My flat mates and I went to Brighton on Sunday as a nice end to our October break week. We were lucky enough to have really sunny weather, which made the seaside town all the more relaxing and fun.
When we arrived in Brighton, we stopped at a little dinner for breakfast and then walked down the streets of the clean, white buildings towards the marina. Most of the houses in Brighton were white and almost glowing in the bright sun. It was very cool to look down the street and see it lined with white and leading to the water. Quite picturesque.
When we arrived in Brighton, we stopped at a little dinner for breakfast and then walked down the streets of the clean, white buildings towards the marina. Most of the houses in Brighton were white and almost glowing in the bright sun. It was very cool to look down the street and see it lined with white and leading to the water. Quite picturesque.
We reached the beach and found that it was most definitely a pebble beach. Now there were pebbles on the beach at Monterosso, but they did not compare to the massive pebbly landscape of Brighton’s beach. We powered through however and took our socks and shoes off so that we could say we had dipped our feet in the English Channel. It was icy cold in contrast to the blinding sun, but we did it! The trek back up to our spot of the pebbles was rather painful. Those pebbles were the size of golf balls!
Next, we explored Brighton Pier. I’ve never been to a boardwalk before and I felt like a little kid at Christmas walking through the one in Brighton. There were food stands with all the usual culprits: donuts, candy floss, fish & chips, ice cream, candy, cold beverages, and plenty of boardwalk games including a huge indoor arcade and those little cardboard figures with the face hole cutout for taking pictures. The best part was the assortment of carnival rides for which you could buy an all day pass. This, of course, I did. The pier was not very busy so we essentially got first dibs on all the rides. I spent the afternoon with my other flat mate flying around on the spinning airplane rides and getting whip-lashed on the tilt-a-whirl. So much fun! It was like an escape to summer because that is the only time I ever get to go to fairs or carnivals.
After finding some fish & chips for dinner, we explored the famous seaside candy shops. I bought some Brighton rock, which is a candy cane like candy made in seaside towns that has the name of the town/flavor printed on the inside of the candy. There was a deal of five for two pounds and as I approached the counter with my five, I asked the man what Humbug tasted like, because there was a Humbug flavored one but I didn’t want to buy it before knowing what it was. He just smiled and walked over to the candy, picked up a Humbug flavored one, said “I don’t know”, and dropped it in my bag for free! Bonus Brighton rock! P.S. Humbug is apparently a minty flavor that tasted a lot like a classic candy cane.
We caught the train back to London, munching on candy the whole ride home. It was a perfect end to a week of no school and a relaxing break from the busy city of London.
Top British facts/oddities:
We caught the train back to London, munching on candy the whole ride home. It was a perfect end to a week of no school and a relaxing break from the busy city of London.
Top British facts/oddities:
- all purple candy in the UK is blackcurrant flavor and not grape
- Humbug flavor is a peppermint
- It is apparently common for cars to begin to sneakily drive through a crosswalk when the green figure is flashing and there are no pedestrians on the cross walk. I’m not sure if this is officially the case, but every time the light starts flashing, cars start to sneak up and honk at you to get out of the way.
- It is very difficult to find stick deodorant here. They are all either aerosol or roll on.
- Candy cotton is called candy floss
- Mayo does not exist here. They use miracle whip for everything mayo. I got a McCicken from McDonalds here just to try it and it was a huge nugget smothered in miracle whip. Blech!
Thank you! Check out more pictures of Brighton in the October gallery!