety of the pier, we then crossed the street again and, leaving the beach behind us, walked further into the town part of Brighton. It did not take us long to walk by the Royal Pavilion – a palace that looks like it belongs in India and not England. In fact, I believe, it was a gift from the Indian royalty, but I did not read about it extensively, so I couldn’t give much history about it. I do know, though, that the architecture was stunning and made for some really beautiful pictures. There was also a museum in the same area which was constructed in a similar fashion. We cut through the gardens behind the palace and then continued to follow the main street until we reached Trafalgar Street, where we took a left turn. We went up this street particularly because supposedly there was a piece of Banksy art there – however, we failed to find it or it had since been removed. We did see plenty of other fantastic graffiti art, though, and got to check out some very interesting shops and markets along the way. I even found a shirt that I couldn’t pass up; grey and white, thick American Eagle flannel that was only five pounds.

By this time, we figured it was time for a late lunch, so we headed back toward the water and found a fish ‘n’ chips place that looked promising. Being on the sea, Brighton is quite renowned for its fish ‘n’ chips – if you’re going to get fish ‘n’ chips anywhere in England, better make it Brighton. Fortunately, Brighton’s world fame came through and we enjoyed a warm meal, leaving nothing on our plates at all.

After lunch, we returned to the pier, wanting to stop for some souvenirs; I ended up getting a vinyl sticker of the Union Jack which, when I got back to NIDO I put on my guitar just below the bridge – thought it would make a good memento of my time here. We then returned to the beach, this time on the opposite side of the pier. Even though the Ferris-wheel turned out to be too expensive to be worth riding, we did spend a good amount of time beach-combing, taking pictures, and marveling at the water and sky. As I looked out at the horizon, I couldn’t help but think about how strange it is to be halfway around the world from everything I’ve ever known. I don’t miss being home as I am enjoying my time here too much, but I was filled with a sense of awe at how big and yet how small the world is at the same time, and I guess I can understand how some people find that frightening. While this experience has exceeded every one of my expectations, and has been nothing but perfect, it is also a lonely experience. Often you can’t explain what these experiences and this new knowledge are doing to you. There are things shifting around at a fundamental level, I can feel it; but I won’t know the full extent of the changes until I have returned home. And even then, it may remain impossible to explain.

 

Today was a just a day of class, errands and an evening devoted to catching up on writing and homework; nothing special really.