Showing posts with label Brighton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brighton. Show all posts

Wednesday, 1 June 2011

Pavilion and Inspiring Spire

We went for a walk around Brighton, which is an unusual mix of small town, tacky beachside resort and classic British holiday destination. Wandered past the Arabian-inspired Brighton Pavilion.

After a drive past Portsmouth, we found Salisbury which has the tallest spire in the UK (inspiring) and some interesting history. They built it to attract tourists in the 14th century and its still working. We think this leg of our holiday should be called the Cathedral\Abbey Tour (Westminster, St Pauls, Canterbury, Salisbury for those keeping track).

Then onwards to Bath (the city not the washing).










Tuesday, 31 May 2011

Road Trip!

Today we added two new members to our holiday party - the DY11UNB (aka the rental car) and Genny the Navigator (aka the GPS). Got a 'free' upgrade to a larger car which was nice, although we ended up taking the scenic route out of London (ie not the route I'd planned) but we made it!

London traffic (and British so far) is actually very civilised and NZ could learn a lot. On the motorways people let you in and it flows much better. Getting used to the miles per hour still requires some attention, but at least they drive on the correct (ie left) side of the right road.

We swung through Canterbury on the way and discovered a bustling village inside old castle walls. The Cathedral was quite subdued considering its importance to the Church of England. Saw where Thomas Becket came to a sticky end, as well as the tomb of the Black Prince.

Onwards to Dover, where we almost went on a castle tour that we didn’t mean to before we found the Cliffs (harder than you'd think, eg 2 mile un-signposted walk through padocks). Despite being a little overcast, we could see France - Clinton's phone even picked up Vodafone France and welcomed him to the mainland. When the skies cleared up, the cliffs really did glow a brillant white - it was worth the effort.

After a little backtracking, we finally arrived into Brighton and checked into our hotel - 5 minutes walk from the famous pier. Before dinner we went for walk along the pier which is covered with a carnival like offering of food, fair rides and even gambling.