Eccentric royals
Build intricate pavillions
In styles yet unknown.
Brighton is a whole lot less colourful today, owing mainly to the lack of body-painted nude people on bicycles. :) I picked up a copy of the Argos today, though (the local newspaper), and the article that they ran about the ride was entitled "Cheeky bike ride has carnival atmosphere." Teehee.
One of our lovely hosts, who altogether are a group of students who live near the University and near the centre of town, gave us a quick tour of the town this morning on her way to training for a festival she's volunteering at. She pointed out the hippie areas of town (the North Lanes) and the touristy/yuppie parts (the South Lanes) and the eccentric parts of town (the Pavillion, which I'll get to). She also pointed out a couple good places for lunch and coffee/tea and left us to our own devices for the day.
A walk through the Pavillion was in order (especially since the Brighton Museum, which details the history of the city, was closed for the day for cleaning). It was built in the early 1800s by a young prince who wished to have a leisure/entertainment home. This was Prince George.
He decided it would be exotic to build his home in the Oriental fashion. The problem was that people didn't really travel the same way they do now "back in the day," so no one who helped him in the design or decoration of his Pavillion had ever seen China or The East. This means that some parts of the design are somewhat... odd. All the design, though, is opulent and really lovely. Most parts have been preserved in the original style (the Pavillion was used by George after he became king, too, and this led to some redecorations, and it was also lived in by Queen Victoria, which led to further changes, etc.), including a really amazing 1 tonne chandelier in the dining room. The onion domes which cap the house were all made of wrought iron (weird, yes), so they had the strength to support this rather large piece of ridiculousness.
There are a number of interesting tidbits about the Pavillion (George wanted the servants to be seen only when needed, so he built secret corridors for them; during the restoration of the structure, a giant hurricane blew one of the onion domes into another one, which had just been repaired after an arson incident; in his old age, George used a Merlin chair, which was a precursor to a wheelchair, and had his rooms moved to the first floor; there were 30 plumbed-in toilets at a time when such things were a huge luxury; etc.), but I haven't the patience to relate them all. :) The audio guide is really good, if you get the chance to go, and it comes free with admission.
Strolling along Brighton's beach was lovely. There was a fishing museum, an old carousel, and miles of pebbly seashore. The old West Pier is just a shell now, burnt down some years ago after falling into disrepair. Its skeleton looks rather cool out in the middle of the sea.
In the evening, our hosts were having birthday celebrations for one of the housemates, so we were invited to the potluck. :D We made Evan's soon-to-be-famous chickpea/onion/pepper/tomato/olive oil/spices salad, and it was well-received. All the dishes were vegetarian, actually, which seems more fun; people tend to work harder for tasty food when they can't fall back on the "meat with sides" standby. We stuffed ourselves with delicious curries and tacos and pumpkin gnocchi. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.