Escape from the City

We took our first trip out of the city last Saturday.  We figured we would start our European travels with an easy day trip to Brighton.  Brighton is a seaside resort village in South England.  Trains to Brighton leave from London frequently and take about an hour to make the journey south.  Colin was excited to ride on the train (or as he calls it a "choo choo"), and the trip there went fast between looking out the window, eating snacks, and watching Elmo on the iPad. 

We headed straight to the Royal Pavilion when we arrived to take a tour.  We were the first people in line for the day (a benefit of having a small child who does not sleep in).  The Royal Pavilion was the seaside palace of King George IV and later of Queen Victoria.  The palace has an Indian style exterior (looks a bit like the Taj Mahal) while is decorated indoors in a Chinese style and is known for being both unusual and luxurious.  After our history lesson, we headed down to the beach and took a spin on the Brighton Wheel (a giant ferris wheel), put our toes in the ocean, and had some lunch.  Colin took a nice long snooze in his stroller while David and I checked out the pier, did some shopping, and enjoyed a few drinks by the ocean.  When Colin woke up (and after a quick trip for some gelato), it was back to the train station for our journey back to London.

Brighton was a fun day trip but not a place that I think we need to return to during our time here.  It kind of reminded me of Atlantic City without the gambling aspect.  We had to laugh as it was in the high 60s and there were a TON of people laying out to work on their tans and swimming in the ocean.  It was one of the warmest days of the year there but felt way too cold for us to think about swimming.  I guess you have to take advantage of decent weather when you can in the UK.

Here are a few pictures from the day.

Colin & I on the train

Brighton wheel

Waiting to board the Brighton Wheel

Enjoying the ride

Testing out the water