April 16th

April 16th

Day 3

Thursday

Warning: The blog which you are about to read has been temporarily taken over by another Kollwitz across the pond......

Missy is currently sun-burned and grouchy and tired, therefore I will be bringing you Day 3 of the Kollwitz sisters in London.

Today we woke up way too early to go to the London Victoria station to catch a bus to the sea-faring costal town of Brighton.  As I read in a tourist guide on the internet before I left, "Brighton is the representative coastal city of all British sea towns."  Missy has been here before to see Nia and for Christmas with Tim, as you have seen the pictures before.

Before we boarded the train, I was quite famished so I had my first toastie: brie, tomato, and cucumber on a baguette.  Then Missy made us take the train pictures again.

  

Me indicating our destination, Missy eyeing her ticket.

  

Missy looking thrilled, Me reading the Metro

English Countryside

Once arriving in Brighton, we hoofed it down the street towards "The Sea and The Lanes."  I was quite grouchy so the first part of the morning, we were both a little cranky... plus the "South Lanes" shopping area was a disappointment and I was getting irritated walking around all these lame shops.

    

Clock Tower and the Lanes sign

Then Missy thought that shoving food in my mouth might lighten my spirits.  (Although she didn't say this, looking back I now see her ulterior motives.)  So we went to some hippie whole foods grocery store/restaurant called Bill's.  (Who is this Bill you ask?  Dunno. But he definitely is a sprout eating, play with your food kind of guy.)  The place was colorful and interesting with nicely displayed produce and interesting pantry goods.  I ordered some weird pizza with stuff I didn't know (Some veggies including rocket??, cheddar, and pesto.)  Missy got a panini with cheese and veggies.  When our food arrived... it was ... weird looking. Like someone had sat behind the counter and decorated it with veggies.  It kind of looked like green hair sprouting out of the couscous.  Anyway... it wasn't that good.  Different, yes.  But not that good.

    

   

Seriously Missy, What the hell am I eating?

After our escapades at Bill's, we continued on to what Missy promised would be a more exciting shopping experience in the North Lanes.  Well, she was right.  I got some gifts and souvenirs and there were actually some pretty cool shops.

(Okay, so there are supposed to be pictures here but Missy is sleeping and I accidentally deleted them and I am too lazy to figure out how to re-insert them right now.  Anyway, one was a lane of shops, one was a sign that said Mama-san, and one was a Run DMC shirt.)

Then we walked in the direction of the pier.  Yes, I may have tried to point us in the wrong direction but the Lanes are confusing and we went every which way. I got disoriented.

  

Taj Mahal wannabe building... and a pretty flowering bush.

 

Okay that part of the building was cool and these flowers were very pretty.

 

Then we finally arrived at the pier and the sun came out! So we walked most of the way down the pier enjoying the nice sea breeze.  The waves made the most awesome sound because the beaches here are actually made of rocks- No sand!

  

Self-explanatory

  

Again, the coastline...

This is one of my faves from today... I like the shadows on the boards.

  

Okay, so we didn't discuss the face we were going to make and we just happened to do the same one... Ha.  Oh and I always wanted to know what I'd look like blonde.  I don't think Missy was impressed. 

  

Okay, these very pretty beach chairs are like typically linked to Brighton Beach (They're all over the souvenirs.)  So we decided to take our own pics... and quite a few of them.  Note the pretty smooth beach rocks as well.

  

Another one of my favorites!

  

Yummy. 

  

Our first attempt failed do to operator error and not being able to count to 10. :)

The second one is again, another fave.

  

These are the end of our stroll along the beach before meeting Missy's friends Nia and her fiance, Miltos.

Then once everyone had arrived we went to a beachside cafe to have some Pimm's (apparently a typical summer British beverage, a mix of lemonade, some kind of ale, and something else with fruits and cucumber???)  It wasn't bad at all, citrus-y and refreshing. After a jug, we strolled down the rest of the seafront until we came across these sheds with colorful doors (another site linked with Brighton).  Apparently people rent these shed boxes for like ridiculous amounts of money so that they can open them and sit in front of the beach?  They were pretty colors at least. 

    

The Beach sheds... 

Walking in Brighton, and Nia and Miltos

After a stop at a pub for more Pimm's and some pork scratching (the most disgusting bar food snack I have ever tasted but apparently "very British," we went to Otello for some banging Italian food!

  

Then the day was over and Nia drove us to Hove station and we caught the bus back to London Victoria and bused ourselves back to Missy's dorm to crash, sunburned and tired.

  

  

  

  

Tomorrow we are sleeping in (score!) and then going to Buckingham Palace, The Mall, Trafalgar Square and The National Gallery... followed by King Cross Station (Harry Potter) and Abbey Road (Beatles) and the off to see Billy Elliot the musical in the evening.  So... for now... Cheers love.