So we're finally off on the trip I've been planning for over 6 months, which some of you were kind enough to offer some advice and suggestions for.
My wife and I are taking our 18 year old daughter and 16 year old son to Europe, and bringing my parents for their 50th anniversary. We're going to be in the UK for the first 3 weeks (stays in Brighton, Bristol, Liverpool, Edinburgh, York, London), Paris for a week, Italy for 2 weeks (stays in Rome, Florence, Venice), Nice for a few days, Andorra for a couple nights, and finishing in Barcelona. My parents will be leaving us from Rome.
We're currently in Brighton. Flew out from Vancouver on the evening of Monday the 25th, after a 3 hour delay (medical emergency diversion of another flight cascaded to a whole bunch of other flight delays). Arrived at Gatwick on Tuesday afternoon, and after a short train & bus ride, ended up in our first AirBnb stay at around 4:30 PM. We're situated a block from the beach, in between Brighton Palace Pier and Brighton Marina.
Our place is near the end, on the left. 3 levels, 4 bedrooms with a small kitchen and decent-sized living room area - all we really need. Hell of a lot of seagulls and other noisy birds - they're prone to cacophonies at pretty much any time of day or night. Doesn't bother me much, but they keep waking my wife up.
It's been an interesting couple of days so far, as everyone is affected differently by the flight and time change. I only slept for an hour on the flight, after a 4 hour sleep the night before, so I was pretty exhausted and fell asleep around 7 PM, and then woke up at 3 AM, unable to fall asleep again. Meanwhile my wife couldn't sleep very well until the early morning, so she was in bed until about 11 - something of a role reversal for us.
The whole idea of coming to Brighton first was to allow for some relaxing time so everyone could start adjusting to the time zones and new environment, and it appears we'll need this time and more (as I suspected). So the plan while we're here is pretty casual - go out when we feel like, and see some of the sights close by.
So yesterday was our first full day, and we walked down to the pier and then to some of the shopping venues.
Here are shots from Marine Parade, the street that runs along the beach, about a block from our place. First one looking west, towards Brighton Palace Pier, and the second looking east, towards Brighton Marina:
And this is the other side of the street:
Another shot looking west, further down the road. You can see a big screen on the far left - that's part of a set up for what we think will be a viewing party for tonight's England-Belgium World Cup match. You can also see the set up in the first picture of the beach.
Looking back east from the pier - that isn't sand down there, BTW. The beach consists primarily of small (nicely rounded) rocks and pebbles. Maybe that's normal over here, but it's unusual to me.
The pier is full of activities and food. Carnival rides, midway games, arcades full of all sorts of ticket-dispensing kid's games and games of chance, and all that food. So. Much. Food.
A couple of shots west of the pier; in the first picture, the tower you see is the British Airways i360 - the pod comes down and then goes all the way to the top, apparently giving great views of the area. Not sure we'll have time to get there.
Back on land; here's the Brighton War Memorial:
Brighton Museum & Art Gallery:
Royal Pavilion:
And we finished up with some shopping; wish I had taken a few more pics here, especially of The Lanes:
Today I expect we'll wander down to the Brighton Marina, apparently Europe's largest, and I know our daughter wants to get over to the much-photographed beach sheds, but they're way down at the other end of things, so I don't know if we'll manage that. Also want to take in some of the England-Belgium World Cup craziness that I'm sure will be taking place.
Tomorrow, it's on to Bristol!